With a tempered wave to moderate applause, Nelly Korda’s 2024 LPGA campaign officially ended Sunday with a bogey-free 66 and a tie for fifth at the CME Group Tour Championship.
It was a muted response to an otherwise seismic season, one that registered very much like a seismograph to Korda.
There were seven wins, one player-of-the-year award, one major and nine LPGA Hall of Fame points earned.
It all began with a HOF denial in her second start, where she finished eagle-birdie to literally put Lydia Ko’s professional immortality on ice, and then beat Ko in a playoff.
After seven weeks off because of the tour’s first swing through Asia, Korda returned and won four in a row – making it five straight, in total, tying an LPGA record.
Not to be forgotten during that historic stretch was the lack of commonality. She won from behind, from the lead, in various elements, on opposite coasts, in medal play, in match play and, finally, in a major (her first since 2021).
One week after the streak finally ended, she won again. In eight starts, she had six victories and was a dominant world No. 1. Most importantly, the bulk of the season remained: 4 majors, the Olympics, the Solheim Cup and the $11 million CME finale.
Then came the par-3 12th hole at Lancaster Country Club.
Playing her third hole of the U.S. Women’s Open, Korda hit three balls into the water, made a 10 and shot 80 (oddly, it was her second-straight 80 at the USWO as she shot that in the final round at Pebble Beach in ’23).
Korda missed the cut and then opened in 76 on her way to a missed cut in her next start at the Meijer LPGA.
The ship seemed righted a week later at the KPMG Women’s PGA, where she posted a first-round 69, only to follow-up with an 81 – her highest score ever as a professional.
Now, she a had a new streak: 3 consecutive missed cuts.
“With golf, it’s up and down,” she said at the Tour Championship. “It’s a roller coaster. You can never be comfortable.”
There were no more weekends off after Congressional, but the series of baffling moments persisted.
Following a non-descript T-26 at the Amundi Evian, Korda arrived at the Paris Olympics in defense of her gold medal from 2020 Tokyo Games. A quadruple bogey in the second round left her scrambling to get into medal contention, which she did in the final round, only to be undone by a late triple bogey.
She next appeared at St. Andrews for the AIG Women’s Open, which she led through 36 holes before a 75-72 finish, where she made a late double bogey in both rounds to tie for second.
Ko, in a full-circle moment, captured both Paris gold and the Women’s Open, the former accounting for a career medal sweep and ensuring enshrinement into the LPGA Hall of Fame. Hers was the story of the summer and continued into the fall as Korda skipped the tour’s second Asian swing – another seven-week layoff – in part because of a “minor neck injury.”
And then she returned a couple of weeks ago in Naples, Florida, made five-straight, back-nine birdies in the final round, and won The Annika.
“I said, like at the beginning year, just felt like it was kind of flowing. I would never say golf is easy, but I was just in a state of just a flow,” Korda said at the CME.
“Then in the middle of the year just felt like the hardest thing in the world, and kind of overcoming that with my team, being able to lean on the people that mean the most to me, I think that was probably the hardest and also the most rewarding.”
Along the way, Korda became an aunt for the first time, attended the Met Gala, suffered a dog bite, helped the U.S. win back the Solheim Cup, dealt with migraines and posed for the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
“Honestly, it’s been a crazy year,” she said. “I’m grateful for all of it. I am grateful for the highs; grateful for the lows.”
