Nelly Korda’s Whoop band tells the story of Tokyo three years ago.
It was on the Olympic podium, as Korda received the gold medal, that her heart rate registered the highest that day. The rush of emotion she felt as she listened to the national anthem and watched the American flag rise was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
“That’s when I realized that, 'Wow, I just won an Olympic gold medal, and everyone I watched on TV get to stand on the podium, that’s what I’m doing right now,'” the Bradenton native recalled at the recent Amundi Evian Championship in France.
2024 Olympic Field:Gold medalist Nelly Korda headlines women's golf field at Summer Olympics in Paris
“I had a couple tears fall down my face.”
Korda, 25, carried the medal around in a sock in those early weeks, tucked away in her travel backpack. Each time she went through airport security, she pleaded with them not to scratch it.
The medal now resides in her office on a shelf with her badge from the week in Tokyo, along with a plaque of the Olympic rings, made by a veteran caddie on tour, and pins that she traded with other athletes.
“My majors are on one shelf,” she said, “and then the Olympics has its own shelf too.”
As the 2024 Olympics Games begin in Paris on Friday with the opening ceremony, Korda continues a three-week break from the LPGA. She headed to Croatia after the Evian to spend time with her best friend, whose September wedding she’ll miss due to the Solheim Cup.
Then it was back to Olympic prep before making her way to Le Golf National to watch the conclusion of the men’s tournament. The men will compete Aug. 1-4 on theAlbatros course, with the women’s event held on the same venue from Aug. 7-10.
In many ways, it feels like ages ago that Korda went wire-to-wire in her hometown at the Drive On Championship in Bradenton. The thrilling playoff victory against Lydia Ko at Bradenton Country Club kickstarted a record season on the LPGA Tour. The World No. 1 won five consecutive events and six of her first eight starts to the season.
She was downright unstoppable, winning in every type of manner in every type of condition, including her second career major at the Chevron Championship. She even broke through the golf bubble and into the mainstream with her dazzling appearance at the Met Gala in Oscar de la Renta.
But then she made a 10 on the par-3 12th at the U.S. Women’s Open – her third hole of the championship – on May 30 and all that momentum snapped.
While she fought back admirably at Lancaster Country Club, it would be the first of three consecutive missed cuts for Korda, a first in her career. On Friday at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Sahalee Country Club, she looked completely out of sorts en route to a brutal 81, tying her highest score on the LPGA. She’d begun the day in a share of second and ended it in tears.
The next day at a coffee shop in Seattle, a stranger’s dog bit her left thigh, forcing her to withdraw from a tournament in London.
“I think I’ve gone through every emotion possible,” she said, “and it’s just July.”
In Tokyo three years ago, Korda shared the experience with older sister Jessica, who is now on maternity leave. While their father, Petr, won a tennis Grand Slam event and rose to as high as No. 2 in the world, it was their mother Regina who was the first in the family to compete in the Olympics, representing the former Czechoslovakia in tennis at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.
Sebastian Korda, the youngest of the Kordas’ three children, could’ve joined Nelly in Paris representing the U.S. tennis team but opted not to compete. The Olympics are staged in between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and many of tennis’ top-ranked players are skipping the Games to prepare for the next Grand Slam.
While Nelly looks forward to touring Paris for the first time and enjoying her fair share of croissants, one of the favorites for gold has to be Celine Boutier.
The Frenchwoman’s family home is a mere 40 minutes from Le Golf National, host of the 2018 Ryder Cup, and a course she grew up practicing on as part of the French national program.
“I definitely know it with my eyes closed,” she said.
Boutier, 30, also knows what it feels like to win on French soil, claiming an emotional six-shot victory last year at Evian. The sixth-ranked Boutier, who won four times last season, undoubtedly will be the fan favorite in a top-heavy field.
“I don’t think it will take off some pressure just because the Olympics is so special, in its own category,” she said of already having had major success in France.
“I think it gives me a little bit more confidence, that I know how to do it in front of the home crowd, which is really hard to do.”
Lydia Ko is the only golfer in the world to medal twice in the Olympics, taking silver in Brazil and bronze in Japan. A gold medal in Paris would give her the 27th and final point needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, a feat Korda denied her in January at the Drive On by rallying with an eagle-birdie finish to force a playoff.
The highs this season for Korda have been of historic proportions. The lows have been downright shocking and unpredictable. Through it all, Korda has kept her bubble tight, leaning on those closest to her for support and perspective.
“The bad makes you appreciate the good,” she said, “and that’s just how it is.
"It’s sports.”
