It was a showdown of epic proportions. Lydia Ko, a generational talent who had just won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions the week before, versus Nelly Korda, one of the game’s top stars who hadn’t captured an LPGA Tour victory since November 2022, duking it out in a sudden-death playoff at Bradenton Country Club for the LPGA Drive On Championship title.

Ko had carded a fairly steady 2-under 69 in the final round, recovering from a couple of late hiccups with an eagle on 17 to post the clubhouse lead. Korda, on the other hand, had struggled mightily on the back nine, going bogey, double-bogey, bogey on holes 14, 15 and 16 to slip back to 8-under. But the hometown favorite dug deep late, and after a little tough love from her caddie Jason McDede, she went eagle-birdie on 17 and 18 in Bradenton, Fla., to tie Ko and force extra holes.

The first playoff hole saw the pair record matching pars after Ko got up and down from the left side of the green and Korda two-putted the 18th green. Then, on the second extra hole, Korda knocked her approach over the green, while Ko found the putting surface with her second shot to seemingly have the upper hand on Korda as things came down to the wire.

But the Bradenton native chipped her third to roughly four feet, and when Ko’s cleanup for par lipped out, serendipity was knocking for Korda as she stood over a nervy putt for an up and down that would give the local hero her first win in over a year on Tour.

A roar went up when Korda’s ball tumbled over the edge of the cup, a cheer that would wind up being the first of many she would experience throughout the 2024 season, but one that meant just a little bit more than those in the past because of where she was when she heard it. There is nothing like winning in front of a hometown crowd, and while Korda had triumphed in Florida plenty of times before, she had never done so in Bradenton, where she was born, raised and currently resides.

“The amount of support I received this week was unbelievable,” said Korda in her winning press conference. “I'm so grateful for it and so surprised with how many people came out and watched. They kept me in it. I didn't think I even had a chance, and then, making the eagle on 17, I knew that I needed a birdie on 18 to even have a chance to get into a playoff.

“Just wow. Good ole Nelly fashion making it dramatic.”

That playoff was certainly a turning point for Ko and Korda for a variety of reasons, one that bolstered both of their confidence levels ahead of a long year on Tour. However, few could have predicted how a playoff at the second tournament of the 2024 season would foretell two of the biggest stories that would eventually come out over the last 11 months on the LPGA Tour.

Everyone knows how far Nelly’s star rose after her victory at Bradenton Country Club. She won the next four tournaments in which she teed it up, becoming just the third player since 1978 to take home five titles in five consecutive starts, joining an elite list that only includes Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez.

The last of her five straight wins came at The Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, where Korda collected her second career major title and first since she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in 2021. A T7 showing at the Cognizant Founders Cup ended Korda’s winning streak, but she went right back to it at the Mizuho Americas Open the next week in Jersey City, N.J., defeating Hannah Green by one shot after a gritty battle with the Australian at Liberty National Golf Club that saw Korda capture her sixth Tour title in seven starts.

Korda wound up falling off the wagon a bit over the summer, missing three straight cuts that would have sent any other player into a devastated tailspin. But the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 kept cool and righted the ship, tying for 26th at The Amundi Evian Championship to get things back on the rails and then tying for second at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and tying for fifth at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G in her next two starts.

She earned her first Rolex Player of the Year award after the conclusion of the TOTO Japan Classic to go along with the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award she won in August after that T2 showing at the Old Course. And then, just for good measure, Korda collected her seventh 2024 title at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, winning by three shots at Pelican Golf Club over Charley Hull, Jin Hee Im and Weiwei Zhang.

“It's so nice to play in front of friends and family so close to home. I think that's what makes me so comfortable out here,” Korda said in Belleair, Fla. “I didn't start the day the way I wanted to, but it's not how you start. It's how you finish. To have that run that I did on those five holes, I kept myself in it all day. I didn't make big mistakes, but I couldn't get really anything going. To go on that run that I did feels really nice.”

Ko’s season has turned out to be just as successful as Korda’s, even though she cooled off a bit after her runner-up showing at the LPGA Drive On Championship. In hot pursuit of the LPGA Hall of Fame after earning her 26th point after winning her 20th LPGA Tour title at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Ko had a couple of chances to capitalize over the spring and early summer but just couldn’t seem to find herself in victory lane.

At least not until the Paris Olympics.

In what Ko could only describe as a fairytale moment, she took gold at Le Golf National to capture the 27th and final point she needed for automatic qualification into the LPGA Hall of Fame, which, because of the stringent points requirement, is one of the hardest Halls of Fame in which to gain entry into in all of sports. Not to mention, she became the first player in the history of Olympic golf to complete the medal trifecta, as Ko had earned silver at the 2016 Rio Games and claimed bronze in Tokyo in 2021.

“It's a hell of a way to do it,” said Ko about winning gold to get into the LPGA Hall of Fame. “You say those kind of things, and until it happens, it's not really factual. For it to have happened here at the Olympics, unreal. I do feel like I'm a mythical character in a fairytale. It really couldn't have gotten any better than I could have imagined.

“I've had so many grateful things that happened in my career so far, and this really tops it. I couldn't have asked for anything more, to be honest.”

With the LPGA Hall of Fame weight lifted off her shoulders, everything else Ko could possibly do over the rest of the 2024 season just seemed like gravy. But few could have predicted what would happen next.

Lydia Ko On a cold, wet and windy Sunday at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, Ko, who had seemingly spent all of her magic on her gold-medal moment in France, conjured up a little more at the Old Course in Scotland. In sideways rain and bone-chilling wind, the 27-year-old once again made the improbable a reality, capturing her third career major title in thrilling fashion after making birdie on the famous 18th hole at St Andrews to win by two shots over Korda, Jiyai Shin, Lilia Vu and Ruoning Yin.

It was another success that Ko couldn’t believe, but it was one for which she couldn’t have been more grateful, particularly as her husband was there to see her latest history-making moment.

“It's been a crazy past few weeks,” Ko said. “Something that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn't think it could be any better, and here I am as the AIG Women's Open champion this week. That being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special.”

Ko added one more title to her 2024 resume at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, just in case anyone was wondering if she was back at full power once more, and it felt like if the LPGA Tour’s Rolex Player of the Year award had come down to a vote, Ko might have edged out Korda considering all she had achieved in such a historic manner.

But one of the two awards that the LPGA Tour membership does get to vote on was given to Ko, as she was selected by her peers as the 2024 winner of the Heather Farr Perseverance Award, an honor that recognizes a player who, through love for golf, hard work, determination and resiliency has achieved her goals as an athlete. It was one of few awards – if not the only one – that Ko had yet to earn on the LPGA Tour, and in her acceptance speech at the Rolex Awards that were held Wednesday evening in Naples, Fla., the always-classy 27-year-old dedicated the honor to all of her fellow LPGA Tour athletes, knowing just how tough it is for everyone to succeed on the biggest stage in women’s golf.

“I would like to say thank you,” said Ko in her acceptance speech. “The ups and downs that have led me here are the beautiful moments and memories that I'll hold on to forever. But today, I would like to accept this award on behalf of all the players. Every day, each and every one of us perseveres in our own journey. Those moments of perseverance are the ones that teach us resilience and patience and are the constant reminders of the game that we love.”

As what’s been an exhilarating season comes to a close at the CME Group Tour Championship, who knows if Ko or Korda will pull out another 2024 victory at Tiburón Golf Club? They both have to be among the favorites to win, especially considering Ko’s two victories here and Korda’s propensity for success on Florida golf courses.

But even if they don’t end up contending for the CME Group Tour Championship title on Sunday in Naples, Fla., Ko and Korda can look back on their respective years fondly, knowing that they both have left indelible marks on the LPGA Tour this season that will remain for many more years to come. And it can pretty much all be traced back to that playoff at the LPGA Drive On Championship, one that will be hard for both of them to ever forget.

Ko Versus Korda Playoff at LPGA Drive On Championship Foretold Outcome of 2024 LPGA Tour Season

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