Nelly Korda’s family is full of athletes. And not just a casual sporting squad, but high level, world-beating Olympians.
The women, at least.
“We always make fun of the boys because we say that the girls in the Korda family are the only ones that are the Olympians, and the boys are not,” Korda said with a laugh. “We have that above them in the family.”
One thing that Nelly Korda has over pretty much everyone in the game of golf – family or not – is a gold medal. She’ll look to defend her title from Tokyo this week in Paris, although a lot (“A lot,” she confirms) has changed since her win in 2021. Everything’s different – a new course in a new country – so the emotions for this particular title defense versus a normal LPGA Tour event is quite the change.
“Doesn't really feel like I'm defending, really,” Korda said. “I'm just going to go out, enjoy the experience, hopefully enjoy the fans. The men had amazing fans out here. I was wowed by how many people are out here watching and just happy that I'm back in this position. I'm here representing my country. I'm a two-time Olympian and I'm living out my dream.”
This season hasn’t quite been a tale of two parts, but it’s close. Korda’s run earlier in 2024 on the LPGA Tour was unlike anyone had ever seen. She won five straight tournaments, including the first major of the year – The Chevron Championship – before finishing tied for seventh at the Cognizant Founders Cup. No matter, because when she returned to action at the Mizuho Americas Open, she won again.
Korda has, however, missed three of her last four cuts (and got bit by a dog, forcing her to withdraw from a Ladies European Tour event she was scheduled to play in), including at two major championships.
She said now that hopefully her game is trending in the right direction. After the Amundi Evian Championship, where she finished tied for 26th, she took some time off – she didn’t touch her clubs for a week and then grinded for two weeks with her coach, Jamie Mulligan, who is on-site in Paris.
“The game of golf of is a funny game,” Korda said. “Sometimes you feel on top of the world and in a matter of a couple seconds, you just feel like you're on the bottom of the sea. So it definitely makes you appreciate the good golf that you play, but yeah, I mean, you have to have a mix of everything in there and everything can't always go well.”
Despite some recent struggles, results-wise, no one can take away that brilliant run from the beginning of the year.
“It’s difficult to continue that because there's so much expectation,” said Lydia Ko, the only person – male or female – to medal at both Olympics since golf’s return in 2016. “But in golf, you're not meant to win, like, five out of six times. Even if you win one out of six events you play in, your odds and probability is higher than most. I think what (Korda) did over that period of time was unbelievable and I think she's dealt with the pressure and expectation so well, as she usually does.”
Korda and Scottie Scheffler have been long compared through this year, with Scheffler going through his own incredible winning run earlier in 2024 (he won four straight events, including a major, and has won six overall) before winning the gold medal in the men’s Olympic competition Sunday. Their games are similar, too – they’re both tee-to-green magicians. Korda is second on the LPGA Tour in greens in regulation this season and second in scoring average. If Korda plays her usual game – akin to Scheffler’s – then Le Golf National should be the kind of place where she thrives.
“You have to hit the ball really well out here,” Korda added. “You know, the rough is thick from what I saw from the men, too, and what I saw. Just have to golf your ball out this year this week and make sure that you're in the fairways.”
Like Scheffler, Korda’s trophy case is bursting at the seams. But her gold medal has its own shelf. Her major championships are on a separate shelf, too. Alongside the gold medal is a plaque, her athlete credential and a few other keepsakes. Even at home, Korda knows the Olympics gets its own place.
The enormity of the moment didn’t pass by Korda after she captured gold. Korda had a three-shot advantage heading into the final round in Tokyo and won by one over New Zealand’s Ko and Japan’s Mone Inami (they had a playoff for silver, with Inami defeating Ko in sudden-death).
Standing on the podium, she very nearly had an out-of-body experience. There was a “complete rush of emotions,” she said, that she had never felt in her life when she saw the American flag raise in front of her eyes. She said her wearable fitness tracker showed that her highest heart rate that entire day was actually when she was standing on the podium.
“I didn’t really know what emotions I was going to have until I stood on the stage,” she said. “As a kid, I watched so many athletes and all their raw emotions on that podium when their flag goes up and the national anthem (plays) and when I finally got to do it myself, there was a massive rush of emotions that go through me. I had a couple tears roll down my face. It was an amazing experience, obviously, and I cherish and I'm grateful for every situation I'm in, every single time I can go down the stretch and I'm in contention.
“When it comes to majors and an Olympic medal, that's the reason why we are out there so long and grinding and pushing ourselves in the gym and on the golf course. It’s for those moments.”
She’s put in the work. And now Nelly Korda is hoping for another golden moment at the Olympics.
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