Delayed, Not Denied—Nelly Korda Finally Gets Her Hollywood Ending

PACIFIC PALISADES, Ca. — This was box office stuff.

(I can't promise that this is the last L.A. pun I make in this article so brace yourselves.)

Nelly Korda, the best player in the world, winning her national Open for the first time, doing so at a venue that holds so much American golf history, and becoming the first female champion at Riviera—it's the kind of thing that couldn't be scripted any better. And yet, here we are. But it wasn't a walk in the park for Korda, who admitted in her winning presser that she didn't even bring her "B-game" with her this week.

Let's rewind to the start of this week, which started off...pretty shaky for Korda. She looked out of sorts, spraying balls out to the right, missing fairways and relying heavily on her short game. Her 2-over par start meant that she was going to have to claw her way back into the mix with the lead breaking out to 5-under.

Over the course of the first two days, she would hit the range immediately after her rounds with sister Jess and caddie Jason in tow, working on strengthening her grip—the storyline that would persist throughout the weekend.

Like for real, what kind of sicko changes their grip in the middle of a major? But like so many elite golfers, the now 4-time major winner is a perfectionist, and she knew that she had to figure things out and fast, otherwise it would've been an early week for her in L.A.

Korda is no stranger to missing cuts at the U.S. Open, either. Her track record at this championship has been rather spotty, and yet, all week long, she was the one who felt inevitable. Because how could she not? No one is playing better golf than she is, and to win at Riviera would likely be the women's golf story of the year.

RELATED: Is The U.S. Women's Open Nelly Korda's Masters?

"It was honestly the worst," Korda said about her feelings of undergoing the change. "I kept telling my sister was like, 'I barely could sleep'. But it is so uncomfortable. I think it's the hardest thing in the game of golf is to change your grip because you're always like -- I was fiddling with it so much even on the range my sister was like, I just saw you re-grip your grip four times before you hit that one shot, and I'm like, yeah, because it feels awful...I do not recommend changing your grip during a major championship."

She never quite looked settled, but the 27-year-old found a way to make it work during the second and third rounds, carding back-to-back 67s, something had never done in her career at this tournament, and found herself in Sunday's final pairing for the fourth time in her career at a major.

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Sunday's final round was also kind of sluggish for Korda, especially on the front nine. She didn't have her best stuff and it looked a bit like Thursday all over again, but the thing that separates major winners apart is their ability to dig deep—and that's exactly what Korda did.

She threw out a couple of rare fist pumps because when it mattered she delivered what she needed, with a packed leaderboard chasing her down including Charley Hull who came out the gate swinging. It was yet another heartbreaking ending for the Brit who now have five runner-up finishes in a major.

"I didn't feel my best on the back nine. I had a lot of emotions kind of swirling in my stomach. I would say it's just a dream come true. I have dreamt about this moment since I was a little girl," Korda said while looking adoringly at her new hardware. "It's honestly just a dream come true sitting next to this trophy."

And I'll be the first to admit that it wasn't Korda's game play that stood out to me from this win, but rather her emotion. I have never seen her anything but poised and in control, but for a moment on the 18th she let it out. Through shaky breaths and a few trickling tears, Nelly let us in while thanking her team.

I got to listen to her long-time caddie Jason McDede, who Korda calls her on-course better half, fight through his own tears, beam with pride over what this moment means for the two of them.

"Number one in the world, she's getting older -- time passes you know, there's some cool venues coming up, but this has been the best U.S. Open I've ever been a part of," McDede shared with a small group of media off to the side of the green.

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This was the one they wanted the most, and for obvious reasons. Here's a quick grocery list of what Korda achieved with this win:

• Becomes the first American to win first 2 majors of season since 1986 (Pat Bradley)

• Becomes the third player actively ranked No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings to win the U.S. Women’s Open (Annika Sorenstam, 2006; Inbee Park, 2013)
• Becomes the first player to win first 2 majors of season since Inbee Park
• Becomes the first player to win Chevron and U.S. Women’s Open in same season since Park in 2013
• Becomes the first American to win Chevron and U.S. Women’s Open in same season since Betsy King in 1990
• Becomes the youngest American player to win 4 major championships since Mickey Wright in 1960
• Ties for the most strokes (7) behind the leader at the end of the first round by the eventual U.S. Women’s Open winner

I said at the beginning of this tournament that the only way she would when this thing was if she played freely. It wasn't always pretty but this feels like the defining moment of her career and what a stage to do it on.