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Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda are chasing historical past this weekend.
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After Nelly Korda gained final week’s Seri Pak Championship, she celebrated in correct West Coast trend.
“A pleasant In-N-Out burger and Animal Fries,” she mentioned with a smile. It wasn’t a very glamorous celebration — the burger cease got here as she and fellow professional Olivia Cowan had been splitting the six-hour drive to Gilbert, Ariz., for this week’s Ford Championship — however it did the trick.
“Yeah, it was good,” she mentioned from Arizona, reflecting at a pre-tournament press convention.
Scottie Scheffler is aware of about celebrating with cheeseburgers. We don’t have affirmation on his Gamers Championship celebration two weeks in the past, however in a 2022 interview with GOLF, Scheffler defined that when he wins, he celebrates at Burger Home, a fast-food chain in Dallas — plus he served cheeseburger sliders, “Scottie-style,” at his Masters Champions dinner. (And when he misses the lower he will get Burger Home, too, as a pick-me-up.)
Nevertheless it’s not simply beef that binds the 2. Korda’s newest win obtained her again to No. 1. Scheffler’s newest win ensured he’ll keep at No. 1 for some time. And this week they’re chasing an intriguing little bit of golf historical past.
For Korda, this week marks her return to World No. 1 and a thirty eighth profession week in that place. It was additionally her second victory in as many begins; she’d gained the LPGA Drive On Championship in Bradenton in January. When she teed it up on Thursday she started the chase for the primary three-tournament win streak of her profession.
Scheffler’s victory on the Gamers Championship solely cemented his standing as World No. 1; his lead over World No. 2 Rory McIlroy (4.35 common OWGR factors, for those who care) is about the identical as McIlroy’s lead over World No. 22 Tom Kim. However like Korda it was his second victory in as many begins after his Arnold Palmer Invitational victory per week earlier than. So, like Korda, he teed it up Thursday in pursuit of a primary profession three-peat.
Three consecutive wins don’t occur typically on both tour. The final LPGA professional to tug off the feat was Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 when she gained the Yokohama Tire LPGA Basic, the Kingsmill Championship and the LPGA Volvik Championship. (These had been, improbably, the primary three wins of her profession.) On the PGA Tour the final man to tug it off was Dustin Johnson, who in 2017 gained Genesis, WGC-Mexico and the WGC-Match Play in consecutive begins as a part of his reign as World No. 1. And from what I can inform it’s by no means occurred like this, the place World No. 1s on each the boys’s and girls’s excursions would choose up three straight in the identical week.
However one other factor the 2 have in frequent is that they’re comparatively nonplussed by something like this.
“I feel my purpose is to remain very current, take it — as boring because it sounds — one shot at a time and go from there,” Korda mentioned. “I’ve an excellent, strong staff round me, which I’m so grateful for. And simply type of keep in my very own bubble.”
“Yeah, I don’t actually assume a lot about that type of stuff,” Scheffler supplied in his personal pre-tournament press convention on the Houston Open. What does he need from this week? “I feel simply extra of the identical. I need to method this week with an excellent angle, hit good photographs.”
You don’t must look or pay attention exhausting to see the similarities. There’s what they put on (Nike) what they play (TaylorMade) how they work (exhausting) how they win (typically) and the way they discuss it (humbly).
You will discover some frequent floor of their roads to the highest, too.
Each performed in U.S. Opens as amateurs; Korda made the lower on the 2013 U.S. Girls’s Open as a 14-year-old, whereas Scheffler certified in 2016 and 2017 as a university athlete; he was low am in 2017.
Korda skipped school and turned professional, leapfrogging her profession previous that of Scheffler, who’s two years older. She performed the Symetra Tour for only a season earlier than graduating to the LPGA for the 2017 marketing campaign. After graduating from Texas, Scheffler performed a season on the Korn Ferry Tour earlier than graduating to the PGA Tour for the 2020 season. Every had early success, however related breakout years despatched them to the highest: In 2021 Korda gained 4 occasions on the LPGA Tour, together with her first main on the KPMG Girls’s PGA (plus Olympic gold). And in 2022 Scheffler gained 4 occasions on the PGA Tour, together with his first main on the Masters.
Korda’s newest win was the tenth of her LPGA profession; Scheffler now has eight. They nonetheless personal one main every. In an period the place every tour is all the time on the lookout for its subsequent dominant star, they’re every comfortable to throw their hat within the ring. Simply don’t ask ’em to reward their very own accomplishments; they’re equally unimpressed with their efforts up so far.
“I don’t assume I ever consider that truly,” Korda mentioned this week when requested if she’s thought-about her possibilities on the Corridor of Fame. “I simply consider every thing in my current time and simply take it one week at a time. If I get there, then nice, however that’s not one thing that I feel that I placed on my purpose sheet. I feel small targets then finally result in your greater targets.”
“We’re taking part in at Riv this yr, and I hit my tee ball and this man yells out, like, ‘Congrats on being No. 1, Scottie … 11 extra years to go,’” Scheffler mentioned on the Gamers, laughing. The fan’s reference was the the OWGR No. 1 file set by Tiger Woods. “Eleven extra years to go,” Scheffler repeated for emphasis.
Successful any golf event is an unlikely feat for a person, so it’s not going each No. 1s will hoist their respective trophies on Sunday. Nevertheless it feels possible they’ll be within the dialog.
Korda took it straightforward early within the week, she mentioned, hoping to maintain her power ranges up for the event. She entered because the event favourite with 9-to-1 odds to win and opened with a spherical of six-under 66 that left her simply three photographs off the lead.
Scheffler arrived in Houston with preposterously low odds of +275 and that quantity lower in half after he opened with five-under 65, only one shot off the lead.
After his spherical, a reporter requested Scheffler if he now expects to win. He dismissed the query.
“No,” he mentioned. “I begin each event the identical method, I try to keep affected person, I attempt to not look too far forward, I attempt to do my greatest. Easy as that, actually only one shot at a time. I like to regulate issues I can management and that’s being dedicated to the shot and making an attempt to execute.
“On Thursday I’m undoubtedly not eager about Sunday.”
I assume meaning no cheeseburger plans but, both.
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