Despite not playing in any of the LPGA’s fall tournaments in Southeast Asia due to a neck injury, world number one Nelly Korda still won the Women’s Player of the Year award on Sunday. the year based on LPGA points, with three tournaments remaining on the schedule. This is the first time she has won the award, this one for her impressive, but sometimes turbulent, campaign with six victories.

Korda’s first victory of the season proved a foreshadowing moment for the LPGA’s top two players. The American closed the LPGA Drive On Championship with an eagle-birdie on her home course at Bradenton Country Club for making the playoffs with Lydia Ko. She went on to win the title, preventing the Kiwi from opening 2024 with back-to-back titles and earning the final point in her bid to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.

After the initial victory, Korda, 26, started the season opener in Southeast Asia, even though she was healthy enough to train and get her body in shape. She returned seven weeks later, sweeping the three-week West Coast tour with a playoff victory at Se Ri Pak Championship in March, a triumph in two stages at Ford Championship and a resounding 4-in-3 victory over Leona Maguire in the T-Mobile LPGA Match Play in April.

The LPGA taking a week off before the Herringbone ChampionshipKorda took a brief respite before earning her fifth straight victory, an LPGA record. At the start of the major, questions arose about whether she could raise the LPGA with a major title. There were signs of percolating national interest when Korda did a segment on ESPN as part of his pre-Chevron tournament interviews. But after joining Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez with her five-fight winning streak, Korda’s national stature exploded.

She looked set to score her record sixth straight victory at the JM Eagle LA Championship the following week, the second-largest media market in the United States, but Korda withdrew Monday. Before entering the Cognizant Founders Cup in May in an attempt to win six straight, Korda became the first professional golfer to attend the MET Gala since Tiger Woods in 2013. The race ended in a T-7 in New Jersey.

Korda defeated Hannah Green, a three-time winner this season, the following week in the Mizuho Americas Open for the American’s sixth victory in her previous seven starts. From late January to mid-May, a total of six players finished better than Korda in every event she competed in. Her game was peaking heading into the major season, with a chance to shape an all-time LPGA season.

But Korda fell from her perch after just three holes in the U.S. Women’s Openmaking a 10 on a par 3, which started a months-long period of inconsistency. She nearly fought through the weekend in Lancaster with a 70 in the second round, but missed her first cut of the season. Korda was one shot from the lead after the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA in June, then followed with a surprising 81 to miss a third straight cut, the first time she had done that in her career. She told Golfweek: “I did a lot of things at the beginning of the year and I just gave them back.”

Korda only played again at the Amundi Evian Championship in July, where a T-26 appeared to be a stabilizing result. Korda held a 36-hole lead at St. Andrews before a T-2 at the AIG Women’s Open. The performance at the Old Course was an introduction to Korda’s success at the Solheim Cup, as the dominating talent led for the United States in all four sessions she played recording a 3-1 record, serving as a pillar of the ranking. First American victory at Solheim since 2017.

The following week, she finished T-5 in the Kroger Queen City Championship, with a month off planned before Korda joined the final two events of the Southeast Asian swing. His minor neck injury derailed those plans.

Korda has had to sit out the LPGA due to health issues for the past three seasons, but her current injury will keep her from winning the LPGA awards for a year. Korda has the second best average on the circuit (69.92) in 49 rounds compared to 69.54 for Jeeno Thitikul, but to be eligible for the Vare Trophy, Korda must play at least 70 rounds, an impossibility with three events remaining on the program. tour.

Korda is next scheduled to play at The Annika starting November 14 in Florida, where she will be grouped in a pro-am alongside WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark. She will close her season the following week at the CME Group Tour Championship.

Sports Illustrated announced Saturday that Korda would be featured in its annual swimsuit issue early next year, making her the first LPGA star to appear in the magazine since Natalie Gulbis in 2012.