Nelly Korda looking to bring second golf Olympic gold medal to Bradenton from 2024 Paris Games

Bradenton’s Nelly Korda rides streak of four wins into LPGA’s first major

It was on the Olympic podium, as Korda received the gold medal, that her heart rate registered the highest that day. The rush of emotion she felt as she listened to the national anthem and watched the American flag rise was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

“That’s when I realized that, ‘Wow, I just won an Olympic gold medal, and everyone I watched on TV get to stand on the podium, that’s what I’m doing right now,’” the Bradenton native recalled at the recent Amundi Evian Championship in France.

2024 Olympic Field: Gold medalist Nelly Korda headlines women’s golf field at Summer Olympics in Paris

“I had a couple tears fall down my face.”

Korda, 25, carried the medal around in a sock in those early weeks, tucked away in her travel backpack. Each time she went through airport security, she pleaded with them not to scratch it.

The medal now resides in her office on a shelf with her badge from the week in Tokyo, along with a plaque of the Olympic rings, made by a veteran caddie on tour, and pins that she traded with other athletes.

“My majors are on one shelf,” she said, “and then the Olympics has its own shelf too.”

As the 2024 Olympics Games begin in Paris on Friday with the opening ceremony, Korda continues a three-week break from the LPGA. She headed to Croatia after the Evian to spend time with her best friend, whose September wedding she’ll miss due to the Solheim Cup.