'Poor In All Aspects' - Nelly Korda T3 At Founders Cup But Faces Mammoth Comeback Prospect To Claim Record-Breaking LPGA Tour Win
'Poor In All Aspects' - Nelly Korda T3 At Founders Cup But Faces Mammoth Comeback Prospect To Claim Record-Breaking LPGA Tour Win
World No.1 Nelly Korda will have to complete the biggest comeback ever on the LPGA Tour if she is to earn a history-making sixth-straight win on Sunday, despite heading into the final round in a tie for third.
Korda is striving for half a dozen consecutive LPGA Tour titles in a row - a record that has never been reached before and appears highly unlikely to change any time soon.
The reason for that is because Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom sits at the top of the Cognizant Founders Cup leaderboard on 19-under, one stroke ahead of American, Rose Zhang - with the pair heading off to have their own private tournament, it seems.
But Korda - who has been matched by Sei Young Kim and Epson Tour Player of the Year, Gabriela Ruffels so far - is back on eight-under following a tough Moving Day which greatly affected her chances of winning once more.
The 25-year-old - who earlier this week followed Tiger Woods in appearing at the Met Gala as a pro golfer - made a solid start to her latest event via scores of 69 and 66, but while the majority of the contenders went on to add low numbers to their tally on Saturday, Korda stumbled.
On the par-72 layout at Upper Montclair Country Club, New Jersey, Korda produced four bogeys and only two birdies across an extremely untidy front nine. The back-nine was far neater, however, with eight pars and a lone birdie restricting the overall damage to just one-over.
Reacting to a bad day at the office, Korda said: "Yeah, it's just kind of poor in all aspects. Yesterday was good in everything and today was poor in everything, so that's just pretty much golf for you.
"Yeah, just made too many kind of stupid, silly mistakes, which was unfortunate because they [Sagstrom and Zhang] were playing so well. So now there is just a massive gap.
"I think I've played really good golf the past couple months. I'm human, so I'm going to have bad days. I'm not going to feel 100% out here mentally, physically, or whatever, but I'm going to give it my all.
It was just one of those days where it felt like a constant battle and didn't really play too well, but I fought until the end."
That 'massive gap' that Korda referred to is currently 11 shots - a figure that no player on the LPGA Tour has ever recovered from to win. A 10-stroke deficit has been overturned three times - most recently in 2008 by Louise Friberg at the Mastercard Classic. Golfing legend, Annika Sorenstam also achieved the feat at the 2001 Office Depot. The first to do it was Mickey Wright at the Tall City Open in 1964.
Not adverse to a spot of history-making activity, though, Korda insists she will "shoot my shot" on Sunday in a bid to create more extraordinary scenes.
She said: "I'm still -- I'm far away but still in it, in a sense. Just going to try and shoot my shot tomorrow and see how it goes...
"You have to be methodical and plot your way around. If you're not playing well out here, it just feels like everything is tumbling down, especially off the tee. So definitely have to be methodical and see if it's your day."
Korda will tee off on Sunday alongside Mao Saigo at 12:15pm ET in the third-last group.