The top women’s professional golf circuit announced that American world number one Nelly Korda has secured the LPGA’s points-based player of the year award with three events remaining in the 2024 season.
This season, Korda has finished in the top 10 three times and scored six victories. Moreover, the athlete won five tournaments in a row as she secured her second major title.
Korda stated: “This season has had its highs and challenges, and I’m just really grateful for the people around me who have helped me get here… It’s been a team effort, and I’m proud to share this moment with them.”
Despite missing the autumn Asian swing because of a neck injury, Korda was a member of the winning squad at the Solheim Cup and represented the United States in the women’s golf competition at the Paris Olympics.
With her fifth straight victory, world number one Nelly Korda set an LPGA record and won the Chevron Championship, her second major title and 13th career tour victory.
At Carlton Woods, a suburban Houston golf course, Korda endured a tense back nine but never gave up to fight off competitors over the final holes. With her dedication and exceptional plays, she won the $1.2 million top prize in the first women’s major of the season.
Korda’s season win run surpassed five championships in five starts with her two-stroke victory over Maja Stark of Sweden. This accomplishment tied the LPGA record achieved by Nancy Lopez of the United States in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam of Sweden in 2004 to 2005.
Korda declared after her win: “I can finally breathe now. That back nine felt like the longest back nine of my entire life… It was a little bit of a grind on the back nine but happy to get the win.”
Korda’s season performance
After 72 holes, Korda shot a final round three-under par 69 to finish at 13-under 275. Stark finished second on 277. American Lauren Coughlin and Canadian Brooke Henderson shared third place on 278. Ryu Hae-ran, a South Korean, finished fifth on 279 after closing with 74.
The daughter of former Czech tennis player Petr Korda, Korda won the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, her only other major victory. Additionally, Korda also won the LPGA Match Play earlier this month, the Ford and Seri Pak titles from the month before, and the Drive On Championship in January.
“There’s a key in the simplicity that I have. I honestly take it a shot at a time…It has been working so far. I feel like sometimes golf can get overcomplicated,” Korda admitted.
In celebration of her victory, Korda posted on her Instagram account: “I don’t even know where to begin, but I’ll start out with thanking my TEAM & FAMILY I wouldn’t be who I am without each and every one of you and I am SO grateful for y’all.
“Thank you to all the fans that came out, all the volunteers and everyone involved behind the scenes.”
Nelly Korda is making headlines by being the first American to win four tournaments in a row at the LPGA Tour. The 25-year-old now aims to win her second major championship and fifth in a row. More so, if she were to win the Texas Chevron Championship, she would follow in the footsteps of the legendary Nancy Lopez from 1978.
Considering Korda’s preference for maintaining her own ‘bubble,’ it could be advantageous that her achievements have yet to transcend the realm of golf. The American Solheim Cup golfer recognizes the need for greater storytelling around women’s golf, an increasingly captivating narrative.
Korda said: “I feel like we just need a stage… We need to be put on TV… I feel like when it’s tape delay or anything like that, that hurts our game. Women’s sports just need a stage. If we have a stage we can show up and perform and show people what we’re all about.”
Korda vs all
After the Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club in late January, Korda has defeated every player on the LPGA Tour. After a seven-week hiatus, she came back to win the Ford Championship in Arizona, the Match Play in Las Vegas, and Palos Verdes in California.
Korda understands that this is a unique moment. However, the three-time Women’s PGA winner is still holding out for her second major victory.
“There are ups and downs. Every athlete goes through the rollercoaster, and that is what makes the sport so great. You mature and grow so much and learn more about yourself…It makes just all the hard work so worth it. But I think I’ve learned so much about myself even through the losses,” she declared.
She will now have to defeat first class Lilia Vu, for whom this title was one of two significant victories from last year. Korda, who is ahead of Vu in the global rankings, was a runner up previously and knows how well to play the course.
After a poor third-round performance at the Cognizant Founders Cup, Nelly Korda’s chances of becoming the first player to win six straight LPGA Tour titles seem slim. The 25-year-old American golfer was four strokes behind after the second round and in a great position to extend her incredible winning streak.
But in her third round, Korda only managed a 73, one stroke over par.
Although it was by no means a poor score, leader Madelene Sagstrom shot an outstanding 66 to get to 19 under, 11 strokes ahead of Korda.
Moreover, Rose Zhang, who began the day tied for the lead, responded to Sweden’s Sagstrom with a 67.
Korda’s recent performance
At the Chevron Championship last month, world number one Korda also held the record by Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam of having five consecutive tour titles. Korda was going for the record in Charlotte, but a sixth consecutive tour title would require her to pull off a major upset in her last round.
Her recent performance showed that she is tied with Kim Sei-young of South Korea and Gabriela Ruffels of Australia, who both scored third-round 67s. In addition, Mel Reid of England and Leona Maguire of Ireland are tied for 31st place after scoring three over 75 and one under 71, respectively.
Just last week, in Southern California, Nelly Korda proved she was resilient with a spectacular performance. Now that the weather is great and the course is kind, the current world number one golfer has set herself up for an incredible third straight win.
She’s within striking distance at the Ford Championship after an outstanding first-round performance of 6-under 66 on Thursday, trailing by only three strokes. If Korda wins, she would go down in history as the first player on the LPGA Tour to win three straight titles—a feat not seen by many in the past eight years.
“Completely different today compared to last weekend,” usnews quoted Korda as saying. “The greens have a lot of give.” I am aware that Arizona has experienced a significant amount of precipitation this winter. I had to be aggressive because I knew there would be people with poor scores.
Korda two-putt birdie
The top-ranked golfer, Korda, started strong, making four birdies in five holes before finishing strong with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th.
To become the first player on the LPGA Tour to win three straight tournaments since Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016, Korda started his quest with a win at the Drive On Championship in Bradenton, Florida, near her birthplace.
She showed no symptoms of rust, regaining the top spot in the world last week and emerging as a formidable competitor despite missing the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing.
On the other hand, players in the inaugural event at Seville Golf and Country Club were welcomed with immaculate conditions, ideal for scoring after the strong winds had swept the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship just a week earlier north of Los Angeles.
Pajaree Anannarukan took advantage of the situation, putting on a faultless display that included an astounding 9-under 63, her first hole of the round coming up on the back nine of the 6,734-yard course tucked away in a suburban area of Phoenix. Anannarukan handled the situation expertly, taking a slim one-shot lead over a strong group that included former Arizona State standouts Azahara Munoz and Carlota Ciganda, Lilia Vu, Gabriela Ruffels, and Isa Gabsa.
In the US Women’s Open, top-ranked player Nelly Korda missed the cut to advance to the next round.
Korda had an amazing start to the season and was confident of going and winning her seventh victory of the year. But any hopes of going much farther were dashed by an opening round of 10-over 80 and a par score of 70 in the second. She ended the round two strokes short of the eight-over threshold.
Following a terrible start to the competition, Korda’s birdies on the sixth, seventh, and eighth holes offered her hope that she might make the cut, but a bogey on the par-four ninth gave her too much to do. Using a par-four 18th, she finished the day with a bogey.
Bowing out, Korda said: “I knew it was going to be a tough day… Try to give it my all, you know that’s what I try to do with every round. I had nothing to lose, and that was my mentality – just kind of go for it.”
The end of an impressive streak
Korda’s failed cut ends an incredible run of consistency. This is the first time she has missed the cut since making 17 starts and winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June last year.
“When I made those three birdies in a row, I wanted to make the cut, obviously…I knew that I was kind of hovering around it, and I just couldn’t get anything going on the back,” Korda admitted.
With just one hole to play under par on Friday, the par-5 13th was Korda’s best opportunity to make the additional birdie she required. However, she missed her 16-foot putt for a 4 by inches.
“I wasn’t hitting my shots well off the tee… I really struggled off the tee this week. Just wasn’t getting it close. The majority of my holes I was saving pars. It was kind of tough out here trying to get into the cut line,” she added.
In her first two rounds, Korda only hit 44% of the fairways, and her off-the-tee performance was off by over a half stroke (.44). KPMG Performance Insights showed that she performed 1.25 lower than the rest of her 2024 season.
