NELLY & SCOTTIE: Two No. 1’s on Parallel Trajectories

Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler are World No. 1 in both the women’s and men’s games right now, and after Nelly’s US Open win last week, the comparisons are fascinating. Some remarkable similarities have aligned for them on the LPGA and PGA Tour respectively…

                                               Nelly                  Scottie

Total Wins:                             19                       20

Major Wins:                            4                         4

Top 10’s:                                 83                       83

Missed Cuts:                          19                        19

Olympic Gold Medal:          ✔️                       ✔️

Their games even follow a familiar pattern: phenomenal ball striking, excellent short games, and putters that, well, can be hot or cold depending on the week. The frightening thing is even with average putting, they’re both still near the top of the leaderboard week in, week out.

This season, it’s been Korda who’s shown true dominance over her female counterparts. Through eight tournaments, she’s won four, had three runner-ups, and a T8. I guess something must have been wrong that week? She’s won back-to-back majors (the Chevron Championship and US Open) and, just to hammer the point home on her recent play, only 10 players have beaten her all year. Seven of those were in one event! Let that sink in for a moment.

Scheffler has had similar dominance the past two seasons, with seven wins in 2024 and six in 2025. This year has been good, just not great by his own standards. The scary part is he still has a win, three runner-ups, two third placings and a T4 in 12 starts. That’s a career for some pros.

Next week though, he has a chance to do something only six other players (on the men’s side) have ever done; win the US Open to complete the Career Grand Slam. Everyone saw how much it meant to Rory at last year’s Masters, where he joined Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player and Woods in what is the rarest of clubs. It’s the perfect venue for him to do it too. Much like Riviera suited Nelly for her US Open win, Shinnecock requires supreme ball striking along with an elite short game. If his putter is on, call all bets off now, for it’s a done deal.

With all the similarities, there is one striking difference between the two… how they swing the golf club. Nelly’s is poetry in motion, smooth, balanced with effortless power. Scottie, however, has a lower body moving like it doesn’t belong to the top half. With a backfoot slide more akin to a skater on ice, he somehow delivers the club into the ball square and pure for amazing consistency, especially with irons.

The golf ball, though, doesn’t care how the club gets there, and in both Korda’s and Scheffler’s case the resulting strike and trajectory are very much in line with their careers.

Who goes the furthest? Only time will tell.