Background and career
Nelly Korda (born July 28, 1998) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She is a four-time major winner, claiming victories at the 2021 Women's PGA Championship, the 2024 and 2026 Chevron Championships and the 2026 U.S. Women's Open. In total, she has won 24 professional titles including 19 on the LPGA Tour and was a gold medalist at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She has spent over 100 weeks as number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings and in both 2021 and 2024 finished as year-end number one. She has represented the United States at five Solheim Cups and was a member of the winning team in 2024. Korda turned professional in 2016 and won her first professional tournament at the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge the same year. She began playing on the LPGA Tour in 2017 and won her first LPGA event in 2018 at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship. In 2019, she triumphed at the Women's Australian Open and subsequently entered the top-10 of the world rankings for the first time. Korda won further LPGA titles, and in 2021, she claimed her first major with victory at the 2021 Women's PGA Championship, with her victory also taking her to world number one. At the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, she became the first American female golfer to win individual gold at an Olympic Games since 1900. In 2024, Korda became the third player to have won five consecutive tournaments on the LPGA Tour and this run culminated with her second win in a major: the 2024 Chevron Championship. In September that year, Korda became a member of the United States team that were victorious at the Solheim Cup and she finished the year with seven individual LPGA titles before being named LPGA Tour Player of the Year. Korda is from a family of professional athletes. Her father Petr was a tennis player who won the 1998 Australian Open, her younger brother Sebastian is a professional tennis player, and her older sister Jessica is a professional golfer. In 2018, Nelly Korda's maiden LPGA Tour victory meant that she and Jessica became the third pair of sisters to have both claimed victory in LPGA Tour events and in 2019, they became the first sisters to play as a pairing in a Solheim Cup match.
Korda trained at the IMG Academy in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida. At the age of 14, she made the cut at the 2013 U.S. Women's Open, and eventually finished tied-64th. The following year, she was triumphant at the Kathy Whitworth Invitational, and was also given an invitation to compete at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship as one of nine amateur players in the field. In January 2015, she sealed victory at the Harder Hall Invitational, having been penalized two-penalty strokes on the first hole for using a caddie, which was prohibited at the event. During 2015, she also claimed victory at the Yani Tseng Invitational, and finished runner-up at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship. Korda was then selected to represent the United States in the 2015 Junior Solheim Cup at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany. There, the United States won 13–11, to become the first team to win the tournament away from home. In October, she won the PING Invitational, which moved her into the top-10 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and she was also a 2015 AJGA Rolex Junior All-American.
Korda began her professional career in 2016 on the Symetra Tour, where she won her first professional event at the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge. There, she finished three strokes ahead of runner-up Wichanee Meechai. After a tied-6th finish at the Symetra Tour Championship, she ended the season ninth on the Symetra Tour money list, which earned her an LPGA Tour card for 2017. Korda made her LPGA Tour debut at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic in 2017, where she finished tied-5th. Later in the year, she arrived at the season-ending 2017 CME Group Tour Championship in 51st place on the LPGA Tour official money list. Korda admitted that she had "struggled" with all the traveling during the year. At the CME Group Tour Championship, she ended her season with a tied-8th finish.
At the beginning of 2018, Korda appointed Jason McDede as her caddie. In March, she finished runner-up at the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore. She missed an eight-foot putt on the final hole which would have forced a playoff with Michelle Wie. Korda also recorded a top-10 finish at the U.S. Women's Open in June, finishing in a tie for tenth place. On October 28, 2018, she secured a two-stroke victory at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship in Taoyuan, Taiwan, to seal her maiden LPGA Tour title. The win made her and her sister Jessica Korda the third pair of sisters to have claimed LPGA Tour titles, joining Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn, along with Charlotta and Annika Sörenstam. At the end of the year, she finished runner-up at the CME Group Tour Championship. Korda recorded a total of seven top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour in 2018.
After finishing third at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, Korda then won the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open in February. She won the tournament by a two-stroke margin over Ko Jin-young. In doing so, she completed a "Family Slam" in Australia. Her father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open singles in tennis. Her older sister, Jessica, won the Women's Australian Open golf tournament in 2012, and her younger brother, Sebastian, won the 2018 Australian Open Boys' singles in tennis. Following this victory, Korda broke into the top-10 of the Women's World Golf Rankings, moving up from 16th to 9th, and becoming the second highest ranked American in the world, behind 5th ranked Lexi Thompson. At majors, she recorded a tied-3rd place finish at the Women's PGA Championship and a tied-9th finish at the Women's British Open. Korda made her Solheim Cup debut in 2019 at Gleneagles, Scotland. She made history in the day one foursomes with Jessica Korda, when they became the first sisters to be playing partners in the history of the competition. They beat Caroline Masson and Jodi Ewart Shadoff, 6 and 4, on the first day and followed this up by defeating Carlota Ciganda and Bronte Law, 6 and 5, on the second day. Korda then triumphed over Caroline Hedwall, 2 up, in the singles to complete the tournament with an unbeaten 3–0–1 (win–loss–tie) record. The United States suffered an overall 13.5–14.5 defeat to Europe. In September, Korda finished runner-up at the Hanwha Classic, but then shot a four-under-par 67 in the final round to win the Lacoste Ladies Open de France by eight shots, thus recording her first victory in a Ladies European Tour event. In November, she defended her title at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship. The tournament concluded with a three-way playoff, in which Korda overcame Minjee Lee and Masson to claim victory. At the CME Group Tour Championship, she finished in tied-3rd position. In 2019, Korda recorded twelve top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour. In March 2020, the LPGA suspended competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The LPGA Tour resumed later in the year, and Korda finished tied-3rd at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in August, before coming close to winning her first major championship at the ANA Inspiration the following month. There, she reached a three-way playoff with Mirim Lee and Brooke Henderson, but it was Lee who won the trophy on the first extra hole. She also finished fifth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in October.
In February, Korda won the Gainbridge LPGA by a three-shot margin at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. She finished tied-3rd at the ANA Inspiration in April, seven strokes behind Patty Tavatanakit. She then won the Meijer LPGA Classic in June, becoming the first two-time winner on the LPGA Tour for the year. Her tournament included a career best 62, carded in the third round. Later that month, Korda won her first major at the 2021 Women's PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Georgia. In the final round, she shot a four-under-par 68 and won by three strokes over Lizette Salas. With the victory, she also became the number one ranked player in the world. Korda said "A major championship and No. 1 in the world. Is this week even real?" She finished the tournament with a score of 19-under-par, which equaled the tournament's lowest ever score set by Inbee Park in 2015. Korda then competed for the United States at the delayed Summer Olympics in Japan. During her second round, she reached the 18th tee at 11-under-par for her round. A birdie on the final hole would have carded her a 59 but she double-bogeyed the hole for a 62. Two days later, she won the gold medal, and became just the second female golfer from the United States to achieve the feat, and the first since Margaret Abbott at the 1900 Olympic Games. Korda represented the United States again at the 2021 Solheim Cup in Toledo, Ohio. She finished the event with a 2–2–0 record, which included a 1 up victory over Georgia Hall in the singles, but the United States lost 13–15 overall. After Ko Jin-young won the BMW Ladies Championship in October, Korda fell to number two in the world rankings, but she regained the number one spot in November. Neither Korda or Ko Jin-young had competed in tournaments between those dates, but the rankings are taken over a two-year rolling average which resulted in Korda regaining the top position. Korda then won the Pelican Women's Championship in Belleair, Florida. She shot a final-round 69 and then won in a playoff against Thompson, Lydia Ko and Kim Sei-young. She reached the playoff despite scoring a triple-bogey seven on the par-4 17th hole. Korda made a birdie in the playoff to seal the victory, tying her with Ko Jin-young with four LPGA Tour wins in 2021. Korda became the first American to win four times in an LPGA Tour season since Stacy Lewis in 2012. She finished tied-5th in the CME Group Tour Championship, and finished the year as world number one. Korda had the lowest scoring average on tour (68.774) in her 62 rounds, and she finished second on the money list ($2,382,198) to Ko Jin-young ($3,502,161). Neither Korda or Ko Jin-young won the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average as they had not played the minimum 70 rounds, so Lydia Ko was awarded the trophy.
