Nelly Korda, the hottest player in golf, hit the red carpet Monday evening wearing an Oscar de la Renta gown for the annual Met Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, a rare invitation for an LPGA player. But then, Korda’s play of late has been historically spectacular.
This week’s LPGA event, the Cognizant Founders Cup takes place just outside New York at Upper Montclair Country Club in Cliffton, New Jersey, where Korda looks to become the first player in LPGA history to win six consecutive starts.
The exclusive Met Gala – attended by celebrities such as Matt Damon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, Tom Ford and Ariana Grande – is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and, according to vogue.com, the event raises eight-figure sums annually.
The theme for this year’s gala is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” and the dress code is “The Garden of Time.” Live coverage of the event is being streamed on Vogue.com as well as the publication’s social channels. The event is co-chaired by Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Zendaya.
Tennis icon Serena Williams announced her pregnancy last year at the Met Gala. Other athletes in attendance last year included Roger Federer, Dwayne Wade, Russell Westbrook, Patrick Mahomes Olympic champion skier Eileen Gu, and WNBA player Brittany Griner, who’d been released from a Russian prison just a few months prior.
The LPGA’s Korda, 25, has teed it up in six events so far in 2024 and won all but the first start at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) are the only players who have previously won five consecutive starts. Should Korda win this week’s event, she would join Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only golfers to win six.
After Korda won her second major title at the Chevron Championship last month, she pulled out of the next week’s event in Los Angeles, citing fatigue. She had two weeks off to prepare for the Founders Cup. Before heading to New York, Korda hosted an all-girls AJGA event near her home in Sarasota, Florida.
As Korda’s streak grew this spring, she was asked on several occasions how she could help the tour capitalize at a time when the popularity of women’s sports has never been higher.
“I feel like for me,” Korda said, “the way that I promote the game is just the way I am. I’m very true to myself. I’m never going to do something I’m not really comfortable with.”
There’s no doubt the red carpet suits her.
Check out some photos of the pro athletes in attendance at the 2024 Met Gala:
