Imagine standing less than three feet from the hole trying to make a putt to close out your round.

Now imagine doing that playing in a tournament.

Now imagine you’re a professional player in a major championship and the winner’s share is $2.5 million.

If you watched the final of last week’s LPGA U.S. Women’s Open, you know where I’m going with this.

Nelly Korda (TaylorMade TP5x) was in that position on the final hole of the tournament she had never won. That putt that will be replayed numerous times over the course of her career because it could have been disastrous.

Korda made it look far more dramatic than it needed to be when it circled the edges before sinking.

She had been so dialed in up until the point and showed no indication of a miss, which came oh so close to happening and could have forced her into a playoff.

Korda has now won the first two of the 2026 five women’s majors. She looks even more dominant than two years ago when she won seven tournaments in a row.

IF THE SHOE FITS: Korda, who is a brand ambassador for Nike, had been outfitted with a special pair of Michael Jordan shoes that she wore to begin the tournament. She abandoned them fairly early into the first round because they didn’t feel right and switched back to her old Nike shoes.

I’m sure the Nike people went nuts with the switch, seeing a marketing opportunity go awry. But Nike still got mileage out of Korda in the final round and especially the final putt, but man it could have been huge wearing had Korda been wearing Air Jordan shoes. Alas, she might not have even been in the position she was at the end had she stuck with the special shoes.

The endorsement money could have been worth millions in sponsorship dollars, but in the end Korda will make considerable money anyway as the top Nike women’s player on the planet.

It took some gumption to ditch the shoes when she felt an equipment change was needed.

TEAM KORDA: After her win, Korda thanked her team. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger entourage when you include her parents, sister (who gave her a suggestion on her grip), nephew, fiancé, caddie and numerous others.

She just might have the biggest overall support of any pro golfer, men’s or women’s.

THE MEMORIAL FINISH: I couldn’t find the televised portion of the playoff In the Memorial Tournament, which had gone away from CBS because the final round began late and then headed into extra holes.

I didn’t have any TV access, so I kept refreshing the PGA page to learn J.T. Poston (Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash) beat Ryan Gerard (Titleist Pro V1) on the second extra hole.

Gerard has placed second in three of 17 PGA Tour events this year. He finished the 2025 season tying for second in a playoff in the DP World Tour’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December. He clearly has seconditis.

THE LEFKO CURSE: As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I have fallen like a boulder in the PG Golf Pool. I was once in third, but I’ve since fallen to the mid-20s of the 40 or so in the pool. Some of my picks have been downright terrible, but last week was the worst. Alex Smalley (Titleist Pro V1) was on a heater heading into the Memorial with a T3, T2, T17 and T3 in his last four tournaments. I had him as one of my two picks in the PG Golf Pool, but he was basically out of it after the first round, shooting +11, the worst of any player. He rebounded with a +4 in the second round, but he missed the cut by a mile

He’s now missed the cut in his last three times in the Memorial.

Note to self: don’t ever pick Smalley in the Memorial.

As an aside, Alex Smalley reminded me of the Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley, played by Al Franken. Stuart’s famous line was, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”

I wonder if Alex, who is 29, has ever heard of Stuart, whose character debuted in 1991. God, it was a funny character with his daily affirmations.