In April, Clark was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. She became the seventh WNBA rookie to be named a starter in the All-Star game, and was later named the league’s Rookie of the Year. Clark also became the fifth rookie ever to make the All-WNBA First Team.
Korda, Jeeno Thitikul and Lydia Ko, three of the biggest stars on the LPGA, ranked inside the top 15: Korda (eighth), Thitikul (12th) and Ko (15th).
The world No. 1 made $10 million in endorsements, bringing her total to $14.4 million. Thitikul made $7.1 million on the course and $2 million in endorsements, while Ko took home $3.2 million on the course and $3.5 million in endorsements.
Other names on the list included tennis sensation Coco Gauff (first, $30.4), Olympic gymnast Simone Biles (ninth, ~$11 million) and WNBA star Caitlin Clark (10th, ~$11 million).
“Golf is just crazy,” said Korda. “Always humbles you, but that’s what you love so much about it.”
NAPLES, Fla. — Nelly Korda, for all her otherworldly talent, echoed the masses on Friday at the CME Group Tour Championship.
“Golf is just crazy,” said Korda. “You go from playing so well last week to not being able to find the center of the club face yesterday. Always humbles you, but that’s what you love so much about it.”
Korda rebounded from an opening 72 with a dazzling 6-under 66 at Tiburon Golf Club on a sunny, windswept day in south Florida. The bogey-free round included a hole-out for eagle on the third hole.
The World No. 1 headed to the range after Thursday’s round and came away with one simple swing thought.
“I get kind of like slung open, and then when I swing my face open, then I just don’t hinge properly,” she said.
“So going straight back, which in a sense is like a closing club face on the way back, and then just hinging puts me in a good spot on the top.”
Armed with a good plan, Korda headed back for a little room service and some much-needed rest. Her physio, Kim Baughman, came by to knock on the door early Friday morning for treatment on her neck.
“It’s getting better every day, yeah,” said Korda, who skipped the tour’s fall Asian swing after suffering the injury. “Doing a lot of rehab still with Kim, strengthening.”
The first American to win seven times in a season since Beth Daniel in 1990, should she go on to win this week, Korda would be the first American to win eight times in a season since Nancy Lopez in 1979.
It’s also worth noting Korda came from behind to win four times this season, the most of since Jane Geddes in 1987.
NAPLES, Fla. — Nelly Korda plays so fast there are times that her caddie, Jason McDede, has to slow her down. There are many things to admire about the No. 1 player in the world, and the speed with which she plays the game hovers near the top of the list.
“I just always say, your first instinct is your best instinct,” said Korda, who’s fresh off her seventh victory of the season. “Just be ready when it’s your turn.”
The topic of slow play is nothing new, of course, but Lexi Thompson thinks the LPGA is only getting slower.
“I don’t really know why it’s gotten worse,” said Thompson, “but it has unfortunately.”
Korda and Charley Hull were part of a third round that finished in the dark on Saturday last week at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. Two of the fastest players on tour were forced to suffer through a round that took five hours and 38 minutes. The tour went 51 minutes over its allotted TV window. In this case, Golf Channel extended coverage.
“I personally think it’s a pretty big issue,” said Korda. “I think it’s not good for the fans that come out and watch us. If it was me personally, I would be very, very annoyed watching for five hours, over five hours, five hours and 40 minutes, close to six. I just think it really drags the game down.
“I think that it really, really needs to change.”
When asked about slow play after The Annika, Hull offered a rather extreme answer to the problem, calling for repeat offenders to lose their tour cards. Korda shared a video of Hull’s comments on social media, as did PGA Tour player Max Homa.
“I’m quite ruthless,” said Hull, “but I said, listen, if you get three bad timings, every time it’s a two-shot penalty, if you have three of them you lose your tour card instantly. I’m sure that would hurry a lot of people up and they won’t want to lose their tour card.
“That would kill the slow play, but they would never do that.”
Charley Hull of England and Nelly Korda of the United States prepare to play the first hole during the final round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 17, 2024 in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
After playing the weekend together at Pelican, Korda and Hull played a practice round on Tuesday at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples. Not surprisingly, the topic of slow play came up again, likely during a long wait.
“She was talking and it’s like either a 5 or a 6, like you got two options,” said Korda. “It’s either wind is off your right or wind is off your left, wind is into, wind is down. You can’t – it’s just people just try to overcomplicate it.”
Korda echoes the thoughts of many when she says that the tour needs more rules officials. She’d like to see officials out with the first group, ready to prod. She’d also like to see more penalties given out.
“To be standing over a putt for two to three minutes, that’s ridiculous,” said Korda. “When a group in front of me is on the green and I’m in the fairway, I’m already getting ready. I’m getting my numbers ready, talking about the shot, so by the time it’s my turn, I already have my game plan. … People start their process a little too late and they stand over it too long.”
Thompson called Hull’s slow-play solution “aggressive” but said she didn’t disagree, noting rounds should never take more than four and a half hours.
“Something has to be done to quicken up the play out there,” said Thompson.
She’s the No. 1-ranked player in the world, she’s won seven times on the LPGA so far this season and as an added bonus, she’s featured in this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Korda, 26, won The Annika on Sunday to become just the third LPGA player to cross the $4 million threshold in earnings during a single season. At the CME Group Tour Championship, she’ll have a chance to double that number thanks to the $4 million first-place prize that’s up for grabs.
There are 20 different golfers who hoisted a trophy on the LPGA in 2024.
Nelly Korda is having a season for the ages.
With seven wins – and a chance for an eighth in the season finale – Korda is the first LPGA golfer to have seven wins in a season since Yani Tseng in 2011. She’s the first American to win seven events since Beth Daniel in 1990. Korda’s previous best single-season win total was four victories in 2021. She has 15 career wins.
There are three other golfers with three wins. There are five golfers in all with more than one win in 2024. In all, 20 different golfers won an LPGA tournament this year.
Lorena Ochoa’s amazing 2007 season is still the high-water mark for LPGA money.
Two years ago, Lydia Ko came close to breaking Lorena Ochoa’s 2007 mark for most money earned in an LPGA season.
Ochoa’s amazing record, now 17 years old, set a bar that’s been difficult to break, even with a surge in prize money. She earned $4,364,994 in 2007, and Ko in 2022 finished just $591 away from breaking the mark.
This year, thanks to seven victories and three other top-10 finishes, Nelly Korda is at $4,164,430 with one event left. She’s now the third golfer in LPGA history to surpass the $4 million mark.
With a $4 million first-place prize up for grabs at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, Korda has a chance to nearly double her 2024 earnings while simultaneously shattering the single-season money mark.
Korda won her seventh victory on the LPGA in 2024 and 15th of her career.
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Nelly Korda didn’t know brother Sebastian had come out to watch her play on Sunday until she’d finished. He’d never seen her win on the LPGA before, and his presence at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican was a gift in itself. The siblings hadn’t seen each other since the summer, when Nelly went to watch him compete in the U.S. Open.
“For him to drive an hour and 40 with three holes remaining,” said Korda, “one, he was very confident in me, and, two, just really nice to have his support and be out here.”
Family and team mean everything to Korda, and she credits much of her monumental seven-win season to those who occupy her bubble. This week, she made certain to mention longtime physio Kim Baughman early and often. The pair have spent a great deal of time together in the lead-up to this event after Korda suffered a neck injury before she was scheduled to fly to Asia.
“I mean, it was three times a day that I was seeing her and she lives 40 minutes away,” said Korda. “So she was coming to my house three times a day. Before and after practice, I mean, to every work out. I think she needs a vacation that I will gladly pay for.”
Korda said she rushed her rehab to get back for this week. Now a three-time champion at Pelican Golf Club, the World No. 1 relishes playing close to home. Her first victory of the season was practically in the backyard of her parents’ house in Bradenton, Florida, just down the road from where she was born.
With her most recent victory on the LPGA coming in May, Korda said it felt like lifetimes have passed since a torrid streak that included five consecutive wins. Since that time, there was:
the 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open
the unbelievable 81 at the KPMG Women’s PGA
the dog bite at a coffee shop
final-round heartbreaks in Paris and St. Andrews
migraines that led to neck pain and a forced two-month break this fall
Through it all, Korda showed an enviable resilience.
“She’s pretty badass,” said Sebastian, “she’s as tough as it gets.”
Charley Hull f England and Nelly Korda of the United States prepare to play the first hole during the final round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 17, 2024 in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
On Sunday in Belleaire, Korda began the final round one stroke back of Charley Hull and found herself further back early on Sunday after a front-nine 37. A string of five birdies from Nos. 11-15, however, put her in the driver’s seat, and she won with ease after a final-round 67. Korda’s 14 under total put her three clear of Hull, Jin Hee Im and Weiwei Zhang, who secured her card for 2025 with the effort.
Now a 15-time winner on the LPGA, Korda’s seventh victory of the season puts her in rare company as she joins Kathy Whitworth (1973), Nancy Lopez (1978, 1979) and Beth Daniel (1990) as the only Americans since 1970 with seven or more wins in a single season. Yani Tseng was the last player on tour to win seven times back in 2011.
“Feel like I definitely matured a lot,” said Korda. “I realized what really matters truly in life, you know, through the tough times. I would say you’re not really grateful for them. You’re like why me? Why is this happening to me? Here we go again.
“But you have to be grateful for those times because they do help you grow. They make you realize what really truly matters. The people that really truly look out for you and are there for you will stick through it with you.”
The Annika features some of the LPGA’s biggest names.
The 2024 Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican features some of the LPGA’s biggest names: Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Charley Hull, Minjee Lee, Rose Zhang and Lilia Vu. It’s hosted by perhaps the best womens golfer of all time, Annika Sorenstam.
Held at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, it’s the penultimate event on the LPGA’s 2024 schedule.
As the final group chased what little daylight was left up the 18th hole, Charley Hull rinsed her approach at Pelican Golf Club while Nelly Korda suffered a disappointing three-putt.
“I was hitting a 7-iron to the green, and usually my 7-iron in this weather is like 165, 107 club. The sun then dropped, and it was kind of dark. Then it got the wind up, and I hit a really good 7-iron in and hit it pure. It just come up short in the water. Tricky little up-and-down,” said Hull.
“But my putt, I could barely see the hole. I couldn’t see the break or anything. So it was pretty dark to finish in.”
Korda called it poor planning, starting the third round so late at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. The TV window was scheduled to finish at 5 p.m. ET but the final threesome, which teed off at 12:13 p.m., didn’t finish until 5:50 p.m. and Golf Channel stayed on air til the end.
Hull and Korda, two of the fastest players on tour, can’t be blamed. The final round is scheduled to finish at 4:30 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.
Hull paces the field at 12 under while Korda, a two-time winner of this event, sits one back with China’s Weiwei Zhang. While Korda looks to nab her seventh title of the season, Zhang is fighting for full status for the 2025.
“I just felt it’s amazing day today,” said Zhang, who carded a career-low 8-under 62. “I can’t say anything. Just I don’t know how to play that well today.”
Charley Hull of England and Nelly Korda of the United States looks on from the 18th hole during the third round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 16, 2024 in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
There’s much on the line Sunday at Pelican, which year after year delivers a first-class finish. In addition to the trophy, players are battling for a spot in the 60-player CME Group Tour Championship as well as their status for next season. In addition, South Korea’s Jin Hee Im, who currently trails by three, looks to make a big move in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race.
Two-time major winner Brittany Lincicome, who lives in nearby St. Petersburg, will tee it up in her final round as a full-time player on Sunday. Lincicome carded a second consecutive 69 and holds a share of 36th. She tees off at 9:12 a.m. on Sunday alongside Ally Ewing and Jiwon Jeon.
Lincicome has her husband, Dewald Gouws, on the bag this week but plans to have her father, Tom, come inside the ropes Sunday to carry her home on the 18th. It will no doubt be an emotional finish for the mother of two who has long been a fan favorite.
