If you had asked Nelly Korda what she was most excited about coming into 2024, she probably would have said becoming an aunt.

Korda was overjoyed when her sister Jessica announced in August 2023 that she was pregnant with her first child and couldn’t wait to meet her nephew, who was due in February 2024. But little did Nelly know what else going to happen for her in the new year or what other items she would get to tick off her personal and professional bucket lists as her already bright star rose to new heights, both on and off the golf course.

The whirlwind began in Korda’s hometown of Bradenton, Fla., at the LPGA Drive On Championship, a tournament hosted for the first time ever at Bradenton Country Club. With her ninth career victory on the line, Korda held a four-stroke lead ahead of the final round but relinquished her advantage late after making a couple of costly missteps that left her three shots behind Lydia Ko with two holes to go.

Korda dug deep, making a gritty eagle on the 17th hole and then nearly holing her second shot on 18 to win in regulation, tapping in for birdie to post at 11-under and match Ko, ultimately sending the pair to extra holes. After Korda and Ko tied the first playoff hole, the second saw Ko lip out a short par putt and Korda capitalize with an up-and-down par save to collect her first LPGA Tour title since the 2023 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

“I didn't think I even had a chance, and then obviously making the eagle on 17, I knew that I needed a birdie on 18 to even have a chance to get into a playoff,” said Korda after the victory. “Just wow. Good ole Nelly fashion, making it dramatic.”

Nelly Korda

Jess joked that her younger sister nearly sent her into labor with those end-of-round antics, and she might have done exactly that as Jess’ son Greyson John DelPrete wound up coming into the world on Feb. 3, just six days after his Aunt Nelly picked up that win at Drive On.

But while her nephew’s birth was arguably a more life-changing moment for Korda, that early win in her hometown was a turning point for Nelly.

Even though the 2023 season had been solid, it was a bit of a frustrating year for the superstar, who couldn’t seem to find victory lane no matter how hard she tried. So, picking up a title in just her second start of the new year was quite a relief for Korda, one that put her into a good mental space heading into a seven-week break from competition.

Nelly skipped the Tour’s spring Asian swing to bank some extra time off, returning to action at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship in Southern California at Palos Verdes Golf Club, a course at which she had tied for fifth the year before. She got off to a sluggish start by her standards, posting a 1-over 72 on day one, but Korda picked up the pace over the next two rounds to find herself two shots back of the lead with 18 holes remaining.

A rollercoaster final round saw Nelly card five bogeys, five birdies and an eagle to finish at 9-under total, a performance that sent her to another playoff, this time with Ryann O’Toole. And with plenty of confidence after capturing that long-awaited win two months prior, Korda calmly rolled in a mid-range birdie putt on the first extra hole to pick up her 10th LPGA Tour victory and second win of the 2024 season.

While two wins in two consecutive starts was something, it wasn’t anything that Korda hadn’t done before. She had won back-to-back events in 2021 at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. So after taking some time to briefly celebrate with an In-N-Out burger and animal-style fries, Korda hopped in the car and headed to the inaugural Ford Championship presented by KCC in Arizona, ready for her next challenge.

That’s where things started to get interesting.

Korda quietly plotted her way around Seville Golf and Country Club while battling incredibly windy conditions and again found herself lurking two shots off the lead with the only final round remaining. Her Sunday performance was ultimately Nelly’s most impressive of the week in Gilbert, Ariz., as she fired a flawless 7-under 65 in rainy, chilly weather to outpace the rest of the field by two strokes and claim a third straight LPGA Tour title, becoming the first player to win three times in her first four starts of the year since Lorena Ochoa in 2008.

With the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards getting underway the next Wednesday, it was another quick page-turn for Nelly. She commemorated her latest triumph with an almond croissant and a five-hour drive to Las Vegas, doing her best to stay in her “bubble” and keep her mind on what was next instead of thinking about the win streak she had going and the buzz it was beginning to generate.

Nelly showed up at Shadow Creek having never competed at the pristine Vegas property and opened with a pair of 73s in the stroke-play portion of the event, recovering with a third-round 69 to advance to match play. She defeated Angel Yin in the quarterfinals and then breezed past Narin An in the semis, landing herself a spot in the championship match alongside Leona Maguire, widely thought of as a match-play assassin considering her past Solheim Cup performances.

But, like most everyone else who challenged Nelly in her first few starts of the season, Maguire was another victim of the Korda buzzsaw, falling 4-and-3 to the American as Nelly stormed to her fourth consecutive victory.

Nelly Korda

It was then time for the LPGA Tour to get major season underway, and Korda again found herself on the precipice of history at The Chevron Championship, trying to become just the third player since 1978 to win in five straight starts, a short list that only otherwise included Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam.

Korda finished the third round at 10-under to sit one stroke behind Haeran Ryu with 18 holes to go. She looked to be in cruise control early on Sunday at The Club at Carlton Woods, making three birdies to turn at 13-under total, while those at the top of the leaderboard faltered.

But a couple of bogeys on the back nine left Korda vulnerable to a late charge from Maja Stark, who had carded back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 to post the clubhouse lead at 11-under. That left Nelly with a one-shot lead standing on the last tee box, and with her second major victory well within reach, Korda wasn't about to let her chance slip away.

She found the fairway off the tee and then hit a gutsy second shot over the lake that guards the 18th green at Carlton Woods, giving herself three putts to win. Nelly gave her eagle try a good run and had a testy birdie putt coming back to slam the door shut on her 13th career title and fifth consecutive victory.

Seemingly unfazed by the magnitude of the moment, Korda comfortably rolled in her birdie putt, much to the delight of the Texas crowds, securing her place alongside some of golf’s greatest generational talents as the next surefire superstar, a win she celebrated with a ceremonial cannonball into the pond.

“It's just been a crazy, crazy, crazy couple of weeks, with some really solid golf,” said Korda. “I can finally breathe. I was really nervous on that back nine. I really, really wanted this win. It feels amazing to get it.”

Korda took the next week off to catch her breath and mentally reset. But an off-the-course opportunity then came knocking on Nelly’s door, a once-in-a-lifetime offer that she ultimately couldn’t refuse.

The Met Gala is a can’t-miss event for those extended an invitation to an evening often referred to as “fashion’s biggest night,” and while Korda might not consider herself to be a style icon, her everyday outfits indicate her interest in the industry. So when Casey Wasserman asked her to attend as one of his guests and Oscar de la Renta agreed to dress her, Nelly couldn’t say no to walking the famous carpeted steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City before the Cognizant Founders Cup.

“It was really, really neat to step outside of my comfort zone and do something like that,” Nelly said. “That was my first time ever walking a red carpet, and I went out with a bang. I think it's downhill from here. But it was such a neat experience, and I'm just so grateful that I had the opportunity to do that.”

Nelly Korda

After a magical Monday evening, Nelly turned her attention back to golf on Tuesday with a goal of winning a sixth straight title in New Jersey. And while she gave it a valiant effort, the Korda streak came to a bittersweet end in the Garden State as Nelly tied for seventh at Upper Montclair Country Club, still a respectable result considering how much pressure she had been under to keep things rolling.

Korda then headed to Liberty National Golf Club for the Mizuho Americas Open, not really sure what to expect after coming down off such a high. However, to hardly anyone’s surprise, Korda held the 54-hole lead with 18 holes to play in Jersey City, N.J. but had a challenger sitting just two shots back as Hannah Green wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

It was a gritty, back-and-forth battle between Korda and Green, one that left both players needing to beat the other on the final hole at Liberty National to win the tournament. A wayward drive and short second shot from Green cracked the door open for Korda, who knocked her approach shot on the green and two-putted for par. The Australian then needed to get up and down to force a playoff, but Green missed her par putt, handing Nelly another 2024 victory, a title that she was a bit shocked to have collected particularly considering that she was 2-over after the front nine on Sunday.

“I feel like you never have your A-game throughout an entire tournament,” Korda said. “You kind of have to grind through it even with your B, C, and D game. I definitely felt like I had my C and D game today. I didn't really play all that well. I just told myself that even though I was 2-over, I still had opportunities on the back nine to take the lead or to battle with Hannah because she was playing solid golf.”

Nelly Korda

Things then stalled a bit for Korda, who missed three straight cuts over the summer and had a quiet gold medal defense at the Paris Olympics. But knowing that golfers often face lulls after a period of prolific performances, Nelly showed no signs of panic, quietly righting the ship just in time for the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

A putter change saw Korda’s spark return, and if it wasn’t for a few poor shots coming down the stretch on Sunday that led to a costly double-bogey on 14 and a bogey on 17, Nelly likely would’ve taken home the AIG Women’s Open trophy at the Old Course. But her T2 finish was good enough to clinch the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, just another feather to add to Korda’s already full cap with nearly three full months of the season still to go.

The Solheim Cup was the next thing Korda had circled on her calendar after easily clinching a spot on her fourth straight team earlier in the year. The U.S. Team hadn’t won a Cup since the 2017 playing of the biennial team competition and arrived at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with some unfinished business after the Europeans retained the year before following a first-of-its-kind tie in Spain.

Korda was one of the clear leaders on the American squad, adding clip after clip to her Solheim Cup highlight reel throughout the week. She enjoyed herself more than she ever had in her three previous appearances in the event, dancing on the first tee box and singing along with the hits booming through the loudspeakers.

Sunday saw one of the grittiest efforts given from the U.S. Team in recent years, and even though it was Lilia Vu who earned the winning point for the Red, White and Blue, Korda’s energetic attitude undoubtedly boosted morale in what was a hard-fought 15.5-12.5 victory for the Americans.

“This was probably the most fun I've had on a golf course ever,” Korda said. “Just the team, the team environment, the caddies, everyone getting along, the fans, everyone was so incredible. We all vibed really well off of each other. This is probably the most I've laughed and the most I've fist-pumped ever on a golf course. It was an amazing week and a dream come true.”

As the season wound down, Korda had to take a bit more time off than she planned while dealing with a minor neck injury, withdrawing from her scheduled starts in Asia. But during that brief break, Korda’s debut in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit was announced, another exciting opportunity that Nelly could only have dreamed of getting at some point in her career.

“At the start, I was definitely very timid because I’m not used to posing in a swimsuit, and it’s just so outside of my comfort zone,” Korda said when asked about the shoot on the “Inside the LPGA” podcast. “But I think that’s what’s so amazing about these opportunities is that I get to step outside my comfort zone, do something new. I’m put into an amazing media channel where, hopefully, at the end of the day, I can also grow the game or put a little bit more eyeballs on the game of golf.”

Around the same time, Nelly also locked up her first Rolex Player of the Year award, clinching the Tour’s highest honor with only three events remaining on the 2024 schedule. But even with some incredible achievements already on her resume, Korda wasn’t planning on resting on her laurels at the end of the year.

After teeing it up with Caitlin Clark during the pro-am at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, what turned out to be a female sports crossover for the ages, Nelly went to work climbing the leaderboard at Pelican Golf Club, a venue at which she had won twice before in 2021 and 2022.

Through 54 holes in Belleair, Fla., the 26-year-old was just one shot back of Charley Hull, and after carding one birdie and three bogeys on her opening nine holes on Sunday, it appeared that Korda was going to have to battle hard to add another trophy to her collection. The two-time major champion put the pedal down making the turn and rattled off five straight birdies on the back nine to climb to 14-under, a late-round effort that handed Korda a seventh 2024 title, making her the first person since Yani Tseng in 2011 to win seven times in a single LPGA Tour season.

“Annika is someone I've looked up to, and so many other people have looked up to,” said Nelly. “She's a driving force in our game. Having her out here, playing in front of her and having her name on the tournament just makes it so much sweeter to win it.”

Nelly Korda (of the United States and tournament host Annika Sorenstam of Sweden pose with with the winner's trophy after winning The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 17, 2024 in Belleair, Florida.

Korda wrapped up her historic 2024 with a T5 showing at the CME Group Tour Championship, a solid way to end arguably the greatest season of Korda’s career, a year that saw the young superstar do things that most will only ever dream of both on and off the golf course. She reveled in the highs and conquered the lows with a dominance that hadn’t been seen on the LPGA Tour in quite some time, a performance that has certainly solidified Nelly’s place alongside some of the greatest in the women’s game.

However, with a new season upon us, many are wondering if 2025 will look the same for Korda. Only time will tell. It’s extremely challenging to follow up groundbreaking achievement with even more accomplishment, particularly when playing a game as temperamentally fickle as golf.

But if this past year is any indication, Korda might be finally hitting her stride and reaching her full potential, something that promises plenty more resounding successes to come.

2024 Was the Year of Nelly Korda

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