Report: Nelly Korda wins by three shots Nelly Korda won her first major title by taking the Women’s PGA Championship by three shots at the Atlanta Athletic Club. The American, whose victory will see her become world No 1, went into the final day tied for the lead with Lizette Salas but clinched the title with a four-under round of 68. The 22-year-old, daughter of Australian Open winner Petr Korda, had an eagle and birdie on both the front and back nine, with a run of nearly 50 holes without a dropped shot coming to an end as she found the water on the par-three 15th. Salas, who had shot 67-67-67, carded a final round of 71 to finish on 16 under, six shots ahead of Hyo Joo Kim and Giulia Molinaro, who were tied for third. Nelly’s sister Jessica finished tied for 15th on four under alongside Ireland’s Leona Maguire, a shot ahead of England’s Charley Hull and Georgia Hall who were tied for 21st. PA Media Two seemingly effortless eagles won the day for Nelly Korda. The first one, the result of an outrageous 250-yard fairway wood on 5 that nearly rolled in for albatross, coaxed a response out of Lizette Salas ... but Salas couldn’t respond a second time when Korda’s aggressive line at 12 paid a big dividend. Formerly the best player on Tour without a major to her name, Korda is now a PGA champion and world number one. Congratulations to her, commiserations to Salas, and thanks for reading this live blog. Nighty night! -19: N Korda -16: Salas -10: HJ Kim, Molinaro -8: Kang, Tavatanakit -7: Ernst, Boutier -6: Yang, Clanton, Lin -5: SY Kim, Meechai, Ardina -4: J Korda, Madsen, Maguire, Noh, Sagstrom, Henseleit Nelly Korda, major champion, speaks. “I just played really well this week. I had a great week last week, and carried the momentum through to this week. I’ve put in a lot of work. To finally get three wins under my belt and to get a major, I don’t even have words, honestly. This is something I’ve worked for since I was 14. To finally get it done here in Atlanta with such an amazing crowd, it’s really special. I have an amazing caddy, so shout out to Jason. I tried to keep a level head, and keep it one shot at a time.” That’s some performance by Nelly Korda, the 2021 Women’s PGA champion, and new world number one. It’s her first major, and her sixth career win. She’s the first American woman to land a major since Angela Stanford won the Evian in 2018. She’s also the first American woman to top the world rankings since Stacy Lewis in 2014. She lifts the trophy, waves it about, and pops it down on the plinth again. Interview ahoy! Nelly Korda wins the 2021 Women"s PGA! Korda finishes in style, rolling a left-to-right slider into the cup for par. She raises both hands in triumph, quietly and modestly, before crumbling into tears of joy. She’s embraced by sister Jessica, her mum and partner, then sprayed with some tasty champagne. What a performance! A seize-the-day 68 featuring two of the finest eagles you’ll ever see. Her second into 5 - nearly holing out from 250 yards for albatross - will go down in legend. -19: Korda (F) -16: Salas (F) Whoa Nelly! She sends an excitable putt 15 feet past the hole. It’s not going to matter, though. Salas takes two putts for a par and a final round of 71. Second place it is, and she smiles warmly. She’s done very little wrong today; she just came up against a force of nature on top of her game. ... but Salas doesn’t hole out. She finds the middle of the green, a strangely meek shot selection seeing she needed something absurdly dramatic to keep her faint hopes alive. So both women make their way to the green, receiving the ovation they deserve for putting on one hell of a show. They’ve both been magnificent in their own very different ways. From 121 yards, Nelly Korda sends a big pitching wedge to the back of 18. Better long than short and wet. The right decision ... unless Salas holes out, of course ... Salas and Korda both lay up, as expected. Up on the green, it’s a birdie for Molinaro, who salvages a share of third place. That’s by far her best finish at a major; in fact, it’s her career best finish. She’s -9. Par meanwhile for the ever-entertaining Tavatanakit, who hooked her drive into the water, dropped, bashed a 3-wood into the green, and nearly drained a long birdie putt. She ends the week at -8. “A great way to end it.” Salas responds sarcastically as she sends her final drive into a bunker down the right. Korda plays it safe with hybrid off the tee. No point taking any chances down 18 with a three-shot lead. She sends her ball straight down the middle and gives the club a good twirl. The nerves will be jangling, but life will feel pretty fine right now. Salas and Korda take turns to barely touch their putts, only to watch their balls keep rolling past the hole. They’re both missable; they’re both made. A pair of pars, and Nelly Korda is one hole away from her first major championship ... and becoming the number-one golfer in the world! The sun’s out. Salas has to go for it at 17, the pin tucked away near the water. She sends a fine shot over the flag to 15 feet. She really needs to sink that birdie putt ... and hope that Korda sends her ball into the briny again. But not for the first time today, Korda takes dead aim, goes for the aggressive line, and comes up with the goods. She’ll have a look at birdie from similar distance, and her first major championship is well within her reach now! Another hole, another three-putt bogey for Molinaro. She slips out of a share of third. She’s -9. Third place solo looked a shoo-in 30 minutes ago; now she needs a birdie up the last for a tie. Salas makes her par putt. Korda’s birdie effort slips by, but the lead is still three. At which point the heavens briefly open, just to add a little windswept drama. -19: N Korda (16) -16: Salas (15) -10: HJ Kim (F), Molinaro (16) -8: Kang (F), Tavatanakit (16) Salas’s second into 16 only just holds the back of the green. She’ll have a long look at birdie from the fringe. Korda ramps up the pressure by sticking her approach to 15 feet. Salas gets good pace on her putt, but it’s always staying out to the left. A testing par saver coming up. Meanwhile on 18, Kim Hyo-joo makes her birdie putt, and she ends the day with a 68, and the week at -10. She’s the new clubhouse leader. It’s all going wrong for Giulia Molinaro at the wrong time. She follows her double at 15 with a three-putt bogey at 16. All of a sudden, the cushion protecting her third place is all but gone ... and Kim Hyo-joo has a birdie putt coming up on 18! -19: N Korda (15) -16: Salas (15) -10: Molinaro (16) -9: HJ Kim (17) Austin Ernst is in with a 70. A round that promised more. She ends the week at -7. Back on 16, Salas and Korda take turns to split the fairway. Nelly’s drive has gone miles; it’s a fine response to that double, her caddy having done his bit with a paean to positivity just before the tee shot. Korda doesn’t quite hit her bogey putt. It stays out on the right lip, and she wanders off quietly effing and jeffing. A double bogey, and her first dropped shots since her opening hole on Friday. A two-putt par for Salas, and there’s a spring in her step again, the lead now only - only! - three. -19: N Korda (15) -16: Salas (15) -11: Molinaro (15) Molinaro takes two putts for a double-bogey five, slipping to -11. She exits the green, allowing Korda to hit her third from the drop zone. And what a shot she hits! Grasping the nettle, she aims straight for the flag, taking on the water again. Fearless, and the lack of conservatism pays off when her ball lands six feet shy of the flag. She’ll have a great chance to escape with just a bogey. That’s one heck of a shot in the circumstances. Before Molinaro putts out, Korda and Salas are invited to play up. An attempt to get things moving a little. The wait appears to have ruined Korda’s rhythm, as she makes a heavy contact, the ball slicing to the right and dunking in the water, well short of dry land! This isn’t over quite yet. Salas finds the centre of the green with her 7-wood. A big few minutes coming up! A bit of a lull, the result of a logjam at the par-three 15th. Molinaro doesn’t help matters by sending her tee shot into the drink to the right. She sends her third from the dropzone into the heart of the green, but she’ll have a long two putts for double bogey. In goes Nelly Korda’s birdie putt! She’s now six under for her round ... and 21 under par for the tournament. If she pars her way home, she’ll equal the record low score to par at a women’s major, set by Chun In-gee at the 2016 Evian Championship. -21: N Korda (14) -16: Salas (14) Salas fires a 4-hybrid into the front of 14. A fine shot that leaves a long birdie putt. Only problem is, Korda is hitting 9-iron in from the bunker, and she twirls the club after sending her second pin high, leaving a ten-foot look at birdie. Korda finds yet another bunker with her driver, this time at 14. Salas splits the fairway. Up on the green, Molinaro nearly sinks a 15-footer from the fringe at the back, but it stays on the left lip. Just a par, when birdie was necessary. She remains seven off the lead at -13. She can’t make one here. Just a par, and she walks off the green shaking her head sadly. Two putts for Korda as well, and Nelly is one hole closer to her maiden major. Meanwhile a double bogey for Tavatanakit on 13. Plenty thought the ANA champ would launch an attack today, but she’s not got going at all. She’s -8. -20: N Korda (13) -16: Salas (13) -13: Molinaro (13) -8: Kang (F), HJ Kim (15), Boutier (14), Tavatanakit (13) -7: Ernst (15) Austin Ernst ended up with a triple-bogey six on the par-three 15th. That sends her crashing down the leader board to -7, and should serve Lizette Salas with a reminder that the jig isn’t necessarily up yet. She calms down quickly and finds the 13th green in regulation. Probably a good time to sink a big birdie putt. The Chattahoochee River runs past the Highlands Course. En route to the 13th tee, the normally placid Lizette Salas whistled her ball into it. The sort of scenario Bobbie Gentry would write a song about. Salas can’t make her putt, and while it’s only her second bogey of the week, it’s come at exactly the wrong time. Korda steers in her downhill eagle putt from six feet, her second of the day, and suddenly she’s in complete control of this championship! -20: N Korda (12) -16: Salas (12) -13: Molinaro (12) That approach only just squeaked over the water. The shot was pretty much perfectly judged, but it wouldn’t have required too much taken off it to get wet. A modicum of luck, but then you make your own. Salas can only splash out to 15 feet, and has a job on to salvage her par. A three-shot swing could be coming up here. Speaking of wet and splash, Ernst has just thinned one out of a bunker and into the drink at 15. Molinaro is this close to draining a 50-foot eagle putt on 12. Birdie will do, and the Italian, who has previously made no impression in the majors, moves a little closer to the leaders. Back down the hole, Salas lays up with her second. Korda plans to seize the day, though, and cracks her approach, a 6-iron from 170 yards, over the water - just! - to six feet! That’s wonderful, and were she to make eagle here, it could potentially be the rapier thrust that secures this tournament. Especially as Salas sends her third into sand at the back. Ernst does extremely well to get up and down for her par on 14. A sensational bump into the bank and up onto the green, rolling out to kick-in distance. So close to perfection. One of the shots of the week. She remains at -10. Meanwhile a fine two-putt par for Korda at 11, having pulled her 9-iron 40 feet wide of the hole. A near-perfect lag followed by a tap in. Par for Salas, too, after she leaves a 20-foot birdie effort four feet short, but steers in the missable left-to-right breaker she’d left herself. -18: N Korda (11) -17: Salas (11) Tavatanakit misses another short par putt, this time at 11, and that’s pretty much her race run. She walks off steaming, the putter taking some more punishment. Par for Molinaro, who is still hanging about on the periphery. Austin Ernst is going along nicely, by the way: birdie at 12 and 13 take her up to -10, though she’s just hit a hot one over the back of 14, and she’s down the bottom of a swale, shortsided. -18: N Korda (10) -17: Salas (10) -12: Molinaro (11) -10: Ernst (13), Tavatanakit (11) -9: HJ Kim (13) -8: Kang (F), Boutier (11)