“I called her the Tiger Woods of the LPGA Tour.” “I don’t know how she does not win every week.” These two sentences came from Kevin Kisner and Max Homa. They witnessed Nelly Korda inside the ropes for the first time at the 2022 QBE Shootout. Two years later, as Korda matches one of Tiger Woods’s many records, the comparison suddenly seems very real and not just flattery.
But that has also ticked off a few. The LPGA Pro, at 25, still has a long way to go to not just match Woods but Annika Sorenstam as well. However, as far as her five-in-a-row is concerned, Korda has caught up with both, because Wood’s six and seven consecutive wins were marked by controversy at that time.
Is Nelly Korda in the Tiger Woods zone of greatness?
Tiger Woods has won five or more straight titles thrice in his career. The first time was in the 1999-00 season, when the 82-time PGA Tour winner raked home six silverware. That spanned over two seasons.
The former world No. 1 had four straight PGA Tour victories, then finished 6th and 12th in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan and the Williams World Challenge. Again, he won twice in his next two starts on the PGA Tour. Interestingly, Woods himself believed that winning streaks should be considered in a season and not carried forward to the next season.
The seven-consecutive winning streak was also marked by three ‘losses’. The 15-time Major champion himself believed his chances to catch Byron Nelson ended when he lost at the HSBC World Match Play Championship. The veteran also had a five-consecutive winning streak the very next season. But that time, his PGA Tour stretch stopped only at five.
Quite the company to join.
@NellyKorda is on an absolute heater 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZcEWAqOvht— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 22, 2024
Nelly Korda, seen from that angle, is on par with Tiger Woods. But that’s just one part of the story, as fans point out. To be compared to the 48-year-old, Korda first had to carry this forward to the next season, and the next and the next until ten years.
What does it take to scale Mount Woods?
What does it take to be Tiger Woods? The world no. 1 on the men’s side got a hint at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A fan commended Scottie Scheffler for his blistering form but also shouted that he needed to maintain this for a decade to match Woods.
Similar comments await Korda on Reddit. “Good on Nellie. A great achievement! But to be the new 🐅 she needs to dominate for the next 15 years.” One infuriated user wrote, “Female Tiger? Get this s**t out of here. Stop. Stop trying to make nothing into something. Have her come back in 10 years if she never misses a cut, wins 60% of all the majors and tourneys she is in. Then we can talk about it.”
Interestingly, some believed that the Woods-Korda comparison ignores the great Annika Sorenstam. The Norwegian had 97 career victories. Moreover, she still holds the record for the lowest round ever scored in the LPGA Tour, 13-under-59. “Annika has won 72 tournament! (sic!) And 10 f****ng majors, people out here just not knowing the history, recency bias.”
Predictably, a comparison between Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler was also on the cards. While others thought, the 25-year-old might be in better form than Scheffler. The reigning Masters champion’s scoring average is 67.46, compared to Korda’s 69.217. The 13-time LPGA Tour winner’s GIR percentage stands at 75.9. Scheffler, meanwhile is at 74.76%. Some believe “Schefler is the male Nelly.” Another, too, commented, “The female Tiger is Annika, but Nelly is rolling right now and may be the best golfer (male or female) on the planet right now.”
Tiger Woods, for one, cared little about catching Byron Nelson’s record of winning 11 consecutive titles. Rather, his sole aim was on Jack Nicklaus’s 18 majors. Nelly Korda thought it was as good a time as any to catch some breath. She has pulled out of the JM Eagle LA Championship.
