On This Date: Cristie Kerr, Nelly Korda Become Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1
Two of the LPGA Tour’s top Americans both became Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 for the first time on June 28 in 2010 and 2021.
Cristie Kerr was the first athlete from the United States to become world No. 1 on June 28, 2010, ascending to the top spot after winning her second major championship title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on June 27.
That year’s KPMG was contested at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y., and Kerr won by a whopping 12 shots over Song-Hee Kim with a four-day total of 19-under. Kerr was Rolex Rankings No. 1 for a total of five career weeks and is one of just four Americans to hold the position.
Kerr is a 20-time LPGA Tour winner and a nine-time U.S. Solheim Cup Team member. She recently picked up her first Legends of the LPGA title earlier this season, winning the LPGA Legends Championship in May at Copper Rock Golf Club in Hurricane, Utah.
Nelly Korda followed in Kerr’s footsteps almost exactly during the 2021 season. She too won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on June 27, doing so at Atlanta Athletic Club also with a 72-hole total of 19-under, but her margin of victory was only three strokes, as Lizette Salas finished runner-up to Korda after posting at 16-under for the tournament.
Because of that victory, Korda then became No. 1 for the first time on June 28, 2021, and is currently holding the top position in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She most recently ascended to No. 1 on March 25, 2024, after winning the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, what was one of five wins Korda collected in five consecutive starts last year from January to April.
She has held the spot for nearly 104 career weeks, one of just six athletes who have been world No. 1 for 100 weeks or more, alongside Jin Young Ko (163), Lorena Ochoa (158), Lydia Ko (125), Yani Tseng (109) and Inbee Park (106). Korda is a 15-time LPGA Tour winner, a two-time major champion and won both the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award and Rolex Player of the Year in 2024, a season in which she captured a whopping seven total victories.
