The final round of the Annika Driven by Gainbridge at Pelican offered the tantalising prospect of World No.1 Nelly Korda going head to head with Charley Hull, who was looking for a wire-to-wire victory in Florida.
Overnight, Hull led by one over Korda and Weiwei Zhang following a two-under 68 on Saturday.
The Englishwoman had an inconsistent start to the day. She followed a birdie on the first with successive bogeys before her second birdie of the day came in the fourth. Another bogey came on the sixth meaning she made the turn one over for the day.
Meanwhile, Korda got off to an even more shaky start, with three bogeys offset by just one birdie on the seventh, while it was a similar story for Zhang, whose bogeys on the third and fourth were countered by a birdie on the ninth to stay in touch.
At that point, the likes of Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai and Swedish star Lynn Grant were also in contention as Hull held onto her slender lead.
However, just when Korda’s one birdie of the day was beginning to feel like a long time ago, she stepped up another gear, rattling off five birdies in a row between the 11th and 15th to bring back memories of her glorious start to the year, where she was imperious winning six times in her first eight starts.
In fact, that run of birdies was the longest Korda had put together all year as she began to impose her authority on proceedings, moving to 14 under, with Hull by now two behind after just one birdie, at the 14th, between the 10th and 15th.
It was beginning to look like Hull would need something special to stop Korda’s charge, and she nearly produced it on the 16th, when her long birdie putt narrowly missed right. There was still hope for Hull after Korda faced a sizeable putt of her own to save par, but once again she made no mistake to retain her lead of two with two to play.
Charley Hull didn’t quite have enough to stop Nelly Korda winning for the seventh time this season
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Meanwhile, ahead of the pair, Jin Hee Im made her own late claim for the title after a birdie on the 17th to draw level with Hull.
If Korda’s form seemed ominous, there was also the fact that, heading to the 17th, she had made birdie on the par 4 on each of the previous three occasions this week. She very nearly made it four from four but…
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