By winning an Olympic gold medal, Nelly Korda’s status within the game is sure to be raised. According to her sister, Jessica, it rises particularly high.
“This is just kind of like almost legend status as a golfer, [fullstop], male or female,” Jessica told the Associated Press. “It’s tough to win out here and she makes it look easy, but those girls are good. So for her to be doing [this], it’s insane to me. This is like total GOAT [greatest of all time] status to me.”
A bit of hyperbole? Perhaps. But Korda’s win did mark her third strokeplay victory in her past four starts and her fourth in 2021. Not that it was easy. Korda, who blistered the course with a second-round 62 that could have been even better, topped Mone Inami of Japan and Lydia Ko of New Zealand by just one shot, giving the United States a sweep of the golf gold medals as Xander Schauffele won for the Americans in the men’s competition.
After a costly double-bogey on the par-3 seventh dropped Korda into a tie for the lead during the final round, she ran off birdies on holes eight, nine and 10 to regain her margin before parring in. A 25-foot putt on the eighth ignited the run. Korda’s putter is a Scotty Cameron by Titleist Special Select Squareback 2, a slightly oversize blade style with a milled face.
Korda’s tee-to-green game was also strong throughout the tournament. Earlier in the year, Korda made an important driver switch, going to 10-degree Titleist TSi1 with a Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ 6S shaft at the Gainbridge LPGA tournament in February. She was the first player on any tour to put the lightweight TSi1 model in play.
“She loved the shape of the TSi1 and was swinging it with a lot confidence,” said Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. “Initially, we were very close with TSi2, and she was gaining up to five miles per hour additional ball speed. But she has a slight tendency to miss on the heel, and Stephanie Luttrell [Titleist’s director of metalwood product development] suggested the TSi1 head. [That clubhead] has centre-of-gravity properties closer to face centre, [which] could help improve strike location and provide the extra forgiveness she needed on those swings.” Korda has the adjustable hosel set in the B-1 position, which promotes a slight fade.
Korda’s irons are Titleist’s T100 irons, the company’s follow-up to its AP2 model. The T100 boasts reduced offset and a thinner topline than the AP2 and uses a hefty amount of tungsten in the middle and long irons to promote a higher launch.Which, all combined, helped launch her onto the top spot on the Olympic podium.
What Nelly Korda had in the bag at the Olympics:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Titleist TSi1 (Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ 6S), 10 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TSi2, 16.5 degrees
7-wood: Titleist TSi2, 21 degrees
Hybrid: Ping G425, 19 degrees
Irons (5-PW): Titleist T100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 54, 58 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Special Select Squareback 2
PHOTO: Mike Ehrmann
