Nelly Korda and Jessica Korda have joked around that both are defending this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club. Jessica won last year’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (previously the Diamond Resort at Tranquilo Golf Course), and soon after, Nelly won the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona.
When asked how she felt about her game coming into this week, Jessica, who got married in December, said, “About the same as every year that I start. I have no idea. I work hard in the off-season. I haven’t really played a ton. I definitely enjoyed the break and my body needed it, so I just tried to start out with less expectations and try to just put one foot in front of the other.”
That Sunday in Orlando proved the highest point of Jessica’s year on tour, especially with Nelly playing alongside her on Sunday at Tranquilo. But for Nelly, the victory at Nona was just the start of a break-out season that included a major, an Olympic gold medal, and the No. 1 ranking.
“Obviously, I’m hungrier for more,” Nelly told Golf Channel on Tuesday, “but in a sense of focusing just on that No. 1 spot, I’m not too focused on that. I mean, rankings come and go. Someone is probably going to have a better year or play well and you’re going to lose that ranking.”
Among the highlights of Nelly’s remarkable season was playing alongside her father, Petr, in the PNC Championship and meeting Tiger Woods for the first time.
“I didn’t know I was being recorded,” said Nelly of a video taken of her and Woods. “I look like such a fangirl, and then it blew up. It went viral. So it was really funny.”
Nelly met Tiger for the first time. Her reaction says it all. 🤗 pic.twitter.com/Wn2yEFP42h
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) December 18, 2021
It got better the next day when Woods, her childhood idol, used her Butter Putter tool on the practice green. Nelly told her caddie: “Do not wash that.”
Speaking of greats, Jessica will compete alongside Annika Sorenstam for the first time on Thursday at Lake Nona. Sorenstam is competing in the celebrity division for a second straight year. Last year, Sorenstam made the cut at Lake Nona, her home course, during the Gainbridge in her first LPGA start in more than a dozen years. She’d go on to win the U.S. Senior Women’s Open later that summer.
“I’m excited,” said Jessica. “I’ve never played with (Annika). I was there at her retirement many years ago at a U.S. Open (2008), and that’s really about it.”
Jessica said moving from Tranquilo to Lake Nona is essentially going from a resort course to a championship course. While Jessica shot 60 at Tranquilo in the third round, she struggled on the greens at Nona, noting the large number of subtle breaks and dips. Jessica tied for 31st at the Gainbridge.
Jessica’s 60 was only the fifth in LPGA history and it happened alongside the NFL’s Larry Fitzgerald and Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier. The LPGA star said she didn’t even realize she was on track to shoot 60, wondering from No. 13 on why Fitzgerald kept picking up his ball to get out of the way.
“I was like, ‘Why aren’t you finishing? I don’t understand why you’re not finishing,’ ” said Jessica. “Then I think I made the eagle on 17 and he just about tackled me after that. I realized like looking up at the leaderboard – I think that was the first time I had seen a leaderboard – that I was moving up, and then I kind of looked at my scorecard and I was like, Oh, there is a lot of circles on here.”
Fitzgerald chunked his tee shot on the par-3 18th into the hazard but refused to tee up another, Jessica said, because he was so nervous.
“He wanted it more than I did I think almost,” said Jessica, who took a picture alongside Baier and Fitzgerald with her scorecard when it was over. She gave the golf ball to her father, who was celebrating a birthday.
What to expect this time around?
“First tournament of the year,” said Jessica, “it’s kind of a free-for-all … we’ll see.”
