Nelly Korda celebrates by jumping in the water after winning the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

HOUSTON — Nelly Korda is back to No. 1 in the world and looks every bit the part.

Korda was so untouchable at The Chevron Championship that no one got closer than four shots of her the entire weekend. She played her last 29 holes at Memorial Park in even par and still won by five, the largest margin at this major in 18 years.

And it was one of the toughest times she ever had.

“It’s not easy going in with that big of a lead,” said Korda, “I think that was the challenging point with like, where do I still play like Nelly and where do I play a little defensive?”

That’s why where was much relief as joy when she holed a 7-foot par putt to close with a 2-under 70 to capture her third major championship and return to No. 1 in the women’s world ranking for the first time since August.

She celebrated in the best manner possible — a cannon ball into the 4 1/2-foot pool built to the right of the 18th green to keep with the tradition at this major that dates to 1988 when the winner jumped into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills in the California desert.

“Feet first,” she said with a smile, dressed in the winner’s white robe. “I knew it was 4 feet, so I was expecting to hit the ground very fast.”

No one else expected anything else.

Staked to a five-shot lead at the start, Korda was efficient as ever with two early birdies, and two more on the back nine that put the final touches on this masterpiece.

Playing it safe left her a couple of par putts in the 6-foot range, the ones that had given her fits in the third round. She made one on the 11th. She left the next one short, and her lead was down to four shots.

Time for Nelly golf.

Her caddie told her she should play well short of the pin on the heavily contoured green at the 13th. Korda had other ideas.

“I actually just sent it at the pin and I had a tap-in birdie,” she said.

Korda followed by hammering a 3-wood to just short of the green for a simple up-and-down for birdie. And then it was back to playing it safe — so conservative that instead of hitting a mid-iron onto the par-5 16th over water, she opted to lay up with a gap wedge and then hit lob wedge to 25 feet for a two-putt par.

The victory was her 17th on the LPGA and 21st worldwide. Not since Meg Mallon in 2000 had an American reached three majors in her career, and the 27-year-old Korda is just getting started.

Fitzpatricks shine

AVONDALE, La. — Matt Fitzpatrick and younger brother Alex combined for a 1-under 71 in alternate- shot play on Sunday, to pull out a drama-filled, single-stroke victory in the Zurich Classic and usher the younger Fitzpatrick onto the PGA Tour through 2028.

After the Englishmen had lost a four-stroke lead on the back nine, Matt Fitzpatrick, the third-ranked player in the world, stuck a bunker shot on the par-5 18th a foot from the hole.

The 27-year-old Alex Fitzpatrick, a European tour regular, smiled and put his hand on his head as he went to mark the ball, knowing a chance to alter the course of his golf career would be in his own hand.

He made the putt, crouched and put one hand over his face, and then rose to embrace his older brother.

Elsewhere:

– Bernd Wiesberger of Austria played bogey-free Sunday and closed with a 4-under 67 to overcome Adrian Otaegui of Spain and win the China Open, his first victory since returning two years ago from Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

– Retief Goosen won the PGA Tour Champion’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic on Sunday at TPC Sugarloaf, 24 years after he took the PGA Tour’s BellSouth Classic on the course. Goosen closed with a 14-point round under the modified Stableford scoring system to beat Stephen Ames by two points.