Now that the Masters has commenced and Scottie Scheffler has been fitted with his second Green Jacket, the eyes of the golf world turn back to the women, as the LPGA Tour prepares for its first major of the 2024 season — the Chevron Championship, held April 18-21 at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. Unless you’ve been living on another planet the past month or so, you know that Nelly Korda has been hotter than the sun this season, winning four consecutive tournaments and rolling into this week’s Chevron Championship as the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer.
Aggressive and dominant at times, calm and calculated at others, Nelly seems to have the talent and temperament to not only become the face of women’s golf for the next decade-plus…but the face of women’s sports. She certainly looks the part of a confident and composed athlete who will crush you on Sunday and buy you coffee on Monday, and with a sponsor roster featuring the likes of Nike, Goldman Sachs, Delta Air Lines and TaylorMade, Nelly has partners who are as committed to success off the course as she is on it. That’s a powerful pairing with “sky’s the limit” potential.
Nelly Korda is an elite talent with elite sponsors, including Goldman Sachs, Nike and TaylorMade.
(Photo courtesy of TaylorMade Golf)
Nelly Korda is going to have a tremendous career regardless of what happens at this weekend’s Chevron Championship, but a fifth straight victory and second major championship would certainly ignite the boosters and catapult the 25-year-old Florida girl into global stardom attained by few other female athletes.
Ok, but why is a sunscreen company writing about a golfer? Well, if you’ve seen any of the slow-mo clips of Nelly’s swing circulating on social media, you’ll notice the only thing smoother than that stroke is her skin. As some of Nelly’s social media posts indicate, she does take skin care seriously — which we applaud (👏 golf clap) — and we assume her game is solid there as well. As an individual who makes her living in the sunshine, we’ll also assume that Nelly is a responsible wearer of sunscreen.
After all, it’s not just the four rounds we see on television each week, and the 20-ish hours she spends walking the course and collecting trophies Thursdays through Sundays. There’s also the weekly practice rounds, pro-am and sponsorship events, endless time spent on the range…and those are just the professional demands that put Nelly (and all of her female and male golf counterparts) in the sun throughout the year. When not taking care of business out on the links, Nelly seems to enjoy the outdoors during her personal time as well — traveling, trekking snow-capped mountains and, to no surprise, this Floridian likes to hang at the beach. As the daughter of and sibling to professional tennis players, it’s likely Nelly spends a little time rallying with her relatives, too. That’s a lot of fun in the sun, but Nelly’s appearance and self-proclaimed “Casper” complexion seem to suggest that she is making excellent decisions when it comes to caring for her skin.
Nelly and big sis Jessica (Jess) Korda, herself a six-time LPGA Tour champion who is currently taking time off after the birth of her son earlier this year. (Photo courtesy of Golfweek – USA Today)
Wisely, Nelly is taking skin care seriously in her younger years, which most sun-seekers do not. In fact, most never take their skin care seriously enough. The overwhelming majority neglect to truly protect their skin when in the sun, or do the bare minimum. Yes, something is typically better than nothing. But something as important as your skin deserves more than “whatever they have” or “the cheapest stuff I can find.” And it’s not just a matter of vanity when it comes to protecting your skin. The sun’s ultraviolet rays are dangerous when not properly defended against and wreak havoc on our skin. From premature aging to dark spots to skin cancer, the sun’s power is real and can be deadly.
Nearly 10,000 Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer every day, and more than 9,000 die from the disease, on average, each year. One in five (and that estimate is trending up) Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime, but the disease is primarily preventable. Yes, genetics and other factors also exist, but the overwhelming percentage of skin cancers are caused by the sun’s ultraviolet rays. In fact, the founder and developer of JACKET sunscreen, Dr. Thomas Balshi, also a South Florida dermatologist, not so jokingly acknowledged that if everybody wore sunscreen as they should, he’d be out of business as a doctor.
Don’t tell him we said this, but let’s put DOCTOR Balshi out of business!
An unemployed Dr. Balshi would probably find himself on the golf course, most likely one of his favorite local South Florida tracks such as The Park West Palm, fine-tuning his game and preparing for his once-in-a-lifetime, getting 3-shots-per-hole, match-play event against Nelly Korda. 😬 Just as Dr. Balshi developed a patented anti-aging sunscreen formula for JACKET, Nelly too has something nobody else seems to have — and the results are impossible to ignore.
With four consecutive victories in the young LPGA season and a firm grip on the world No. 1 ranking, the 25-year-old Bradenton, Florida, native is the hottest thing on Tour right now, and her star is currently shining beyond women’s golf. In fact, Nelly Korda, along with fellow Floridian and No. 3 ranked WTA star Coco Gauff, may be the most prominent (active) female athletes in the world at the moment.
Nelly Korda became the first American woman since 1900 to win the Olympic Gold Medal for golf, a feat she accomplished in 2021 at the age of 23, earning her a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list the following year. (Photo courtesy of Forbes)
Yes, life seems pretty good for Nelly Korda these days, but don’t think everything has always been easy for this 5’10”, blue-eyed blonde with model good looks, freakish, world-class athletic ability and two retired professional athletes for parents. There have been rough days at sea, to be certain, but as any Florida girl knows: You can’t control the waves, but you can learn how to surf.
And Nelly can shred!
After a decorated amateur career (she made the cut at the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open as a 14-year-old), Nelly turned professional in 2016 and made her LPGA Tour debut in 2017. She claimed her first Tour win in 2018 at the LPGA Taiwan Championship. The win was not only a personal milestone for Nelly, but also a family affair of sorts. The victory placed Nelly and older sister Jessica Korda, herself a six-time Tour winner, in a rare sorority — joining Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn, and Charlotta and Annika Sörenstam as only the third set of siblings to win LPGA tournaments.
Decent bloodline, huh? Oh, by the way, younger brother Sebastian Korda is a highly-ranked ATP Tour winner.
Nelly won three more times the following year (2019) and climbed to No. 9 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings.
The wave was building, and then…the COVID CRASH…and golf essentially goes dark.
But, as it always does, the sun rose and brought the promise of a 2021 LPGA season, providing Nelly an opportunity to paddle back out and pick up where she left off. Which she did. Nelly and Jessica won back-to-back tournaments to start the season — both in their native Sunshine State — and the wave was building once again.
The Florida native enjoys spending time on the Sunshine State’s endless beaches, particularly those near her hometown, Bradenton. WE LOVE THE COLORS! (Photo courtesy of Nelly Korda’s Instagram)
In 2021, Nelly carded four wins including her first major (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club), and secured the world No. 1 ranking. She also won the gold medal in women’s golf at the Summer Olympics in Japan, which were rescheduled from 2020. A beyond remarkable feat in itself, but to make this accomplishment even more impressive: Nelly is only the second American female golfer ever to win the gold, and the first since Margaret Abbott in 1900.
Nelly carried the world No. 1 ranking into 2022, surpassing the record for most consecutive weeks at the top for an American player — a streak that was snapped in late January of that year. After being diagnosed with a blood clot in March, Nelly required surgery that would sideline her for an extended period.
CRASH!
Recovering and returning to form, Nelly rode the wave all the way back to a victory at the Pelican Women’s Championship in early November 2022, which also placed her back atop the world rankings.
After a relatively quiet 2023 campaign, due in part to an ailing back, Nelly finished the season ranked fifth in the world. All but four female golfers on the planet would take that every day of the week, but after showing such brilliance over the previous few years, some were quietly starting to wonder if maybe Nelly Korda was already beginning her career downswing. Those doubters were quickly silenced as the young star roared into 2024, winning the first four events she played in, solidifying her world No. 1 ranking and retaking her place as the class of the LPGA field.
Nelly’s run began at the LPGA Drive On Championship, held in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, in late January. Nelly finished eagle-birdie in Sunday’s blustery final round to erase a late three-stroke deficit and force a playoff with Lydia Ko, which the hometown hero won on the second hole.
After a three-tournament hiatus, Nelly headed west, winning the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship in Palos Verdes Estates, California, again in a playoff; this time birdying the first hole to defeat Ryann O’Toole. The back-to-back victories also returned Nelly Korda to the No. 1 world ranking.
Wave is building…and building…
The next week brought a two-stroke victory at the Ford Championship presented by KCC in Gilbert, Arizona, followed by a 4 (holes won) and 3 (holes remaining) win over Leona Maguire at the T-Mobile Match Play Presented by MGM Rewards in Las Vegas.
Epic wave!
The first of Nelly’s four straight victories this season came in January’s LPGA Drive On Championship, held in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida. (Photo courtesy of the LPGA Tour)
Which brings us to this week’s Chevron Championship, the LPGA season’s first major and a tournament that Nelly Korda enters as an 11/2 favorite to win — the Big Kahuna! 🏄♀️
Before we look ahead to what may be, come Sunday, let’s take a moment to reflect on what Nelly has already accomplished this year. She is the first player to win four consecutive starts since 2008 (Lorena Ochoa). With a win this weekend, Nelly Korda would join Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-2005) as the only players to win five straight. Pretty exclusive company!
At JACKET sunscreen, we are proud supporters of the LPGA Tour and wish every player well, but it is impossible to ignore the history we are witnessing and the rise of a champion who is easy and fun to root for. Hidden behind that smooth skin, sunny smile and down-to-earth demeanor, Nelly Korda is an absolute force with flawless fundamentals and a graceful greatness that is a joy to watch and a jackpot for golf.
As Nelly’s ascension continues, new and greater challenges will emerge. Such as the pressures of being the hunted each tournament, and the runaway expectations that so often strand victims in the wake of their own successes. Nelly Korda would likely tell you that nobody has higher expectations or adds more pressure than she does herself — all the greats do — and her performance, to date, would indicate the formula works. It’s that mental toughness and focus, paired with elite talent, relentless effort and a cache of sponsorship gold that will ultimately propel Nelly Korda into not only an LPGA Hall of Famer, but an international icon.
Will there be another Nellybration in The Woodlands this week? Tune in and find out! Oh, and Nelly, protect that smooth skin, girl! Don’t forget your JACKET!
(Photo courtesy of Nelly Korda’s Instagram)