World No 1 Nelly Korda went on a five-hole birdie burst to assert her seventh LPGA Tour title of 2024 as 54-hole chief Charley Hull light within the closing spherical of The ANNIKA in Florida.
Hull led Korda and China’s Weiwei Zhang by one shot going into Sunday however then carded a one-over 71 – an erratic entrance 9 featured three bogeys and two birdies – to finish on 11 below.
Korda, who triumphed with a rating of 14 below, additionally stuttered popping out with three bogeys and a solitary acquire, however sizzled on her again 9, selecting up 5 photographs on the trot between 11 and 15.
Hull made only one birdie throughout that stretch as her hopes of a second title this month – after the Aramco Workforce Collection Riyadh on the Women European Tour – evaporated and she or he additionally bogeyed her penultimate gap.
Korda signed for a three-under 67 to complete three strokes away from Hull, Zhang and South Korea’s Jin Hee Im, with Sweden’s Linn Grant and USA’s Rose Zhang sharing fifth on 10 below.
Korda has received The ANNIKA 3 times in 4 years after going back-to-back in 2021 and 2022, with the 26-year-old to now head to subsequent week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship – additionally in Florida – filled with confidence after a dramatic 12 months.
Korda wins once more after headline-making season
Korda received six instances in seven begins between January and Could, with a record-equalling run of 5 straight LPGA Tour titles culminating in victory on the Chevron Championship as she scooped her second main trophy after the 2021 Ladies’s PGA Championship.
Nevertheless, Korda then missed three cuts in a row, together with on the US Ladies’s Open and Ladies’s PGA Championship as she shot rounds of 80 or above in each.
Get one of the best costs and e book a spherical at one in all 1,700 programs throughout the UK & Eire
She took a break from the sport from September till this week after a neck harm that she feels was triggered by extreme migraines which solely sleep and being in the dead of night might quell.
Korda mentioned after successful The ANNIKA: “It feels great to be back out here and there’s nothing like being in the hunt.
“There’s nothing just like the adrenaline flowing on the again 9 and being in competition. I adore it a lot.”
Hull was looking for her third LPGA Tour title and first since the Volunteers of America Classic in October 2022 but had to settle for joint second as Korda tasted a first tournament victory since the Mizuho Americas Open six months ago.
Watch round one of the CME Group Tour Championship, from Naples in Florida, live on Sky Sports Golf, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports+ from 8pm on Thursday, with coverage continuing for all four days. Stream with NOW.
