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OCALA, FLORIDA | You’ll be hard pressed to find a better story in our game in the post-Tiger era than the generational dynamic duo that is drawing eyeballs and interest to the LPGA Tour like no one since Michelle Wie burst onto the scene.
People who don’t otherwise follow golf watch them, or at least know of them. That’s because the Kordas – Jessica, 28, and her younger sister Nelly, 22 – are golf’s equivalent of Venus and Serena Williams of the early 2000s or Peyton and Eli Manning a decade ago. They transcend the LPGA Tour and golf itself.
The Korda sisters move the needle. Part of it is swagger. Even without fans in attendance, you could see that at the LPGA Drive On Championship. Volunteers and residents of the Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club hustled out to the range when Jess and Nelly warmed up just a few feet away from each other.
“Hey, Jess, we’re matching,” Nelly yelled to her sister, past Danielle Kang and Albane Valenzuela who were practicing in between them. The younger sister pointed to her green-and-blue top, which was the same color scheme as her older sister’s ensemble. “We’re practicing for Dow,” Jessica answered, referencing the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, a two-person team event where the Korda duo will be among the favorites.
That sort of repartee would be lost in the wind if it had come from other players. But the sisters pull it off with the kind of confident cool that makes you stop and smile – Newman and Redford bantering as Butch and Sundance. Then they proceeded to stripe one shot after another with powerful, flowing golf swings that should be the envy of anyone in the game.
“The only thing a win added was confidence maybe and a little bit more of an ease into the season. But other than that, it’s still a grind. Doesn’t change just because you win once. Doesn't mean you’ll win again.”
Jessica Korda
That interaction on the range in Ocala was only possible because they were going through their routines at the same time. And that occurred only because, for the first time since Nelly joined the tour in 2017, the sisters were paired together in the first two rounds.
They also arrived in the rolling horse country of central Florida as the first two winners of the 2021 season. Jessica captured the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in January in a playoff with Kang. Nelly won in a trot two Sundays ago at the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona. It was the first time that sisters have won back-to-back events since 2000 when Charlotta Sörenstam captured the Standard Register Ping, her lone career victory, and Annika won one of her 72 titles the next week. But the Kordas are the only sisters in tour history with multiple wins each. And it’s the first time since 2007 that Americans have won the first two events of an LPGA Tour season.
They push each other, not just as siblings but as part of a family that has been in the spotlight for decades. For those who don’t know the story yet, Petr Korda, the patriarch, was a tennis champion who won the 1998 Australian Open and rose as high as No. 2 in the world. His wife, Regina Rajchrtová, was the No. 26-ranked woman in tennis and represented the couple’s native Czechoslovakia in the Olympic Games. Regina has been called “the rock of the family” by the youngest sibling, Sebastian, who is currently the 10th-ranked American (No. 92 in the world) in professional tennis at age 20.
They are the most successful nuclear family of athletes in history. And Jess and Nelly are emerging as two of the most recognizable faces in women’s professional golf.
Their swings are similar. Nelly has a slightly flatter plane and faster hip rotation, while Jess is more Ernie Els in her delivery. They both hit it high and far and have wedge games that are among the best in golf. You look at them and wonder why they don’t swap victories every week.
Then you hear them and realize they are still young.
“I was actually telling Jason (McDede), my caddie, that props to the people who win back-to-back,” Nelly said after firing a 67 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in Ocala. “Honestly, it’s so mentally draining. I played (a practice round) on Tuesday, I played the back nine, and I was just like, ‘I do not want to be out here.’ But it’s just something where you’re like, ‘OK, it’s the first day. Let’s go, come on.’ It’s good to have a good support system like Jason and to keep yourself positive and make sure you play well every week.”
Jessica, who shot 69 while paired with her sister on Thursday, looks further ahead. “It’s a long year,” she said. “Winning out here is hard. I say that all the time. Everything has to come together for you to be able to win – get lucky, make some putts, get some good breaks. It’s not easy. Nelly and I were talking about being in a fishbowl. It was a little different for us.”
Once you get to know them, you realize that as different as the sisters seem, they fit within the family. Jessica is just like their mother, a solid rock with a quick smile and a good heart. And Nelly is their father made over.
They began the final round at Golden Ocala tied for 11th – 10 shots behind leader Austin Ernst. The gas ran out for each of them at different times.
“The only thing a win added was confidence maybe and a little bit more of an ease into the season,” Jessica said. “But other than that, it’s still a grind. Doesn’t change just because you win once. Doesn't mean you’ll win again.”
But on Sunday morning, they were tied with each other. That is an outcome that fans want to see often, this season and for many LPGA Tour years to come.
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