By: Max Bechtoldt
The official women’s golf Olympic teams have been released. So, tune into Fore-All.com to learn about every player in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Throughout the weeks leading up, Fore-All will break down every team, and eventually rank every player in the field. Today, we start with Team USA.
Team USA has three players in 2024. They also had three in 2016, with Stacy Lewis, Gerina Piller and Lexi Thompson. In 2021, they had the maximum of four players qualify, with Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang making the team. In Tokyo, Nelly Korda won the gold medal, and she is the sole returnee in 2024, trying to defend her win here in Paris. Learn all about team USA below:
NELLY KORDA
Nelly Korda, the undisputed No. 1 player in the world, has been incredible in 2024. She has six wins, including a trophy raised at the Chevron Championship. In the season, she tied the LPGA Tour record for most wins in a row, with five. Though she has missed the last three cuts that she has played in, she still is the runaway leader for LPGA Tour Player of the Year. This success isn’t necessarily new either. Korda has 14 career wins on the LPGA Tour dating back to her first in 2018, two of those wins are majors. She also has three wins on the Ladies European Tour plus the gold medal in Tokyo. Korda is without a fraction of a doubt the iconic figure on the tour at the moment, and usually plays her best while wearing the red, white and blue.
LILIA VU
The No. 2 ranked player in the world has increased the confidence of American fans heavily in the last few weeks. Vu made her name in 2023, winning four tournaments and two majors, ultimately resulting in the first LPGA Tour Player of the Year Award for the USA since Stacy Lewis in 2014. Vu won both the Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open, while also taking the title at the Honda LPGA Classic and The Annika. While she has dealt with injuries in 2024, she managed to get a strong win at the Meijer LPGA Classic, triumphing in a playoff over Lexi Thompson and Grace Kim for her fifth LPGA Tour win. Vu then grabbed a top five finish at the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, her first major championship appearance of the year.
ROSE ZHANG
Rose Zhang got into this position mostly because of her win at the 2024 Cognizant Founder’s Cup in New Jersey, where she won her second career event. Not only did she win, she had an incredible performance, finishing 15 strokes ahead of third place. Flashing back to Zhang’s first win, she triumphed over a field of LPGA veterans, despite it being her first career professional event. Zhang previously was considered the greatest amateur golfer, men’s or women’s, ever. Zhang won two individual NCAA National Championships at Stanford, the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. While she is only 21-years-old, and looking for her first major title, she does already have two top-10 finishes in majors. Zhang is currently ranked No. 9 in the Rolex Rankings, despite being professional for barely over one year.
