Nelly Korda Will Appear in 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

The best women's golfer in the world will make her first appearance in the SI Swimsuit Issue next year.
Among Korda's 2024 wins: the LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton's Country Club.
Among Korda's 2024 wins: the LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton's Country Club. / THOMAS BENDER/HERALD-TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK

Golf superstar Nelly Korda is set to appear in the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. The announcement from SI came Saturday morning. SI also released a preview of Korda's photoshoot and her model page is here.

The 26-year-old rose to the number one player in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings in 2024 on the back of a monster season highlighted by winning the Chevron Championship, the second major victory of her career.

Korda is not alone among athletes set to be featured in the upcoming Swimsuit Issue. Also included will be sprinter Gabby Thomas, gymnast Suni Lee and skier Eileen Gu.

Earlier in the season, Korda won in five consecutive starts spanning between February and April: the LPGA Drive On Championship, the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, the Ford Championship and the T-Mobile Match Play. Her wins in four straight starts made her the first player to achieve that feat since Lorena Ochoa did it in 2008. Korda then capped off her winning streak by capturing the aforementioned major championship for a 5th consecutive victory.

In May, Korda won the Mizuho Americans Open, which gave her an incredible six wins in seven starts.

While the dominant stretch Korda put forth was other-worldly, it was not immensely surprising for fans of the sport. Being the daughter of retired Czech professional tennis players Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová, winning runs in her family. Petr Korda is a tennis grand slam champion who won the 1998 Australian Open and the 1997 Grand Slam Cup. Nelly's younger brother, Sebastian, is also a pro tennis player and currently ranks 23rd in the world at 24 years old. Her older sister, Jessica, is an LPGA Tour player.

Over the course of her career which began in 2016, Korda has amassed 19 professional wins. She won in her first ever pro start at the Sioux Falls Great LIFE Challenge on the Symetra Tour and won for the first time on the LPGA Tour at the 2018 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship at just 20 years old.

Korda has a long list of remarkable accomplishments in golf, but given her talent and trajectory, it's evident that she's just getting started.


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Matt Vincenzi
MATT VINCENZI

Matt Vincenzi is an SI contributor covering golf. Before joining SI, he worked as a golf writer for GolfWRX and the Action Network. He is a graduate of Bridgewater State University and has been covering professional golf for five years.