Nelly completes the ‘Korda Slam’

Upholds family tradition of winning Open titles in Australia

February 17, 2019 10:33 pm | Updated 10:33 pm IST - Adelaide

Joy unbound: Nelly Korda is on cloud nine after winning the Australian Open golf championship on Sunday.

Joy unbound: Nelly Korda is on cloud nine after winning the Australian Open golf championship on Sunday.

Nelly Korda added to an amazing family tradition of winning top titles down under by claiming the LPGA Australian Open by two shots in Adelaide and celebrating with a scissor-kick on Sunday.

The World No. 16 American has been the form player of recent months, and has now scored two wins and two other top three finishes in her last five events.

In holding off South Korean challenger Ko Jin-young, Korda joined her father, sister and brother in being crowned an Open champion on Australian soil.

Dad Petr got the ball rolling by winning the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam in 1998, beating Marcelo Rios, and celebrated with his trademark scissor-kick.

Her sister Jessica then won the Australian Open golf in 2012, duplicating her father's celebration, as did brother Sebastian when he took out the Australian Open tennis boys' title last year.

Not to be outdone, Nelly also nailed the ‘Korda Kick’ after her final round 67.

Just minutes after tapping in a par putt at the 18th hole, she was handed a phone and her elder sister was looking at her through Facetime.

Korda put it in context: “I'm finally a part of the club. She was pretty much screaming congratulations, she was so happy for me. I mean this win was really special for my family,” she added.

“I think there's something in the air here, we love coming down under.

“I just got off the phone with my Dad and he said ‘well, congratulations, you're part of the Korda Slam now’.”

Korda was the overnight leader and held her nerve despite a bogey on the 15th to beat Ko by two and Taiwan's Hsu Wei-ling by five.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.