Defending champion Korda to headline US women's golf team in Paris

[June 26, 2024]  (Reuters) - World number one and defending champion Nelly Korda will headline the three-member U.S. team competing in the women's golf tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics, USA Golf said on Tuesday.
 
Korda, a 14-times winner on the LPGA Tour who claimed gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, will be joined in the squad by world number two Lilia Vu and No. 9 Rose Zhang, who will both be making their Olympic Games debuts. 

May 30, 2024; Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA; Nelly Korda (USA) hits a tee shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

"I'm honored to represent the United States once again on the Olympic stage this summer in Paris," Korda, 25, said in a USA Golf news release. "Winning the gold medal in Tokyo was a dream come true and an incredible highlight to my career."

Korda has six wins on the LPGA Tour in 2024, a remarkable run in which she won five consecutive tournaments and captured her second major title.

Vu counts two majors among her five wins on the LPGA Tour and in 2023 earned the circuit's player of the year honors while Zhang, who won in her debut on the LPGA Tour in June 2023, picked up her second career win last month.

The Olympic women's golf competition will be held from Aug. 7-10 at Le Golf National outside Paris where a 60-player field will compete in a 72-hole, stroke-play format.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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