Nelly Korda will not be claiming all the LPGA accolades this season.
Currently the top-ranked player in the women’s world standings, Korda had to step back from the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea as well as the upcoming Maybank Championship in Malaysia due to a minor neck injury she sustained during practice.
“I’m taking time to rest and collaborating with my team to recover,” Korda shared through an Instagram story.
This year, Korda has celebrated six victories, including a major title and a remarkable streak of five consecutive wins.
However, she started the season slowly, failing to make the cut three times, two of which were in the majors. In total, she has played just 56 rounds this season.
The LPGA’s eligibility criteria for the Vare Trophy, awarded for the lowest scoring average, requires players to complete 70 rounds.
Given her recent schedule, Korda is only likely to participate in two more tournaments, leaving her well short of that requirement.
She last played on September 22 near Cincinnati.
To be eligible, she would need to enter all four remaining events after Malaysia, which occur in Japan, Hawaii, and two in Florida—a scenario that seems improbable.
Meanwhile, Jeeno Thitikul from Thailand demonstrated impressive consistency at the Shanghai tournament last week, scoring below par in all four rounds and raising her average to 69.891, which puts her 0.166 ahead of Japan’s Ayaka Furue.
Nevertheless, Korda is not completely out of the race; she holds a 100-point lead over Lydia Ko for the LPGA Player of the Year title.
Additionally, Korda is ahead in the Race to CME Globe, although that is somewhat inconsequential, as the victor of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship also secures the season race title.
In a surprising turn of events, Matt McCarty’s triumph at the Black Desert Championship has now made him the 47th player in the world rankings, contributing to what may be a historic number of left-handed golfers in professional golf.
Presently, there are four southpaw players ranked in the top 50, a record since the rankings began in 1986.
The last notable group of left-handed players to achieve such a feat included Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, and Mike Weir, but they never reached the top 50 simultaneously.
Mickelson consistently maintained his position in the top 50 from 1993 until 2019.
Watson only broke into the top 50 after winning the Travelers Championship in 2010, just two months after Weir dropped out.
Robert MacIntyre, who secured triumphs at both the Canadian Open and Scottish Open this year, currently sits as the highest-ranked left-handed player at No. 16.
This is followed by 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman at No. 23, with Akshay Bhatia, a two-time winner, ranking No. 29.
In other news, Titleist is launching the new 2025 edition of its Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls this week during the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
This launch commemorates the 25th anniversary of Titleist first introducing a golf ball that significantly transformed professional golf.
Given Titleist’s already substantial presence on tour, it came as no surprise that many players opted to use it in Las Vegas.
In the past, most professionals favored a wound ball that offered better spin and control around the greens, often at the cost of distance.
The redesigned Pro V1 now features a solid core and urethane elastomer cover, enabling increased distance while maintaining a high level of control.
Titleist expected around 24 players to adopt the new ball for the competition, bringing 60 dozen golf balls to Las Vegas.
Instead, 47 players transitioned to the new equipment, marking what Titleist claims is the largest collective adoption of new gear in PGA Tour history.
Notably, Billy Andrade switched to the new ball and won in Las Vegas, while Phil Mickelson made the switch and finished as the runner-up.
Mickelson later expressed that using the new ball made him feel like a completely different player.
As much focus as Titleist receives, it is interesting to note that Mark O’Meara was the first player to win a major with a modern solid-core ball when he used a Top-Flight Strata Tour ball to win both the Masters and British Open in 1998.
Tiger Woods continued to utilize a wound Titleist Professional ball until he transitioned to a Nike solid-core ball in May 2000, just before winning the U.S. Open by an astonishing 15 shots at Pebble Beach, igniting a historic run of four consecutive majors.
The Pro V1 debuted around five months later, with Karrie Webb and Retief Goosen becoming the first major champions to use it during the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open and the U.S. Open, respectively.
Matt McCarty and Jason Gore are the only players to have won three times on what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour, achieving instant promotions to the PGA Tour and subsequently winning on the main tour within the same season.
One player whose accomplishment was remarkable yet often overlooked is Paul Stankowski.
He not only won on the Nike Tour one week but also clinched victory on the PGA Tour the following week.
Stankowski had to requalify for his tour card for the 1996 season through Q-school.
After playing in New Orleans and realizing he wouldn’t qualify for The Players Championship, he stayed on for the Nike Louisiana Open and emerged victorious.
Being the sixth alternate for the next week’s BellSouth Classic in Atlanta, he decided to attend and was the last player admitted on the eve of the tournament, ultimately defeating Brandel Chamblee in a playoff.
This marked a phenomenal trajectory—capturing a title on the Nike Tour one week, then the PGA Tour the next, before making his Masters debut at Augusta National.
In other updates, the Pelican Golf Club, which is set to host an LPGA tournament from November 14-17, reported suffering significant rain, wind, and severe flooding as a result of Hurricane Milton.
However, the club has made “remarkable” progress in preparing the course.
Additionally, Matt McCarty is among four PGA Tour rookies to win this season, along with Nick Dunlap, Jake Knapp, and Matthieu Pavon.
Golf Digest noted that there were 201 penalties related to black lava or lost-ball scenarios during the Black Desert Championship in Utah.
Lastly, Matti Schmid made a significant move in Utah, nailing a birdie on the 18th to make the cut before shooting a remarkable 62 on Sunday, finishing fifth, and jumping from No. 120 to No. 105 in the FedEx Cup standings, which should secure his PGA Tour card for the next season.
For this week’s statistic, only 11 out of the 132 players participating in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas currently hold exemptions for next year’s Masters.
In closing, Matt McCarty, the Black Desert Championship victor, remarked, “I think learning how to win comes down to simply playing better golf.”