Nelly Korda Earns LPGA Card; Joins Sister Jessica on Tour in 2017

Somewhere in the world today, it seems a Korda is playing a sport.

Jessica, the oldest of three siblings, is in Malaysia, defending her title in the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, one week after finishing second in China. Sebastian, the youngest at 16, is off to Mexico for a junior tennis tournament, on the heels of the U.S. Open Junior in New York and Junior Davis Cup in Hungary, as he follows in the footsteps of his father Petr, the 1998 Australian Open champion. And Nelly, the middle child, is at home in Bradenton, Fla., relishing the past 45 days of her professional golf career and the upcoming rookie season on the LPGA in 2017.

“When all five of us are together is a very rare occurrence,” Nelly, 18, said of her parents, both former tennis professionals, and two siblings. “So it’s nice to relax for a bit while they go.”

Nelly’s respite is spent tooling around in the hand-me-down, “sporty” white Volkswagen Jetta with “cool” rims and black interior leather with red stitching that she inherited two years ago from Jessica. She still occasionally sports the golf gear her sister, now 23, passed down and moved into Jessica’s room at home. Nelly said they plan to travel and room together next season and will have adjacent lockers simply because of their last names.

“I’m not ready to leave the nest yet,” Nelly said. “I’m comfortable here.”

Nelly’s ascent to the LPGA was completed this fall with a meteoric rise on the Epson Tour, but perhaps the idea of playing professionally occurred in early 2012 when Nelly, then 13, tagged along with Jessica to play nine holes with golf legend Jack Nicklaus at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla. He worked with them both on using their lower body more to enhance the longevity of their swings and said, “They are two terrific talents.”

“His entire demeanor on the course and off was so impressive,” Nelly said. “He was just so positive. It was a dream come true for him to take time out of his day and play with two girls who aspired to play golf for a living. He gave us the advice to just relax and enjoy the game.”

That positive mindset was also a factor as the 2016 Epson Tour season wound down. Nelly made the decision in late 2015 to go through the LPGA Qualifying Tournament. Too young to play on the LPGA, she qualified for the Epson Tour. But as August passed, she ranked a distant 27^th on the money list, far from the top-10 placement needed to reach the 2017 LPGA. Then she won the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge in South Dakota on Labor Day weekend to move to 11^th on the money list. Two weeks ago, at the final Epson Tour event, the Epson Tour Championship, Nelly shot a final-round 66 to finish T6 and jumped from 12^th to ninth on the money list and earn the LPGA card.

The key was a mantra from instructor David Whelan before the Sioux Falls event: “Don’t think past the first tee shot.” She had a win and two sixth-place finishes in her last five starts of the year.

“The last part of the year was stressful to say the least,” Nelly said. “At the last tournament, I shot a really good final-round score and then had to sit around for an hour and one-half to see if I made it. It was easily the most stressful time of my life.”

Life will come even faster now. Last year, as an amateur, Nelly played in six tournaments. This year, she played in 20 professional events – including the U.S. Women’s Open – all in North America. The 2017 season will begin early in the year and traverse the world on the LPGA’s global schedule.

She is confident that Jessica will be a great tour guide as their story becomes even larger. Of a handful of sisters on the LPGA during its history (see chart), only Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam have both won tournaments. The Jutanugarn sisters (Ariya and Moriya) and the player-caddie Henderson sisters (Brooke and Brittany) can offer their advice.

“Jess might get a little sick of me,” Nelly said. “But we haven’t spent a lot of time together since she joined the LPGA in 2011. She’s my sister, but also definitely my best friend.”