Nelly Korda’s record-tying win streak resonates with Scottie Scheffler, TOUR pros

After winning the RBC Heritage in a Monday finish, Scottie Scheffler was asked if he felt a sense of competition between himself and Nelly Korda. It was a fair question, as the top-ranked men’s and women’s players have gone on simultaneous tears this spring. Scheffler has won four of his last five TOUR starts, finishing second in the other, while Korda tied an LPGA record Sunday by winning her fifth straight start at The Chevron Championship.

Yet despite being amidst a historic run as the first player since Tiger Woods (2007-08) to record five straight top-two finishes on TOUR, Scheffler didn’t see his stretch as comparable.

“One of the people here asked me, like, ‘Is this turning into a competition between you and Nelly?’ and I was like, I don't know, man, I think if it's a competition, she's got me pretty beat right now,” Scheffler said Monday. “Five wins in a row … it's pretty special stuff. To win four times in a row and then show up at a major championship and win is extremely impressive. So I'm extremely happy for her.”

Scheffler joked that Korda’s season-opening T16 finish was “just terrible; I can’t believe she did that” – clearly in jest – as the top-ranked women’s pro has since taken flight with victories at the LPGA Drive On Championship, Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, Ford Championship, T-Mobile Match Play and The Chevron Championship, the latter four of which have occurred in the last five calendar weeks.

With Sunday’s victory at the LPGA’s first major championship of 2024, Korda tied Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez with wins in five straight LPGA starts. Only three players have authored such streaks on TOUR: Tiger Woods, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan.

Woods won five straight starts across 2007-08, six straight across 1999-2000, and seven straight across 2006-07. Hogan won six straight starts in 1948. Nelson won a record 11 consecutive starts in 1945.

Korda’s run – which Scheffler would’ve paralleled if not for a one-stroke defeat to Stephan Jaeger at last month’s Texas Children’s Houston Open – holds a well-earned spot in golf history. Scheffler and his fellow TOUR pros have taken notice. Wyndham Clark called Korda’s run “amazing” after the RBC Heritage’s final round, and J.T. Poston described it as “hard to fathom.”

Last fall, Korda teamed with Tony Finau at the mixed-team Grant Thornton Invitational, finishing T4. Finau came away impressed, in a way foreshadowing what was to come.

"In a sense, to me, I look up to Nelly," Finau said at the time. "Even though she’s younger than me, she’s an incredible golfer. She’s been the No. 1 player in the world in the women’s game, and she’s someone that I think quite frankly a lot of us can still even learn from, even on the men’s side."

After winning the Corales Puntacana Championship on Sunday for his eighth TOUR title, Billy Horschel threaded the runs of Korda and Scheffler.

“I had a three-week stretch where I finished second, first, first and I thought I was something special at that time, but what Nelly and Scottie are doing is unreal,” said Horschel.

“I can't imagine that. And over a period of time, not just five weeks in a row, they've done over six, seven, eight weeks. I mean, it's unreal golf. And to think about who they're playing against in today's generation of more talented players and doing what they're still doing, man, I'd say we're not going to see anything like that again, but I'm sure we will. You just have to stand up and applaud them because it's pretty special. You know, as a golf fan, I'm just lucky to be able to see that because at the end of the day, I'm a golf fan at heart.”

And fans have lately witnessed two generational superstars playing some of the best golf possible.

“I think we’ve all seen the golf swing; I wish I could see it more in person,” Scheffler said of Korda. “Obviously some great golf, some historic stuff, and hopefully she keeps it up.”