NAPLES, Fla. – After Jin Young Ko left Nelly Korda in the dust with a blistering 9-under 63 Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship, not only taking the $1.5 million winner’s prize but also claiming Rolex Player of the Year honors, Korda could only tip her cap.
“There is not much you can do except just sit back and watch,” said Korda, who shot a closing 69 at Tiburon Golf Club to go from 54-hole co-lead to T-5, six shots back.
“I wish I could have kind of given it a better run, but in all, I think I had a great year.”
Full-field scores from the CME Group Tour Championship
The 23-year-old Korda closed her season with four wins, including her first major championship, at the KPMG Women’s PGA. She also won Olympic gold in Tokyo and reached No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings for the first time. She’ll close the year with the top spot in the world, too.
Even though she didn’t win the CME Globe or Player of the Year (Ko edged her by 14 points after Korda entered the season finale up 10), Korda didn’t complain.
“It’s honestly been crazy, but, you know, a lot of people tried to put like the award situation I feel like in my head a little, and I guess sometimes that gets the best of you,” she said. “You may come out of this thinking, Hey, I didn’t win an award. It wasn’t that good of a year. If I look back, it’s like, Jesus, I’ve done a lot.”
Korda will head to the West Coast for some downtime before returning to Florida for the PNC Championship on Dec. 16-19 in Orlando, which she’ll play with her father, Petr.
“I told him that I’m going to sacrifice my offseason for him, so he better be practicing,” Korda said. “He’s carrying the team.”
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