“I think I’ve gone through every emotion possible … I love this game. I love the bad, I love the good.”
Those words were from Nelly Korda. In July. Not at the end of her seven-win 2024 campaign, but rather at the end of a surprising summer streak of three consecutive missed cuts. But the thoughts also perfectly sum up the season for the 26-year-old American who dominated the LPGA like no player in more a decade. She wrapped up the tour’s Player of the Year honors well before the season was over and made history in the process, but not without a few bumps along the way.
Korda’s first victory came in her hometown of Bradenton, Fla., as she erased a three-shot lead with two holes remaining to top Lydia Ko in a playoff at the Drive On Championship. That triumph in February started a run of five consecutive wins over the next three months. One by one, Korda was unstoppable, taking the title at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, the Ford Championship and the T-Mobile Match Play before capping it with the Chevron Championship in April, the second major title of her career.
The five straight Ws matched a feat only equaled by Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978). It ended three weeks later, at the Founders Cup, but a week after that Korda won the Mizuho Americas Open outside New York City, making it six wins in seven starts.
Then Korda’s season turned on a dime. With four majors in her next five LPGA starts, she missed three consecutive cuts. Starting with the U.S. Women’s Open—where Korda made a 10 on a par 3—she looked like a different player. The putts didn’t drop. She didn’t hit as many fairways and greens. Bigger numbers piled up. She was human after all.
Korda shot 80-70 at Lancaster Country Club. Two weeks later, she shot 76-67 at the Meijer LPGA Classic. The next week she opened with a 69 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee and looked more in form. But she shot 81 in Round 2 to have the weekend off. The round included eight bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie on the last hole.
“It’s just golf recently for me,” she said. “No words for how I’m playing right now. I’m just going to go home and try to reset. A lot went my way at the beginning part of the year, and just giving it back.”
The remainder of the year turned positive, save for an injury speed bump. Following the three missed cuts, Korda tied for 26th at the Evian Championship, shot a final-round 75 to tie for 22nd at the Olympics and had a chance to win the AIG Women’s Open, settling for a second-place tie behind Ko, who qualified for the LPGA’s Hall of Fame two weeks earlier when she won Olympic gold.
Korda was a spark plug for the Americans at the Solheim Cup in September, going 3-1-0 in helping them win for the first time since 2017. She looked refreshed, happy and ready for the home stretch.
“This is probably the most I’ve laughed and the most I’ve fist pumped ever on a golf course,” Korda said.
But after a T-5 the following week at the Queen City Championship, Korda tweaked her neck in practice and did not compete for two months. She missed the entire Asia swing, then returned at the Annika event in Florida and, even shocking herself, won despite being rusty from having little time to prepare. It was there where Korda played the pro-am with WNBA star Caitlin Clark in front of thousands in the gallery, one of the best Wednesday scenes in tour history.
Korda closed the season with a fifth-place tie at the CME Group Tour Championship.
“Motivated definitely, and just excited and proud of how this year went,” Korda said when describing her season. “Never in a million years would I have thought last year, 365 days ago, I would be here with seven wins in one season and another major championship.”
Headlines were made off the course, too. Korda attended the opulent Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, wearing a gown designed from Oscar de la Renta. Later in the year it was announced that Korda had already finished a photo shoot with Sports Illustrated for its 2025 swimsuit issue.
Over the course of the season, however, the question arose as to whether the LPGA truly capitalized on having a dominant American star, something it’s lacked for two decades. “I think Nelly has been incredible,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said at the CME Group Tour Championship, a week before announcing she was stepping down from the job in early 2025. “Her play on the golf course and I think what she’s doing off the golf course, I think she’s an inspiration to so many people, particularly young girls. The way she engages with the young fans is awesome.
“I think she’s done some really fun things this year, too. We’ve gotten to get to know her personality, which is an amazing, remarkable personality. I think she’s just so engaging.”
Unlike the commissioner, Korda is going nowhere. Her final tally for 2024: 16 starts, 11 top-10 finishes, seven victories, three missed cuts and almost $4.4 million in earnings. Lopez (1978, 1979) and Beth Daniel (1990) are the only other Americans since 1970 with seven or more victories in a single season. Korda now has 15 career LPGA titles, making her the 28th different American to win that many tournaments. She’s the first player since Yani Tseng (2011) to win seven times in a season.
“Proud of the way I played this year,” Korda said. “Just motivated and eager to get next year going again.”
by Jay Coffin
Credits: Golf Digest