By Ryan Herrington
The promise Nelly Korda has shown since joining the LPGA a year ago was never in doubt. And in 2018, her second season on tour, she demonstrated nothing but consistency: 18 starts, 14 cuts made and five top-10 finishes.

But there was something else on Sunday at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship, a confidence that lifted the 20-year-old to a bogey-free 68 to Ta Shee Golf & Country Club and two-stroke victory over Australia’s Minjee Lee.

Tied for first with local favorite Wei-Ling Hsu from Chinese Taipei to start the day, Korda played flawlessly on the front nine, making a birdie on the fourth hole and an eagle on the par-5 sixth. Another birdie on the 10th gave her a cushion as Hsu struggled to a 75, allowing Korda to close with eight straight pars and walk away with a comfortable victory (Lee made birdies on the last two holes to get to only two back.)

“Truthfully, I cannot put it into words,” Korda said. “It still hasn’t hit. It’s definitely one of the best days of my entire life. I can finally check that off of my list, winning an LPGA event, something that I dreamed of ever since I started playing.”

With the victory, Nelly joins older sister Jessica, a five-time LPGA winner, as just the third siblings to each claim LPGA titles. The others are Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam, who becoming the first in 2000, and Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn also accomplishing the feat this season.

A nervous Jessica was watching back at her home in West Palm Beach.

Wonder how big sis @Thejessicakorda was reacting to @NellyKorda‘s first LPGA win? Here’s your answer.

Jessica was watching from her home in Florida at 3:30 am.#SwingingSkirts pic.twitter.com/NYqDX2sUsb

— #CMEFinalStretch (@LPGA) October 28, 2018

 

View this post on Instagram

 

MY SISTER…… @lpga_tour CHAMPION…. #tyVis ?

A post shared by Jessica Korda (@thejessicakorda) on Oct 28, 2018 at 2:22am PDT

Moments after the win, Nelly and Jessica spoke via FaceTime.

“She was saying how proud of me she is, and you know, she was crying probably more than me today,” Nelly said. “But it’s a bond, like that you just can’t even think of. She’s definitely my best friend. She’s been there every step of the way. She knows exactly what I’ve gone through this year.”

Kevin Lee
Korda reacts to winning her first LPGA career title at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship.

Most specifically, Nelly was dealing with the disappointment of letting victory slip away earlier this year in Singapore, when she had a final-round lead only to have Michelle Wie make a 35-foot birdie on the last hole to steal away the title.

“I have been in the final group on Sunday now three times. So having that experience has definitely helped me a lot,” Nelly said. “I didn’t get ahead of myself. I kept repeating this one quote that I had in my yardage book, and I just took it shot by shot and I was saying that, If it’s my time, it’s my time, not to get ahead of myself. All these girls are playing really amazing. I just have to stay focused on myself and just stay relaxed.”

Nelly is the second youngest winner on the LPGA Tour in 2018, and the ninth first-time winner this season. That ties the 2016 season for the third most first-time winners on tour in LPGA history. The most was 11 back in 1995, with 10 accomplishing the feat in 2005.

The post Nelly Korda shoots bogey-free 68 to win first LPGA title at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Two Chinese golfers, Shanshan Feng and Yu Liu, withdrew from this week’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship on Tuesday. And according to Reuters, this had nothing to do with an issue specific to either player, but everything to do with their home country.

Reuters reports someone “high up” in the Chinese government told Feng, a former World No. 1, and Liu to skip the event amid growing tensions between China and Taiwan.

“They said I can’t respond regarding the issue of withdrawing from the competition,” Liu, an LPGA rookie who played collegiately at Duke, told Reuters via her official account on the Twitter-like social-media platform Weibo. Liu added her decision was “not for personal reasons.”

Both Feng and Liu had played each of the past two weeks to kick off the Asian swing of the tour’s fall schedule.

Someone working at the tournament told Reuters neither player would be fined for such a late WD “given the circumstances,” though there was no elaboration as to what those “circumstances” are. Feng and Liu’s agent, Ruby Chen, denied her players were being pressured into not playing. However, Chen also didn’t provide Reuters with an explanation.

Feng, a nine-time LPGA winner and the bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics, had finished runner-up and T-3 the past two years at the Taiwan event.

The post Chinese players withdraw after being told to skip LPGA event in Taiwan, according to report appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins

South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji won the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship by six strokes over former Rolex World No. 1, Lydia Ko. It’s Ji’s first win on the LPGA since her win at the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open. Ji, who’s from Seoul but now lives in Florida, took the lead after the first round, shooting a six-under 66 at Miramar Golf Club. She finished with rounds of 71, 69 and 65, never seriously being threatened as finally ended her lengthy winless streak.

“I’m so happy and excited because I haven’t won for the past eight years,” said Ji, who’s in her 11th season on tour. “So I was waiting for this moment for so long, I’m super happy right now.”

Though Ko closed strong with weekend rounds of 68 and 65, Ji’s lead was too great to overcome. Ji, 31, made just three bogeys all week, on her way to shooting 17 under for the week. The six-shot triumph ties for the largest victory margin on the LPGA this season.

Like Ko, current World No. 1 So Yeon Ryu shot 65 in the final round. She finished in a five-way tie for third at seven under.

A little bit further down the leader board, a familiar name popped up with a better finish than usual. Former World No. 1 Yani Tseng, playing back at home in Taiwan, had a stronger week. ON the back nine of the final round, she went eagle-birdie-birdie to put herself into the top five on the leader board. Unfortunately, the 28-year-old made a double bogey and a bogey coming in and finished T-17. Still, the finish is a step in the right direction for Tseng, who has been struggling this year, missing 15 cuts.

“I missed this feeling, and I really want to thank all the fans who came out today to give me great support,” Tseng said. “I really appreciate it and I feel the nerves and I feel the pressure, but it was great pressure and good nerves. I haven’t had that for a while.”

The post A former U.S. Women’s Open champ gets first win in eight years while two former World No. 1s have encouraging finishes in Taiwan appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.