Sisters Nelly and Jessica Korda are back together again on the golf course.
The Bradenton, Fla. natives are playing in the Ford Championship in Chandler, Ariz., the first full official LPGA Tour event they’ve played in together since 2023.
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World No. 2 Nelly feels in her comfort zone with her sister in the field. Jessica Korda battled a chronic back injury that caused her to go on indefinite leave from the tour and then she gave birth to her son, Greyson, in 2024.
“It’s more of like life outside of the golf course where you’re just a lot more comfortable,” Nelly said in a fun press conference with her sister from Whirlwind Golf Club. “I think when we’re both on the golf course … we’ll check the leaderboards here and there, but I think what really helps and what was a huge actual adjustment for me was kind of like life off the golf course, not having her there. Having that dinner buddy occasionally, playing a practice round together, majority of the weeks playing a practice round together.”
They’re staying together in a rental house, with Nelly doing the cooking and their mom, Regina Rajchrtová, babysitting Greyson.
Jessica, 33, has been out of competition on tour for almost three years. She didn’t swing a club much for the first two years, she said. She’s not returning to the tour full-time, so she’ll be able to adjust to playing again and balancing motherhood a bit at a time. Practice is quite different. It’s more about quality, not quantity. She practices about three days a week.
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“I get about an hour and a half in, and Wednesdays I get a decent amount of time in,” Jessica said. “I have a sitter for about five, six hours so I need to make sure I can work out, play some golf, and just get everything done that I need to get done. I definitely prioritize my time with my son over golf, so it’s not nearly as exciting as it used to be practicing. I think I was telling Nelly the other day I was there for literally 45 minutes because I just didn’t have the time. So I just try to see what’s the most important thing that day and go from there.”
The Kordas played in a professional round together for the first time in the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. They’ve played 96 rounds in the same event. Jessica is a mom. Nelly is newly engaged. Life is good.
This season, Nelly, 27, already won the weather-shortened Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and finished second, one shot behind Hyo Joo Kim in Sunday’s Fortinet Founders Cup. She’s playing well. Jessica is hoping to shake off the competitive rust. And their parents will be able to track a lot of steps following both of them on the course again.
“The U.S. Open was I think one of the first ones that they actually paired us together,” Jessica said. “We very rarely get paired total together. We have to play our way into this pairing. We’re always opposite sides of the wave. Our parents have to walk 36. It’s never easy.”
But it sure is fun to be back together on the golf course once again.
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