World No. 1 Nelly Korda birdied five holes to win her seventh LPGA Tour title of 2024 as 54-hole leader Charlie Hull faded in the final round of The ANNIKA in Florida.
Hull led Korda and China’s Weiwei Zhang by one shot on Sunday, but then carded a 71 on the erratic front nine – three bogeys and two birdies – to finish 11 over.
Korda, who won with a 14-under par, also had a stutter, coming away with three bogeys and a lone win, but rattled off his back nine, shooting 5 shots between 11 and 15.
Hull made just one birdie during that stretch as her hopes of a second title on the Women’s European Tour after the Aramco Team Series Riyadh this month evaporated and she also bogeyed her penultimate hole.
Korda carded a three-under 67 to finish three shots clear of Hull, Zhang and South Korea’s Jin Hee-im, with Sweden’s Lynn Grant and Rose Zhang of the United States tied for fifth place at 10 under.
Korda has won the ANNIKA three times in four years, with back-to-back wins in 2021 and 2022, and the 26-year-old will now head into next week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, also in Florida, full of confidence from a dramatic year after.
Korda (right) and Hal embrace after the American won The ANNIKA for the third time in four years
Korda wins again after a season of headlines
Korda won six times in seven starts between January and May, a record-equalling run of five straight LPGA Tour titles that ended with victory at the Chevron Championship as she captured her second major trophy after the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship.
However, Korda then went on to miss three in a row, including at the US Women’s Open and the Women’s PGA Championship, as she shot rounds of 80 or better in both.
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He took a break from the game from September until this week after suffering a neck injury that he believed was caused by severe migraines that only sleep and darkness could relieve.
Korda said after winning The ANNIKA. “It’s great to be back here and there’s nothing like being on the hunt.
“There’s no such thing as an adrenaline rush on the back nine. I love it.”
Hull was seeking 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 her first tournament win since the Mizuho Americas Open six months ago.
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