Nelly Korda’s win streak entering the Chevron is boosting the LPGA

Now the world’s top-ranked player will seek a fifth consecutive victory at this week’s Chevron Championship, the first of the circuit’s five majors. The stakes this time include a second major title and a $1.2 million first-place check, the largest in Chevron Championship history. But not lost on Korda — or LPGA Tour officials and her playing peers — is the elevated attention she brings at a potential inflection point in the industry thanks to record prize money and growing interest in women’s sports.

The Chevron Championship has a total purse of $7.9 million, the richest since the tournament’s inception and an increase from $5.2 million in 2023. The U.S. Golf Association announced in February a total purse of $12 million for the U.S. Women’s Open, the biggest in women’s golf history.

“I think it’s happening right now with Nelly,” said world No. 2 Lilia Vu, the reigning Chevron champion. “She is bringing so much to the table just win after win, just having everything together. She’s done such a good job, so well-liked and loved out here. She brings a big following. She’s a great person, so just her — she’s kind of our Caitlin Clark out here.”

The former Iowa point guard became the face of women’s college basketball over the past two seasons, culminating April 7 when an average of 18.7 million viewers tuned in to watch South Carolina beat the Hawkeyes in the national championship game. The game peaked at 24 million combined viewers on ESPN and ABC; it was the first time the women’s final attracted a larger television audience than the men’s.

“People love to follow a star, so I think we all know and recognize that,” said LPGA Tour Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, who took over in 2021, the year Korda won her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship. “We want to make sure Nelly Korda can reach her peak performance also. It’s a lot of pressure on an athlete, but she’s handled it extremely well.”

The LPGA Tour is aiming to capitalize on Korda’s streak, a run of prosperity unmatched since Lorena Ochoa, a Hall of Famer and former world No. 1, won four straight events in 2008. It has assembled a marketing department for the first time, and much of the work behind the scenes is devoted to shining an even brighter spotlight on Korda’s sizzling start.

Korda, 25, is coming off a win two weeks ago at a match play event in Las Vegas, where she dispatched Leona Maguire, 4 and 3, in the final.

The American had taken off nearly two months, missing the entire Asia swing, on the heels of winning the LPGA Drive On Championship, the second tournament of the year, in late January in her hometown of…