Set for Sunday battle: KPMG Women’s PGA co-leaders Nelly Korda, Lizette Salas look to end American major drought

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Lizette Salas didn’t even realize she’d shot 30 on the front nine until she signed her scorecard. It wasn’t that long ago that she was bothered by the sound of people shouting her name on a golf course. As she rolled in more than 100 feet of birdie putts – six in the first eight holes – on Saturday at the KPMG Women’s PGA, Salas heard her name ring through the Georgia pines, and she found it beautiful.

“I was embracing it,” said Salas. “I was greeting some fans and just enjoying the moment. It’s been a while since I’ve done that.”

The final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA is set to be a stunner. Nelly Korda, who sits tied with Salas at 15 under through 54 holes at Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course, has the chance to climb to No. 1 in the world and claim her first major title, fulfilling a destiny that sits heavy on her tall and slender frame. Stacy Lewis was the last American to be ranked No. 1 way back in 2014. Angela Stanford was the last American to hoist a trophy in 2018.

Korda and Salas are five clear of the rest of the field, with Patty Tavatanakit, Giulia Molinaro and Celine Boutier in a share of third at 10 under. Korda has five LPGA titles; Salas’ lone victory came in 2014.

Rookie Tavatanakit, the wire-to-wire winner at the ANA Inspiration, carded the day’s low round, 65, to insert her name as the biggest threat to upstage the final pairing.

Keep in mind that earlier this month at the U.S. Women’s Open, Lexi Thompson held a five-shot lead on the back nine of the final round and didn’t even make it into the playoff. At the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Jason Dufner held a five-shot lead at on the 15th tee and wound up losing in a playoff to Keegan Bradley.

“That back nine, it will make you pucker up,” said veteran caddie John Killeen, who reunited with Salas earlier this year.

It’s been a banner year for American golf, with five LPGA titles so far this season, and it’s looking like four Americans will head to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Kordas claim three of those five titles and will likely claim two of the Olympic spots.

But it’s the majors that define greatness. These are the moments that become seared into the minds of fans, inspire the next generation and elevate the tour.

These are the moments when stars are born.

Nelly Korda, winner of last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic, birdied the first two holes on Saturday to continue her streak of consecutive birdies to eight – the most in LPGA major history – and put her at 37 under par for her last 109 holes.

Korda said that she told her caddie, Jason McDede, when they started working together that he’d have a heart attack a round working with her.

“I mean, I risked it on No. 15, that par 3,” said Korda of a shot that flirted with the water’s edge, “and I swear to God I gave myself a heart attack.”

Korda’s driving average for the week is more than 30 yards past Salas, but it does nothing to rattle the 31-year-old veteran.

Two years ago at the Solheim Cup, Salas took down one of the longest players on tour – Anne van Dam – in Sunday singles, saying “I’ll just meet you on the green.”

“I’m not at all intimidated by length,” said Salas, who sometimes hit hybrid inside Korda’s short irons. “I just know I can compete out here.”

For Salas – who went 45 holes without a bogey –­ the shot of the day actually didn’t come on the greens. It was a bunker shot she hit on the sixth hole that nestled 3 feet from the hole. She used to avoid the bunkers, dread them really, but recent work with swing coach Jim Gormley has her ready to accept the challenge. She’s 3-for-3 in sand saves this week and leading the field.

“You just get this like tingle in your stomach when you pull off a shot that you’ve been working on for so long,” she said, “and you just have it perfectly pictured in your mind and somehow your body just knows what to do.”

Both Korda and Salas have talked recently about finding more joy in their craft. She might look stoic, but inside it feels like a roller coaster.

“I think it feels good to kind of let it out,” she said. “You never realize it until someone says it in a sense, and I realized it when Bubba (Watson) and Matt Wolff said it at the U.S. Open, and it makes you think that you’re like – you know, like why isn’t everyone taking this approach, like why are you bringing your work home after? If you’ve had a bad day, you just feel like you just don’t laugh throughout the entire day. You leave your work here, you go home, have a good day and come back with a better attitude.”

Salas first opened up to her team in February about the mental health struggles she’d faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. When she moved to Dallas, she said, she was running away from her problems rather than being accountable for what was going on.

Killeen was on the bag for Salas when she won in Kingsmill and said the player he sees now is more well-rounded, more humble and quicker to laugh. She’s a better communicator, too.

Salas opened up to the media about her struggles after Round 1, but said that when she touched on it in a previous Instagram post she got feedback from her peers. The most surprising, she said, was from Lexi Thompson, a powerful, successful player who said that she could relate. Salas took comfort in that, and said she believes that she was meant to go through the dark days.

“It brought me closer to who I really am,” she said.