Scheffler and Korda's Dominance Continues | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
April 21st, 2024 

This week in the professional golfing world, the PGA Tour hosted a signature event at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, SC and the LPGA Tour was at the Club at Carlton Woods for the playing of their first major, the Chevron Championship.

RBC Heritage - Tournament History 

A staple on the PGA Tour since 1969, the Pete Dye design at Harbour Town has served as the host site of the RBC Heritage for the entirety of its existence. Pete Dye courses are traditionally some of the most famous and beloved tracks on Tour every year, and Harbour Town is no exception. Similar to the run Nelly Korda is currently on, Scottie Scheffler has won three of his last four starts, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The PLAYERS Championship, and last week’s Masters Tournament. The only tournament he’s lost in that stretch was in Houston, where he missed a five-foot putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff. An elevated event for the second consecutive season, the PGA Tour’s best show up for a showdown in Harbour Town, despite playing in the season’s first major the week prior. 

While the winner of the Masters gets a green jacket, the winner of the RBC Heritage gets a red plaid jacket along with a shiny trophy and a $3.6 million paycheck. Last year, Matt Fitzpatrick outlasted Jordan Spieth in a playoff, adding another big win to his resume. In typical Pete Dye fashion, the course provides scoring opportunities, but plenty of trouble lurks that can derail a round at any point. While there is no island green at Harbour Town, there is a lot of water and the second-smallest greens on tour – only Pebble Beach has smaller putting surfaces. With ball striking at a premium, it is not uncommon to see the players known for their ball striking to post high finishes here. The previous five champions are as follows: 

2024 - Scottie Scheffler (-19)
2023 - Matt Fitzpatrick (-17)
2022 - Jordan Spieth (-13)
2021 - Stewart Cink (-19)
2020 - Webb Simpson (-22) 

The Big Swing

No, it’s not deja vu. Scottie Scheffler has once again run away with another PGA Tour title, winning the RBC Heritage by three shots in a Monday morning finish due to some weather that suspended play throughout Sunday’s final round. 

After winning at Augusta a week ago, Scheffler returned home to Texas briefly before making the trip to Hilton Head Island for the playing of the RBC Heritage. Thus, he arrived Tuesday night and was only able to play nine holes of Harbour Town Golf Links before the tournament started. Clearly, that didn’t matter. Scheffler’s ball striking prowess can transcend seemingly any circumstance.

He started the week with a ho-hum two-under-par 69 in the first round that would have been much better if not for a double bogey made on No. 3 thanks to some bunker trouble. Then, the world’s best golfer turned it on. He played the second and third rounds bogey-free with 14 birdies to vault to the top of the leaderboard at 16-under-par heading into the final round.

A star-studded group had formed just behind Scheffler on the leaderboard, with the likes of Ludvig Aberg, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala, and Sepp Straka all trying to challenge for the plaid jacket. However, hopes were dashed quickly when Scheffler holed out from off the green on the par-5 second hole for eagle, quickly extending his lead to three strokes with 16 holes to play.

Scheffler relied on his consistent ball striking to avoid blemishes on the scorecard and maintain a lead throughout the rest of the final round. Ultimately, his lead never shrunk to less than three shots as he played the final round. 

It was a familiar recipe for success for Scheffler. He finished the week No. 1 in strokes gained off the tee AND strokes gained on approach shots. That deadly combination was enough to win by three despite only finishing 36th out of 69 players in strokes gained putting.

Scheffler now holds a commanding lead in the FedEx Cup standings and has won four of his last five starts, most of which against elite fields. How long will this run last? How many majors will he win in 2024 when it’s all said and done?

What’s In The Bag? - Scottie Scheffler

By now, everyone knows Scheffler’s clubs. But the guy keeps winning, so we’ll keep featuring his setup. At the top of the bag, Scheffler plays the TaylorMade Qi10 driver (8 degrees) and a TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood (15 degrees). He plays a pair of Srixon ZU85 utility irons (3 and 4) at the top of his irons that blend with a set of TaylorMade P7TWs (5-PW). Around the greens, Scheffler plays two Titleist Vokey Design SM8 wedges (50 and 56 degrees) accompanied by a Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto lob wedge (60 degrees). Scheffler put a new putter in the bag, a TaylorMade Spider Tour X, just before he won at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Since then, he’s won four of five starts and lost to only one golfer. 

In The World of Women’s Golf – Korda Does It Again

This week the best ladies in the game teed it up at the Chevron Championship for the first major of their season. Formerly known as the ANA Inspiration, the Jack Nicklaus design at Carlton Woods has taken over as the first major. 

The biggest and most popular storyline heading into the week was that of Nelly Korda. The world No. 1 came into the week coming off four straight wins dating back to the Drive on Championship back in January. The 25-year-old superstar was hoping to join the likes of Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the only two players to ever win five consecutive starts on the LPGA Tour. 

Korda opened up the week picking up where she left off and carding a 4-under par 68. American Lauren Coughlin had the round of the day, shooting bogey-free 66 on her way to the first round lead – her previous best finish in a major was a tie for sixth. Lydia Ko, who needs a win if she wants to earn enough points to be eligible for the Hall of Fame, opened with a 3-under 69. 

On Friday, Korda got off to a bumpy start after a double bogey at the first hole. Even so, she rattled off four birdies on the front nine and was able to make the turn at 1-under for the day. She remained bogey free for the rest of the day and added two more birdies for a 3-under 69. Lottie Woad, who qualified for the Chevron after winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur just a couple of weeks ago, impressed again on Thursday and Friday, shooting rounds of 71 and 69 to make the cut and put herself in contention. Another 2-time major champ playing well was Canadian Brooke Henderson. She opened with back-to-back rounds of 71 and was lurking heading to the weekend. 

As round three began, Henderson was off to a scorching start. She picked up three birdies and an eagle on the front nine to turn in 31 and put the field on notice. She wasn’t done there, adding four more birdies in the next five holes to put her -9 through 14 holes for the day. A bogey at 16 dropped her back to 8-under on the round, but she was able to par the last couple of holes and shoot a remarkable 64 to vault up the leaderboard. 

Korda got off to a better start on Saturday, making birdies at Nos. 1, 5, and 8 to turn in 33. She proceeded to par the remaining nine holes and shoot a bogey-free 69, putting herself in a tie for second with Henderson. Leading the way was South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu, who grabbed the lead by herself after shooting bogey-free 66 on Friday and a 67 on Saturday.

In the final round, Henderson and Ryu got off to tough starts. Henderson made a bogey at No. 2 and a double at No. 3, but was also able to make three birdies around them and remain at even. Ryu bogeyed three of her first five holes and quickly saw her lead dissolve. 

Korda, meanwhile, showed she meant business from the get go, making birdies at Nos. 3, 4, and 8 to jump out to a three-shot lead. On the back nine, the only real threat was Maja Stark, who finished hot and shot 69, posting 11-under in the clubhouse. Korda was able to play with a two shot lead for most of the back nine, and after nearly making a hole in one at the par-3 17th, all she needed was-bogey at the par-5 18th to secure the victory. She proceeded to reach the green in two and give herself a putt at eagle

She two-putted for the historic win, marking her second career major, 13th LPGA victory, and fifth consecutive win. The world No. 1 continues her stretch of incredible golf, and will hope to extend the streak to six wins next week at the JM Eagle LA Championship next week. 

What’s In The Bag? Nelly Korda

Nelly Korda is on a historic run of golf. Her win at the Chevron Championship put her in elite company, joining legends Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the only golfers to win five consecutive LPGA events. Korda’s bag includes primarily TaylorMade clubs, such as a Qi10 Max driver (10.5 degrees) and Stealth 2 fairway woods (15 and 21 degrees). She carries a PING G425 hybrid (26 degrees) and a TaylorMade P770 5-iron to bridge the gap to her TaylorMade P7MC (6-PW) irons. She has two TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 wedges (50, 54 degrees) and a Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks prototype wedge (58 degrees) powering her short game. On the greens, Korda rolls a Scotty Cameron Special Select Squareback 2 Prototype.