2024 has been Nelly Korda’s year. There is no other way of putting it. Six wins including a major! Oh, and she also clinched the Rolex Annika Major Award after her runner-up finish to Lydia Ko at the AIG Women’s British Open, and she is also the 2024 LPGA Tour player of the year. So yeah, 2024 is Korda’s year, but not just on the course, off the greens too! 

In May, the 13X LPGA Tour winner attended the Met Gala on Monday as a guest of Casey Wasserman and became the first LPGA player to grace the Met Gala red carpet. She stunned at the annual fashion event, wearing a stunning outfit by Oscar de la Renta. And, now a few days ago, she became the first athlete to be featured in the popular Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition in 2025. So yeah, she is a fashion diva too! 

Becoming a SI Swimsuit model was a complete change in her personality! In the latest episode of Fore Play Podcast Plus, the hosts were seen discussing her on-course achievements, when one of them stated, “In the beginning, it seemed like she was a little shy”. She was barely seen doing interviews, but now she is starting to come out more. Take the 2017 Solheim Cup for example, where she was paired with Lexi Thompson for the foursome matches. While Thompson was confident and outgoing, Korda was much more reserved, often letting Thompson take the lead in social interactions and media interviews.

Coming from that, to now posting pictures of herself in swimsuits for the Magazine, is indeed huge. Talking about her stances now, they even added, “For her that is not an easy leap to take for a woman. Women get unbelievably and unfairly scrutinized especially when they put their their bodies out there swimsuit editioned people could be the worst people on the Internet.” However, they even added that it sure comes with a lot of insecurities, and there are a lot of negativities. Nonetheless, from keeping herself focused only on golf to promoting the sport, they call her ‘ballsy’ for that.

Nelly Korda has always been someone who has a rather humble nature. She appreciates the good gameplay of her fellow golfers. Well, not to forget she is known to be a Tiger Woods fan, and that is not all. The LPGA Tour star idolized Tommy Fleetwood, but her shy nature could not force her to talk to him when she met him.

Mel Reid came to Nelly Korda’s rescue

Nelly Korda got the opportunity to meet Tommy Fleetwood whose gameplay she has been admiring for a long time at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. However, when she met him, she was so shy, that she could not even go and talk to him, let alone ask for a photograph together. It was the English golfer Mel Reid, who helped the 26-year-old have her fan girl moment. 

“I was too shy to ask for a photo and Mel Reid went up to Tommy and told him that I wanted to take a photo with him,” she said while talking to Claire Rogers of Golf. And well, as it turns out, this was her second meeting with him, which was pretty fruitful. She did get the photo indeed, and that too at the Olympics! She could not have been happier.

What are your thoughts on the journey of Nelly Korda? Let us know in the comments section below!