Before 2021, many would have said that golfer Nelly Korda already had her break year on the LPGA Tour.

In 2019, the 23-year-old from Bradenton, Florida, made the cut in 19 out of 20 events, had a career best 12 top-ten finishes, won two LPGA tournaments and passed the $3 million mark in career earnings in just her third year on tour. That’s pretty tough to beat. And yet in 2021, after a pandemic-riddled 2020 season, Nelly Korda has been on a tear, making the leap from potential superstar to the undisputed No. 1 player in the game.

After finishing in third behind her older sister Jessica Korda, who took first at the Tournament of Champions to kick off the year, Korda won the first full-field tour competition of 2021 at the Gainbridge Championship by a three-stroke margin. Throughout the spring tour, she earned a handful of top ten finishes, including a tie for third at the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration in Palm Springs. In early June, she hit an unwelcome speed bump by not making the cut for the US Women’s Open for the second year in a row. To say she had a strong rebound after this disappointment would be putting it lightly.

Within a two-month period from mid-June to early August, Korda won another LPGA tournament (the Meijer LPGA Classic), her first LPGA Major (the Women’s PGA Championship), the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and became the top ranked women’s golfer in the world, the first American to do so since 2014. 

Not a bad summer.

Winning that first major title is a moment pro golfers never forget if they are lucky enough to experience it. Korda’s Women’s PGA Championship in June came via a second round 11-under 63 and two eagles in the fourth round to beat fellow American Lizette Salas by three strokes. In Japan a little over a month later, Korda went into the fourth round of the Olympics with a three-stroke lead only to see it slip away on the front nine before building it back up with three straight birdies on the back nine. With two holes left for the final two groups, play was paused for a one-hour storm delay. Luckily for Korda, Jessica was also on Team USA and had already finished her final round, so the sisters chatted and kept things light during the wait. 

After play resumed, Korda approached the 18th tee box in a tie for first with Mone Inami of Japan who was in the group ahead. But then Inami bogied the final hole, cracking open the door for gold. In one of the highest pressure moments of her career, Korda was able to hold par on the 18th and finish with a one-stroke victory and solitary claim to the Olympic gold medal. 

“For her to be doing what she’s doing, it’s insane to me,” Jessica Korda said of her sister. “This is like total GOAT status to me. To win three times in a season, be world No. 1, going for gold.”

 “The last 18 months have truly been a whirlwind,” Korda told Just Women’s Sports. “But to come out of such an uncertain time playing the best golf of my career, and to win my first major championship, become World No. 1 and win an Olympic gold medal all in the last few months is more than I ever could have dreamed.”

What makes Korda’s amazing run even more exciting is that there’s still so much of the season left. There are eight remaining individual LPGA tournaments up for grabs, as well as this weekend’s Solheim Cup, where she and Jessica will team up for the United States for the second time this year. 

Despite all the accolades, Korda appears to be approaching the rest of 2021 with a very level head. As she prepared for the final major of the year (the AIG Women’s Open) upon returning from Japan, she demonstrated her commitment to staying balanced by opting out of the pre-tournament press conference to get extra rest and work out some kinks at the range. Later at the tournament, when asked about the pressure that accompanies the number one world ranking, Korda replied, “Obviously there’s expectations, but you just try to settle down and keep your head down and go with the flow.” 

Her historic hot streak may have cooled a bit as Korda finished the AIG Women’s Open in a tie for 13th, but at just 23 years old and with a chance to once again make her mark at the the Solheim Cup, it’s clear that both her year — and her reign — are far from over. 

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.