LPGA Tour’s Nelly Korda chases perfection
Nelly Korda’s coach, David Whelan, constantly tells her the same thing: “You can’t be perfect.”
Same goes for her father, Petr. “You’ve just got to relax,” Petr told her last Sunday back home in Bradenton, Fla. Nelly had asked her dad to come along for an 18-hole practice round, taking advantage of the fact that her brother Sebastian wasn’t home taking up his time. Petr, a former Grand Slam champ, looks after Sebastian’s tennis career. He makes out Nelly’s tournament schedule too.
“I want to practice perfectly,” said Nelly, 20. “I want to play perfectly all the time.”
While 2019 hasn’t been perfect for Nelly, it’s been impressive. Coming into this week’s Bank of Hope Founders Cup in Phoenix, the start of a three-week stretch on the West Coast, Nelly leads the tour in money ($380,493) thanks to four top-10 finishes, including a victory in February at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.
Incredibly, Nelly became the fourth member of the Korda family to win an Australian title. Petr won the 1998 Australian Open tennis tournament. Eldest daughter, Jessica, recorded her first LPGA victory at the 2012 Women’s Australian Open. Sebastian won the 2018 Australian Open junior tennis tournament 20 years after his father won the Grand Slam.
On Monday evening in Phoenix, Jessica and Nelly spent two hours together at dinner, not having seen each other in over six weeks. Jessica makes her 2019 debut this week at Wildfire Golf Club after missing the first five events of the year due to a lingering forearm injury.
As Jessica fell down the Rolex Rankings to No. 14, Nelly moved up to No. 8. With seventh-ranked Lexi Thompson skipping the Founders Cup, Nelly is the highest-ranked American in the field with the hottest game.
“Sky’s the limit for her,” said U.S. captain Juli Inkster of the potential Solheim Cup rookie. “She’s got all the shots.”
If their schedules work out, Nelly said, the sisters would like to partner up later this summer in the new Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, a team event. Playing together in a Solheim Cup, well, that would be a dream.
No sisters have ever been paired together in the biennial event. The Sorenstam sisters, Annika and Charlotta, played on the same European team in 1998 but with different partners.
Two years ago, Nelly was left off of Inkster’s squad in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jessica withdrew due to injury. Inkster wouldn’t commit to putting them together in Gleneagles, Scotland, but did say that “it would be cool for the game of golf to see those two play together.”
Potential American Solheim players are fitted for clothes early week at the Founders Cup. Brittany Lincicome looked longingly at this year’s ensembles. She’ll miss the September contest because she’s due to give birth to a baby girl two weeks prior to the event. The 33year-old has played in every Solheim Cup since 2007.
It’s an unusual year across the board for Inkster. With Michelle Wie out again this week with a wrist injury, she’s currently on the outside looking in in the points race. Same goes for new moms Gerina Piller and Stacy Lewis. Piller missed all of the 2017 season and has only 17 points. (Nelly leads the list with 347 points. The top eight qualify off points and the 8th player in, Austin Ernst, has 187.) “I foresee Stacy playing her way on,” said Inkster. Lewis is currently 17th in Solheim standings.
Cristie Kerr and Angela Stanford are the two players who, if the team were selected today, would get in off the Rolex Rankings. As it stands now, Marina Alex, Megan Khang and Nelly would be the three rookies who would automatically qualify.
THIS WEEK ON TOUR
LPGA Tour: Bank of Hope Founders Cup Course: Wildfire Golf Club, JW Marriott Desert Ridge, Phoenix. Yardage: 6,656. Par: 72. When: Wednesday-Sunday
Defending champion: Inbee Park Purse: $1.5 million. Winner’s share: $225,000.
TV: Golf Channel, Thursday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. Tickets, information: lpgafounderscup.com
General parking: Located at Arizona Horse Lovers Park, 19224 N. Tatum Blvd., Phoenix, just south of Musical Instrument Museum. Fee is $5 per car;