The Chevron Championship - Previews
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Nelly Korda is attempting to make history at the first women's major of the year, the 2024 Chevron Championship. Korda, who has stunned by winning four straight tournaments on the LPGA Tour, opened with a 2-under 68 on Thursday in an attempt to match the all-time consecutive wins streak of five set by Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05).

If Korda does achieve her fifth-straight win, she will also capture the second major championship of her career -- first since the 2021 Women's PGA Championship. Though she has been close since that victory with seven top 20s in 12 major appearances, she has not bee able to break through.

Korda's 68 trailed just one player -- Lauren Coughlin, who shot 66 -- after the first round. She sits T2 alongside Marina Alex and Minami Katsu.

"Definitely a little more tired today," Korda said. "I think those three weeks, I didn't think that it was going to drain me as much as it did maybe mentally. I was dead when I got home. I just didn't even leave my house for the first two days, which was nice, because I had contact naps with [my nephew] Greyson, which was just so wholesome and so amazing.

"I can definitely still feel maybe a little bit of tiredness, so it took me a while to get going. I felt the nerves definitely at the start of the round. Once I made the turn, I was just playing free golf."

Those three weeks refer to the Fir hills Seri Pak Championship, Ford Championship and T-Mobile Match Play across March and April, all of which Korda won. Throw in the LPGA Drive on Championship earlier in the year, and she has not lost to another professional golfer since the middle of January.

Majors are a different beast, though, and it's not so much a fifth consecutive victory that will be tough as it is winning any major. Throw in the fact that Korda got the tougher wave on Thursday, and her task appears monumental.

"I know it's always luck of the draw in a sense," she said. "But I've had my fair share of late early, early late, and you've just got to make the most of it. You can't really get too caught up in that, be like, 'Oh, I had the worse side of the draw or I have the better side of the draw.' You've just got to go out there and perform."

That's all Korda has been doing of late: performing. 

Superstardom is often presumed but rarely fulfilled. Living up to expectations is one of the most difficult feats in sports. Korda has struggled off and on with that throughout her career but seems to be stepping into a different level of play as a 25-year-old now holding 12 victories to her name after this torrid run.

Korda and Scottie Scheffler (who has won three of his last four tournaments, including a major) have been compared to one another. Korda noted that she's doing her best to learn from her failures and stay present in her successes. It's something we've heard from her peer dominating the men's side as well.

"In 2021, I went on a run. And then in 2022 and 2023, golf really humbled me," she said recently. "I think they're sports; there are ups and downs. Every athlete goes through the rollercoaster, and that is what makes the sport so great. You mature and grow so much and learn more about yourself.

"You never take these weeks for granted. You always try to appreciate and become very grateful for them. It makes just all the hard work so worth it. But I think I've learned so much about myself even through the losses."