By: Max Bechtoldt
When Nelly Korda stepped up to her first tee shot at Lake Nona Country Club in January 2024, she was unquestionably already a star. She was a major champion, Olympic gold medalist with eight career wins and the most weeks ranked No. 1 in the world of any American women’s golfer ever. But even with her phenomenal resumé, I don’t think anyone could have seen this coming.
Sunday at Liberty National in Jersey City, Korda won her sixth event of the 2024 season. In May she has already nearly doubled her career LPGA output. She leads the Race to the CME Globe standings by nearly 2,000 points, the money list by almost two million dollars and scoring average by .6 strokes per round. She has more wins than anyone on tour has top-10 finishes and in May has already gained more Player of the Year points than any player since 2019.
On January 15, Korda was ranked No. 5 in the world, now she has double the points of No. 2 Lilia Vu. A margin that will take a long time to erase no matter what happens. Korda has now spent the seventh most weeks all time ranked No. 1 in the world at 45.
Her win at Liberty National tied Korda with Annika Sörenstam as the fastest player to reach six wins in one season. She now has the most wins from an American in an LPGA season since Beth Daniel in 1990. She is the first LPGA player to win six times in a season since Inbee Park in 2013. She joins Lorena Ochoa, Louise Suggs and Babe Zaharis as the only players to win six times on tour before June 1st. Every player named above is in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Speaking of the LPGA Hall of Fame, it may be the most exclusive in all of sports, using an objective, numerical formula to determine its inductees. The magic number is 27 points. Coming into this season, Korda was sitting at 10 points, winning eight events including a major. Plus her Olympic gold. She now has 17 points, and is essentially guaranteed one more because of her inevitable Player of the Year win. At only 25-years-old, she already feels like a lock.
Hot streaks don’t last forever, especially on a tour defined by its parity and young stars, and eventually Korda will cool off. But, for the time being, appreciate greatness while it is here.
