Only a missed five-footer on the final green at the Houston Open a fortnight ago stood between Scottie Scheffler and a hat-trick of successive PGA Tour victories, and should that putt have dropped (and he go on to beat Stephen Jaeger in the playoff), we’d now likely be looking at the first player to win four consecutive PGA Tour tournaments since Tiger Woods back in 2008 and joining Woods, Jack Burke Jr., Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan as the only players ever to achieve that feat.
Scheffler will have to wait to add that feat to his growing resumé, but Nelly Korda has already achieved that on the LPGA Tour, and this week has the chance to tie the all-time LPGA win record should she take the first women’s major of the year at the Chevron Championship.
Wins at the LPGA Drive On Championship, Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship and Ford Championship were followed by a breathtaking performance to take the LPGA Matchplay title at Shadow Creek, bringing Korda one shy of the total co-held by Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam. And much like the conversation going into The Masters centred around who, if anybody, could stop Scottie Scheffler, the same talking points are being played out as the game’s top women prepare to tackle The Club at Carlton Woods.
Right now, in terms of ranking points, Scheffler’s lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings is the same gap that McIlroy enjoys over the 83rd ranked player in the world, Rasmus Hojgaard. You have to go down as far as world number 31, Ally Ewing, to reach the same gap from Lilia Vu that the world number two trails Korda by.
In short, what Korda is currently doing in the women’s game is as almost as impressive as what Scheffler is doing in the men’s and should she make it five-in-a-row and add a second major title to her Women’s PGA Championship and Olympic Gold Medals, the case that her streak is even more impressive than Scheffler’s would be one that’s hard to argue with.
While Woods once enjoyed almost triple the points average tally that his nearest challenger had amassed back when he was completing the ‘Tiger Slam’ and Sorenstam came close to having double that of her closest rival shortly after the introduction of the Rolex Rankings, the depth and quality of the competition is arguably higher now than it’s ever been.
Tiger and Annika aside, we’re witnessing unprecedented greatness from the two leading players in both the men’s and women’s games.
Scottie delivered at The Masters, so Nelly, it’s over to you…
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