Nelly Korda returns to no. 1 after 2024 L.A. Open win

Nelly Korda (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

For the sixth time in Nelly Korda’s career, she is number one in the world. On Monday, Korda officially returned to the top spot, as she passed fellow American Lilia Vu, with her tournament win on Sunday at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship (best known as the Los Angeles Open).

Korda has averaged 8.09 points over the last year, compared to Vu, who has averaged 6.63. Korda’s 8.09 average points have come over 35 tournaments and Vu’s 6.63 average points have come over 49 points.

When it comes to total points, Vu is the leader with 324.81 points. Celine Boutier of France is second with 309.49 points, and Korda is third with 283.24 points.

At the L.A. Open, Korda of Bradenton, Florida, posted a four round score of -9, and beat fellow American Ryann O’Toole in a playoff. For Korda, who won the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, it was her 10th career LPGA victory.

Korda was initially ranked world number one from June 28 to October 24, 2021. When Korda was first ranked number one, she was the 15th golfer to receive the honour since the women’s golf world rankings came out in 2006. Korda was also first from November 8, 2021 to January 30, 2022, November 14 to 27, 2022, April 24 to May 21, 2023, and July 31 to August 13, 2023. In all, Korda has been first in the world for 38 weeks, which is seventh all-time. Jin-young Ko of South Korea has been world number one for a record 163 weeks.

Over the last three years since Korda has been number one, there has been a lot of movement at the top. There have been five other golfers ranked first. In addition to Vu, the other four have been Jin-Young Ko, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, China’s Ruoning Yin, and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul.