Nelly Korda (born July 28, 1998) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

, where she has won seven times and reached number one in the

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (L ...

. Korda won the Olympic gold medal at the women's individual golf event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Along with her sister

Jessica Korda Jessica Regina Korda ( cs, Jessica Kordová) (born February 27, 1993) is an Czech-American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Amateur career Korda was a member of the 2009 U.S. Junior Solheim Cup and the 2010 U.S. Curtis Cup teams. ...

, she represented the United States at the

2019 Solheim Cup The 2019 Solheim Cup was the 16th edition of the Solheim Cup matches, held from 13 to 15 September at the Gleneagles Hotel, Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course in Scotland. The Solheim Cup is a biennial team competition between the top women professi ...

and 2021 Solheim Cup.

Amateur career

Korda was a member of the 2015 U.S.

Junior Solheim Cup The Junior Solheim Cup is a version of the Solheim Cup for girls aged 12 to 18. It was inaugurated in 2002. It is currently officially called the PING Junior Solheim Cup. The Junior Solheim Cup follows a similar format to The Solheim Cup and featu ...

. As an amateur, she won the 2015 Harter Hall Invitational, and the 2015 PING Invitational, and was a 2015 AJGA Rolex Junior All-American. She also made the cut at the 2013

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

, one month before her 15th birthday.

Professional career

Korda began her pro career in 2016 on the Symetra Tour, where she won her first pro event at the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge after shooting rounds of 68-67-69-66 for a 3 stroke victory over Wichanee Meechai. She ended the season 9th on the money list, thus earning her LPGA Tour card for 2017.

2018: First LPGA win

On October 28, 2018, Korda won the

Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship The LPGA Taiwan Championship is a women's professional golf tournament in Taiwan on the LPGA Tour. It debuted as the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship in 2011 at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club in Yangmei. It was the first LPGA tournament ever p ...

in Taoyuan, Taiwan for her first

title. This win made her and her sister

the third pair of sisters to win in LPGA history, joining the Jutanugarn sisters,

Moriya Jutanugarn Moriya Jutanugarn ( th, โมรียา จุฑานุกาล; ; born 28 July 1994) is a Thai professional golfer. In 2009, Jutanugarn became the first female to win the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy. In 2013, she was named LPGA ...

and Ariya Jutanugarn, along with

Charlotta Charlotta is a Danish language, Danish, Finnish language, Finnish and Swedish language, Swedish feminine given name that is an alternate form of Charlotte (given name), Charlotte and a feminine form of the masculine version of Charlot (name), Charlo ...

and

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 inter ...

2019−2020: Continued success

After settling for runner-up at the

CME Group Tour Championship The CME Group Tour Championship is a women's professional golf tournament, the season-ending event of the LPGA Tour. It succeeded the LPGA Tour Championship, which was played for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. From 2011 to 2013 the tournament wa ...

and solo 3rd at the

Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour in Florida. It debuted in 2019 at the Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The tournament field is limit ...

, Korda won the

ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open The Women's Australian Open is a women's professional golf tournament played in Australia, operated by Golf Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia, long co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Beginning with the 2012 event, it i ...

on February 17, 2019. 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 Korda, won the Women's Australian Open in 2012 and her younger brother, Sebastian, won the 2018 Australian Open junior boys in tennis. The Australian Open win represented Korda's 4th top-5 finish in her most recent 5 LPGA starts. Thanks to this victory, Korda broke into the top 10 for the first time in the February 18, 2019 release of the

, moving up to 9th from 16th the week before, and becoming the second highest ranked American in the world, surpassed only by 5th ranked Lexi Thompson. On September 22, 2019, Korda shot a 4-under-par 67 in blustery conditions and won the

Lacoste Ladies Open de France The Open de France Dames is a women's professional golf tournament in France on the Ladies European Tour. It has been played annually since 1987, with four exceptions: 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1998. Since the 2011 edition, Lacoste has been the tit ...

by eight shots. On November 3, 2019, Korda defended her title at the Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA in a playoff.

2021: Breakout year: 4 wins, first major win, Olympic gold, #1 world rank

On February 28, 2021, Korda won the

Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio The Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio is a women's professional golf tournament in Florida on the LPGA Tour. Originally, Gainbridge had sponsored a tournament at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 2017 to 2019, it was moved to Florida in 2020 ...

at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida. On June 20, 2021, Korda won the

Meijer LPGA Classic The Meijer LPGA Classic is a women's professional golf tournament in Michigan on the LPGA Tour. Founded in 2014, it is played at Blythefield Country Club in Belmont, a suburb northeast of Grand Rapids. Mirim Lee won the inaugural tournament ...

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

becoming the first two time winner on the LPGA during the 2021 season. She shot a career best 62 on Saturday to take a lead into the final round. On June 27, 2021, Korda won her first

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at the

Atlanta Athletic Club Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC), founded in 1898, is a private athletic club in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb 23 miles north of Atlanta. The original home of the club was a 10-story building located on Carnegie Way, and in 1904 a golf course was bui ...

. In the final round, Korda shot a 4-under 68 and won by three strokes over

Lizette Salas Lizette Salas (born July 17, 1989) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour. Early life and education Born and raised in Azusa, California, Salas graduated from Azusa High School in 2007 and went on to play college ...

. With the win, Korda became the number one player in the world. On August 5, in round 2 of the Women's Golf at the Summer Olympics in Japan, Korda stood on the 18th tee at −11 for her round. A birdie on the 18th would have been a round of 59 but she double bogeyed the hole for a 62. On August 7, Korda won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

. She became the second woman from the U.S. to win the gold, and the first since Margaret Abbott in the 1900 Olympic Games. After

Ko Jin-young Ko Jin-young (;, born 7 July 1995), also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. By age 22 years, she had won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour, was second at the 2015 Ricoh Women’s British ...

won the BMW Ladies Championship on October 24, Korda fell to No. 2 in the Women's World Golf Rankings, by a narrow margin of 9.36 to 9.34 average points per event played. She regained the No. 1 spot on November 8, 2021, by a fraction of an average point per event played (9.032 to 9.028), despite neither player playing tournaments between those ranking dates, because the calculations are over a two-year rolling average. In November, Korda won the Pelican Women's Championship in

Belleair, Florida Belleair is a town in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 3,869. History Belleair traces its origins to 1896 as a planned resort town with the construction of the Belleview Hotel by railroa ...

. Korda shot a final round 69 and won in a playoff over Lexi Thompson,

Lydia Ko Lydia Ko (born 24 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional golfer and the No. 1-ranked woman professional golfer. She first achieved the top ranking on 2 February 2015 at of age, making her the youngest player of either gender to be ranked ...

and

Kim Sei-young Kim Sei-young (born 21 January 1993), also known as Sei Young Kim, is a South Korean professional golfer. Kim plays on the LPGA of Korea Tour and the LPGA Tour. She has won five times on the LPGA of Korea Tour and twelve times on the LPGA Tour ...

. This was her fourth LPGA victory of 2021. She won despite a triple bogey seven on the par-4 17th hole, dropping her from co-leading at −19, to fourth-place at −16, two shots behind Thompson. Recovering on the 18th with a birdie that tied her with her playing partner, and then-leader Lexi Thompson, who then bogeyed the 18th, requiring the four-way playoff starting on the 18th hole. Korda birdied it for the win, tying her with

with four wins in 2021. Ko Jin-young finished with a 66, tying for sixth place. Korda became the first American to win four times in an LPGA Tour season since

Stacy Lewis Stacy Lewis (born February 16, 1985) is an American professional golfer on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She has won two major championships: the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2011 and the Women's British Open in 2013. She was ranked number one in ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. She had the lowest scoring average on tour (68.774) in her 62 rounds, beating the money list winner

(68.886) in her 67 rounds, although she finished second on the money list ($2,382,198) to Ko ($3,502,161). However,

won the

Vare Trophy The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...

despite finishing third on the scoring average list because neither Korda nor Ko Jin-young met the 70 round minimum. Despite a fifth-place tie in the

to #2 world-ranked Ko Jin-young, Korda held onto her #1 spot with a 10.07 average points Ko's 9.94 in the Rolex Rankings, as of November 22.

2022: Blood clot, loss of world #1 ranking, re-gains #1 world ranking

On January 3, 2022, Korda passed

as the longest American women's golfer as world #1, with her 26th consecutive week at number one in the Rolex rankings. Lewis had 25 weeks. Three weeks later at the

tournament (January 27–30), she tied for 20th place at 286 (−2), along with her sister Jessica and five other golfers. The low placement lost her the

#1 position she held for 29 consecutive weeks, to the former #2

by a 0.03 difference in the average (9.48 to 9.51 for Ko), with Korda the new #2. She finished T-15, T-20, and T-4 in her first three starts for 2022. Korda announced on her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

(

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

) account on March 13, she had a

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...

in her arm, so she would not compete in the Chevron Championship, the year's first major. She also did not enter the

JTBC Classic The JTBC Classic Presented by Barbasol, formerly the Kia Classic, is a women's professional golf tournament in Southern California on the LPGA Tour. It debuted in 2010 at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, then moved north for a year in ...

she originally was scheduled to compete, while resting at home getting treatment. Korda returned to play at the

, finishing in the top ten. Korda mentioned in a November 9 interview, at the Pelican Women's Championship where she won her last tournament in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, that much of her time away from the tour was devoted to building her new home close to where she grew up in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

. After her $300,000 earned from her second consecutive Pelican Women's Championship win on November 13, her career LPGA money total is $7,455,977, 40th all-time, right behind sister

at $7,543,454. Nelly has earned $7,455,977 in only 109 tournaments, less than one-half of Jessica's 227. Korda's first win in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

with a 14-under-par (three-rounds, 196), returned her to the #1 world ranking. On 28 November, she dropped to the Number 2 ranking from Number 1 the past two weeks.

re-gained the Number 1 ranking for the first time since

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2023

In January Korda signed a deal with

TaylorMade TaylorMade Golf Company is an American sports equipment manufacturing company based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The company focuses on the golf equipment market, producing golf clubs, balls, and clothing. TaylorMade Golf is currently ...

and

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

. With her fourth-place finish at the

Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour in Florida. It debuted in 2019 at the Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The tournament field is limit ...

on January 19, she earned $99,457 to jump three places from 40th to 37th on the career money list to $7,638,934 passing sister

, ranked 39th at $7,543,454 who did not play in the tournament. Nelly has played in 110 tournaments to Jessica's 227.

Personal life

Korda is the daughter of retired Czech professional tennis players

Petr Korda Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He won the 1998 Australian Open and was runner-up at the 1992 French Open, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in February 1998. Korda tested positive for dopin ...

and

Regina Rajchrtová Regina Rajchrtová, married Kordová (5 February 1968) is a former tennis player from Czechoslovakia who competed for her native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. On 1 April 1991 she reached a career world ranking high of 26. Persona ...

. Her father is a tennis grand slam champion who won the 1998 Australian Open crown. Her younger brother, Sebastian, won the 2018 Australian Open tennis title in the boys' division. Her older sister

also plays on the LPGA Tour. In 2021, Korda made the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'30 under 30 list' for earners under the age of 30, with Korda, 23.

Professional wins (12)

LPGA Tour wins (8)

LPGA Tour playoff record (2–2)

Ladies European Tour (2)

Symetra Tour wins (1)

Other wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2019 or in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Summary

LPGA Tour career summary

^ Official as of January 19, 2023
*Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

World ranking

Position in

at the end of each calendar year. ^ as of January 30, 2023

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

: 2015 (winners) Professional *

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force b ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Solheim Cup record

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Korda, Nelly American female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Olympic golfers of the United States Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in golf Golfers from Florida Sportspeople from Bradenton, Florida American people of Czech descent 1998 births Living people 20th-century American women 21st-century American women