$1.07M Richer Nelly Korda Won LPGA Player of the Year but Still Faces a Tough Lydia Ko Competition
Nelly Korda has been in prolific form this year. She won 5 back-to-back LPGA Tour events from January to April 2024. In total, she has 6 total wins and 3 other top-10 finishes in 2024 alone. This has been her best performance since her domination of 2021.
Besides the trophies and the Rolex Points, Korda has also had a lot of financial gain this season. In fact, she has been the highest-earning golfer in the LPGA this year. But she has still not surpassed one of the fiercest rivals in overall career earnings. Who is it? Let’s find out.
Apart from the 6 LPGA Tour wins and 3 top-10 finishes, Korda has also had a T16 and T26 finish in 2024. From the 11 finishes she has had, Nelly Korda has earned a total of $3,676,930. Compared to her, world no. 4 Lydia Ko has made 16 cuts this season. She has 3 events this season and finished in the top 10 a total of 7 times. This has helped Ko earn $2,606,755 in 2024.
Despite winning more than $1 million more than Ko, Nelly Korda has still not surpassed the overall career winnings of the New Zealand golfer. The difference in career earnings comes from the fact that Lydia Ko has been far more consistent throughout her career. Despite being just a year older than Korda, Ko has won a lot more LPGA events over the years. It has also got to do with the fact that Nelly Korda joined the pro scene 3 years after Lydia Ko made her debut.
Lydia Ko has accumulated a total of 22 wins since her debut in 2014. In fact, she won her first 3 LPGA trophies during her rookie year. She also broke the record of being the youngest world no. 1 in both men’s and women’s golf. 3 of her 22 wins have also been majors. Over time, her 22 career wins, accompanied by 110 top finishes have helped her earn a total of $19.5 M in official career money.
When it comes to Nelly Korda, we know she was already late in the picture. Since her debut in 2017, Korda has picked up 14 career wins. The majority of those wins came in 2021 (4) and 2024 (6). This also includes 2 major wins. Nelly Korda also has fewer top-10 finishes at 64. This means she has achieved $12.6 M in official career earnings.
To state the obvious, there is nearly a $7 million gap between the two top pros of the LPGA. Hence, the additional $1 million earned by Nelly Korda this year has only acted as a needle in a haystack. As Lydia Ko continues to consistently perform in the pro circuit, we can safely say that Nelly Korda will take a few years to overcome her rival’s career earnings.
It is worth mentioning that Nelly Korda has also won the Rolex Player of the Year in 2024. However, this victory doesn’t give her any financial gains. It only adds a point to her eventual induction into the Hall of Fame.
