The 2024 Paris Olympics women’s golf competition begins Thursday. Let’s look at Team USA and what these three have done this season.
Welcome to Playing Through’s morning ritual: Golf Talk Today.
Week two of the 2024 Paris Olympics is here, which means it is time for the women’s competition. They play Aug. 8-11 at Le Golf National, the same track the men just took on this past week.
Sixty women from 33 countries will compete in a 72-hole stroke-play event.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler secured Gold for Team USA in the men’s competition. Will Nelly Korda do the same? She won Gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games, but will the top-ranked female player defend her title?
So brew up a pot of coffee, grab some breakfast, and let’s explore the talents of these three ladies of Team USA.
The top-ranked female golfer in the world, Nelly Korda, is up first for Team USA. She has been on quite a heater this year. Korda won five straight before her sixth LPGA event of the season in seven events.
The 26-year-old won her second career major at the Chevron Championship.
Since that run, though, she has gone ice cold. Korda missed three straight cuts, including at the U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s PGA Championship.
She has played in 12 events this year. In those 12 starts, she has six victories, seven top 10s and eight top 25s. Her worst finish came at the Amundi Evian Championship, where she was T26.
Korda is No. 1 on the LPGA money list. She has won $3,006,871 this season.
2024 wins:
— LPGA Drive On Championship
— FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship
— Ford Championship
— T-Mobile Match Play
— The Chevron Championship
— Mizuho Americas Open
After a tremendous 2023 season, World No. 2 Lilia Vu has struggled with injuries. She withdrew from multiple events and eventually took some time to rest her back. The 26-year-old rested for over two months, and in her first start back, she won the Meijer LPGA Classic.
Vu has 11 starts on the season, one runner-up finish, three top-10s and six top-25s. Korda took back the top spot in the rankings, but Vu has played well since her return. She has not finished below T26. Her most recent start came at the CPKC Women’s Open, and she was T12.
2024 win:
— Meijer LPGA Classic
The young phenom will play in her first Olympics this year in Paris. Since Rose Zhang turned pro last year, she has made quite the name for herself.
She won in her first LPGA start as a pro at the Mizuho Americas Open and got her second career victory earlier this season.
The 21-year-old has one win, four top 10s and five top 25s in 13 starts. Zhang could not defend her title in New Jersey as she got sick and withdrew. In the majors this season, she missed the cut at the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open.
Zhang is coming off a T6 finish at the CPKC Women’s Open, her best since she won the Cognizant Founders Cup in May. Now, she looks to leave her mark at the Olympics.
2024 win:
— Cognizant Founders Cup
Team USA easily wins gold in golf uniforms at 2024 Olympics, the 3 best, 3 worst team fits
2024 Paris Olympics: France’s own Victor Perez steals the hearts of many with valiant effort
Tom Kim breaks down in tears in Olympic scoring after Scottie Scheffler offered words of support
Tommy Fleetwood collects ultimate hardware, settles for silver medal at 2024 Olympics
Rory McIlroy likens Olympics to Ryder Cup amid pro golf’s current “sh*t-show”
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
