That reform, at least in part, has propelled Korda to a winning pace unparalleled in the history of her sport ahead of this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, where she seeks her first win in the most prestigious event in women’s golf. Korda’s run of six wins in seven starts this season included his first major championship of the year, the Chevron Championship in April.

She is the first player to record such a streak since at least 1980, when the LPGA Tour began keeping official statistics. Her most recent win came this month at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, in the shadow of Manhattan. The only time you didn’t win during the streak? She is still tied for seventh place. That’s why hearing her talk about her 2016 swing seems so upsetting.

“I was watching [the 2016 video]“And I knew my swing was pretty bad,” Korda said. “It just shows how much hope there is always for anyone out there, because I’ve worked really hard on my swing. For us, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are very, very important to make sure my swing is at the right level and in the right places. …

“Making sure I get into my positions is really key for me because if I start over-rotating on the way back up, it’s hard for me to get back into that position on the way down. It may look the same, but even if I’m away Half a degree, your face is half a degree open, and this thing is going to move sideways.

With a swing that players on both the LPGA and PGA Tour consider perhaps the most vocal and frequent in the game — especially in higher-leverage conditions — the 25-year-old arrives here as the favorite in the second of the five major tournaments on the women’s golf calendar.

Accompanying her in Lancaster is Mulligan, whose presence has been invaluable to the two-time major champion during this outstanding season. In previous years, Korda relied on video calls with coaches, including longtime shortstop coach David Whelan, to make swing corrections. Those sessions did not necessarily translate into better course results.

Mulligan was standing just off the 18th green after Korda won the Chevron Championship and has been with it regularly this year. She made sure to thank him during the trophy presentation after she took a ceremonial leap into a lake at The Club at Carlton Woods, as part of a tournament tradition.

“I rarely had a coach here last year and the years before that, and I love the fact that I have a coach here now because before, if I couldn’t hit the ball well — it’s different than having someone here versus FaceTiming,” said Korda, who was introduced to “You’re trying to figure it out on your own,” Mulligan said several years ago, “actually having that conversation face-to-face and being in that situation and kind of feeling it, because the feeling versus the reality is very, very different.”

Korda’s tee-to-green excellence left her peers in awe. That includes world No. 6 Rose Zhang, the only player to win the event Korda entered during her streak.

“I don’t know how to explain it or how to put it right, but what Nelly is doing is not something that just anyone could do, and history tells us that,” Zhang said. “I’m witnessing crazy history, and it’s really inspiring to see her out here playing. She seems almost unfazed, I think.” [it’s] Because she’s so grounded in her prep work, so grounded with the people around her, and she loves the game. She really comes out here and plays for herself.

Zhang — who shot 24 under par to win the Founders’ Cup by two strokes over Sweden’s Madeline Sagstrom — is in one of the featured groups during Thursday’s first round in Lancaster, which last hosted the US Women’s Open in 2015. Ji Chun won that year by a stroke One over fellow South Korean Amy Yang and two strokes over Stacy Lewis, captain of the US Solheim Cup team, and Inbee Park, also from South Korea.

Korda’s uprising brought more attention to women’s golf during a boom period in women’s sports. The NCAA women’s basketball final between Iowa and South Carolina drew an average of 18.9 million viewers, a record for women’s basketball at any level. The WNBA draft — with former Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark selected first — also took place Broke ratings recordsAnd Clark arrives They have been linked Increase in WNBA ratings.

Meanwhile, the final round of the Chevron Championship peaked with nearly 2 million viewers. According to NBCmaking it the most-watched Chevron Championship since 2010. This US Open’s purse, at $12 million, is the largest in women’s golf, with the winner taking home $2.4 million.

“It’s an exciting time for the women’s game,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan, who served as LPGA Tour commissioner from 2010 to 2021. I think anyone who knew Nelly over the years knew she was there. I don’t know if any of us thought this was her type of run, but her ability to have multi-win seasons was never in doubt. One thing I know from being in the LPGA… there are 70 or 80 players working harder now than ever before, and that’s what makes them run so hard, because there’s so much talent. “It’s deeper than ever.”