Early on in Beth Daniel’s career, Mickey Wright said in a press conference that if you think Nancy Lopez is great, wait until you see Beth Daniel. Wright’s words, though flattering, weighed heavily on Daniel, who joined the LPGA in 1979, one year after Lopez won nine times as a rookie and was immediately hailed as a rival. It’s the reason Daniel is careful with her words about current LPGA players.
Now that Nelly Korda is in the midst of a dominating streak, Daniel is comfortable saying that this is what everyone expected of her all along.
“But you hate to put that on somebody,” she quickly added.
Korda, 25, comes into the LPGA’s first major of the season, this week’s Chevron Championship, on a streak of four consecutive titles. She took a seven-week break after winning her first title of the season, the LPGA Drive On, in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, and then won three titles in the span of three weeks. The LPGA was off last week during the Masters.
