Nelly Korda cliamed her third LPGA Tour victory on the trot, posting a 65 in her final round Sunday to capture the Ford Championship title in Arizona, with Leona Maguire finishing ten shots back.
Korda had a bogey-free day with seven birdies, including two birdies over her final three holes that helped her outlast Australia's Hira Naveed by two shots. Korda finished at 20-under 268 at Seville Golf and Country Club.
"Yeah, just honestly feels like a blur," said Korda afterwards.
"Taking it day by day, really trying to stay very present and just played really good golf, solid golf in tough conditions today, which I'm very happy about."
The last player to win three consecutive LPGA starts with Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016. No American player had pulled off the feat since Nanc yLopez rattled off five straight wins in 1978.
"It's very hard mentally to be 100%, especially after a win, especially playing in tough conditions," the world No 1 added.
"So as boring as it sounds, I wasjust taking it shot by shot and seeing where I was going to end up."
The crucial moment came at the par-four 16th hole. Korda was tied for the lead at 18 under at the time, and her approach shot into the green backspun just over the cup and left her a short birdie putt that put her alone on top.
"I laid up. That's one hole that we kind of switched the game plan on," Korda said. "Other than that, I just tried to stay really aggressive and I knew that a low one - I had to shoot a low one to be in contention, and just played really smart golf out there today."
Naveed is a rookie who made just her second start on tour. She followed Saturday's round of 65 with a 66 on Sunday, featuring seven birdies and justone bogey.
Tied for third at 17 under were Lexi Thompson (68), South Korea's Mi Hyang Lee(68), Swedes Frida Kinhult (68) and Maja Stark (69) and Spaniard CarlotaCiganda (70).
Leona Maguire signed off with a 71 to finish on 10 under for a share of 45th. The Cavan competitor picked up two shots over the front nine but bogeys followed on 10, 11 and 15 to stall to stall her momentum. She did finish well, however, with birdies at 16 and 17.
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