After a year of struggling with a back injury, Jessica Korda has announced she will be out of the game indefinitely to resolve the issue.
The 30-year-old most recently appeared in the Cognizant Founders Cup earlier in May. However, she withdrew after 10 holes of the second round. It appears that withdrawal was enough to convince Korda that the time had come to take a different approach to tackling her injury.
In a statement released on social media platforms, Korda explained: “The last year has been an extremely challenging time for me as I struggle with an injury in my back. Following the advice of my doctor and the guidance of my physio, we’ve committed countless hours of treatment at home and on the road for me to try and get my body healthy and ready to compete each week.
"Unfortunately, we’ve reached a point where the pain is not improving, forcing me to have to withdraw out of several tournaments.
"As a competitor, it is upsetting to have to do this time and time again. At the advice of my medical team I have made the tough decision stop playing until I can get my back fully healthy. At this point, we don’t have a firm timeline for my return but I’m working with the best of the best and I’m focused on coming back as soon as possible.”
Korda announced in November that she would miss the rest of the LPGA Tour season with the injury, meaning she didn't play in either the Pelican Women’s Championship or the season-closing CME Group Tour Championship.
At the time, she expressed a desire to come back stronger for 2023, saying: “I haven’t had the most luck when it comes to injuries in my career, nonetheless I’m going to keep on keeping on. Excited to be back next year for my 13th season on tour healthier and stronger.”
It hasn’t gone as she had planned. Korda completed five tournaments in 2023 before the Cognizant Founders Cup, with a best finish of T18 at the DIO Implant LA Open in April.
Korda has suffered a succession of injuries in recent years. She withdrew from the 2017 Solheim Cup with a wrist injury. Later that year, she had jaw surgery. Her luck didn’t improve the following year when she suffered a forearm injury, and she was forced to withdraw from the 2020 AIG Women’s Open for medical reasons. Before her back injury, she also suffered an intercostal muscle sprain in February 2022.
