Why is Nelly Korda cool? Scottie Scheffler explained it well at the Open

Two months ago, Nelly Korda missed a three-foot putt to win the US Women’s Open. It was her second major win in a row and kicked off the LPGA’s “evil” plan to market the top player in the women’s game as we enter what is believed to be the “Summer of Nelly.”

After starting the season 1-2-2-T2-1-1-T8-1, there were reasons to believe that Nelly Korda’s streak would continue. She was headed to Hazeltine Golf Club, a golf course that suits her abilities, for the KPMG Women’s PGA and then overseas for the Evian and AIG Women’s Open. Outside of Evian, where Korda struggled, the schedule worked out well for Korda to continue playing as he added to his big numbers and punched his ticket to the LPGA hall of fame.

But Nelly Korda has cooled off since winning at Riviera Country Club.

An icy putter saw him unable to catch Haeran Ryu at Hazeltine. She then missed out on the title at Evian and recently finished T16 at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, recording a one-under round at Dundonald Links ahead of next week’s AIG Women’s Open. Golf is a game of ebbs and flows; even the best in the world are not immune. Korda knows this well. He won seven times in 2024 and did not win last year while playing at the same level from a statistical point of view.

But there’s a better way to understand Nelly Korda’s recent plunge after a blistering start.

Last week at the Open Championship, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler sat on the field and talked about a frustrating season that saw him win just once as he rattled off some near misses. He had just missed his first square in 78 races – doing so the same weekend Korda missed out on winning the Evian – and explained that staying in contention can wear you down, even if you win. Scheffler likened it to an NFL team that always makes it deep into the playoffs but eventually runs out of gas and has to restart.

“I feel at peace, yes. I think sometimes it’s not the same – it’s never the best thing to miss the cut, but like I said, sometimes to have a few days off, to reset, to get some time – throughout the year, it’s like – if you look at other sports and if you look at the football team that made it the farthest each year in the NFL, it’s really hard to continue to do that every year.

“I think towards the end of the season, you get a little tired. Like I said, I got a few days off, reset. Reset the mind. Reset the body. And just get back to the feeling and peace.”

Scheffler then explained that everything what comes with being a star – while all good things – can be taxing and ultimately a weight you have to learn to navigate.

“I think it’s just like mentally, especially in this day and age, it’s just loud all the time at golf tournaments,” Scheffler said. “I think golf is different in a sense, too, with the mental grind that goes with the game. There’s a lot more going on in tournaments.

“I think, just being watched all the time puts a burden on the player in this day and age. Everything is being recorded. When they say hello, they just pull out their cell phone. Sometimes you can feel like you’re walking on eggshells a little bit, and that can wear people down.”

That’s a fact Nelly Korda knows all too well.

He started the season on fire. He won and won and won. She fulfilled a lifelong dream and went on a media tour working to grow women’s golf. The light had never shone. He arrived at KPMG just two points away from the Hall of Fame, but confirmed that the exact distance between him and that goal is unknown. Because Nelly Korda knows the responsibility described by Scottie Scheffler, she tries to limit distractions as much as possible, knowing that she will just have to deal with everything else that comes with being a big star in women’s golf.

“I like to be carefree that way,” Korda said in Hazeltine about not knowing what it took to get to the Hall of Fame. “I know a lot about the things I want to know about, but this, I don’t want to put more pressure on myself. I feel like the game of golf is already hard enough. If I put more pressure on myself it will be even harder. I think it’s an amazing achievement and it would be one of the best achievements of my career, for sure.”

Korda left Hazeltine and missed the cut for Evian. After that, he took a week off and headed to Prague to start fresh before competing in the last tournament of the year. Just like Scheffler did after missing the Scottish Open, Korda has done his best to make the most of his time away from the spotlight, knowing he’ll be back at it soon.

“First, recharge the batteries,” Korda said of his week off in Prague. “You live a little normal life for a week. It’s my second home. Obviously I have a home base there, so I can practice and get back to my roots.”

Korda opened with an even-par 72 at Dundonald and made the weekend but never struggled as Jenny Shin won her first tournament in 10 years. After shooting a final round 69, Korda turned her attention to next week’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. A T16 finish won’t move the needle for Korda, but it was an important week as he prepares for the test of links golf that will give him another chance to enter the Hall of Fame and complete an LPGA career Grand Slam (winning four of five majors).

“It’s a very uphill week,” Korda said on Sunday. “It was good to finish with a good round on Sunday leading into next week, but I think anytime you get to play in this kind of weather just before the British, it’s good preparation and you know what you’re going to get. I’ve felt everything this week: sunshine, a little warm, and rain on the side, strong winds. But that’s a given here. So try to get into next week.”

Scottie Scheffler knows what Nelly Korda has to go through every week, the weight it creates and how important it is to manage it in order to maintain the elite level of play that has defined both of them over the past few years. Scheffler put together a rare T4 weekend at the Open, narrowly missing out on a fifth major.

Nelly Korda has been cool since leaving the Riviera. That was to be expected given the unprecedented heater and weight that often comes with the transients. Every win, every success adds more eyeballs, more questions, more responsibility. That’s star value. It’s a charge both Scheffler and Korda are familiar with.

After a torrid week in Prague and a respectable re-entry in Scotland, Nelly Korda now faces the biggest question of her season – one that Scheffler faced last week at Royal Birkdale: Can the world’s best player end her big season by doing the hardest thing in golf and winning when everyone expects her to?

That is a burden only a few bear.