BRADENTON, Fla. – There was a time when Nelly Korda thought seriously about college golf, with Wake Forest and Texas as her top two choices. She was 15, shooting in the 80s and struggling to enjoy the game.
“I wasn’t even a top junior,” said Korda while walking down the second fairway of her home course, The Concession Golf Club. “I played Junior Solheim Cup once. I wasn’t selected for Junior Ryder Cup. I wasn’t selected for anything growing up.”
Her advice to young players in the field at The Nelly Invitational: Don’t compare yourself to others.
With the help of instructor David Whelan, Korda rebuilt her swing and fell back in love with the game. The 15-time LPGA winner, Olympic gold medalist and current world No. 1 is already in the give-back portion of her career, hosting one of the best junior events in the country at her home club.
Guests of The Nelly junior-am were welcomed on Wednesday by Sawyer, a rescue dog from Satchel’s Last Resort, a no-kill animal shelter in Sarasota that’s one of the event’s two designated charities, along with the local Boys and Girls Club. AJGA Executive Director Stephen Hamblin said the event will raise $100,000 for charity, rare air for a junior event, particularly one that’s just getting started.
Korda has always had a special place in her heart for animals. Earlier this week, she said goodbye to her 15-year-old cat, Rafi.
“I was like oh my god, something that’s 6 pounds can weigh so much on your heart, right? It’s so crazy,” she said. “He was with me through so, so much. It’s unconditional love no matter what kind of day you’re having.”
The AJGA has had PGA Tour and LPGA pros hosting its events for decades, with Raymond Floyd and Tom Kite among the first. Today, there are 38 tour players’ names attached to the AJGA’s 147 events and 110 qualifiers in 2025.
Korda won her first of two AJGA titles in 2015, weeks before her 17th birthday, at the Yani Tseng Invitational presented by Swinging Skirts. Three years later, she came full circle with her first LPGA title at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship.
Korda never competed in a U.S. Girls’ Junior and teed it up in only one U.S. Women’s Amateur, losing in the first round to Lydia Choi. Back pain forced a long layoff in 2014, and she fought hard to make up for lost time. Through it all, her parents reminded their three kids that everyone has their own path.
“For us, we were just all very active,” said Korda, whose older sister Jessica is a six-time winner on the LPGA while brother Sebastian is a top-ranked tennis pro. “We went and practiced, we just stuck to our own bubbles. I think that’s why I always say it is, because even growing up, it was family time. It was family and no one else.
“We didn’t really look at what anyone else was doing, we just kind of stuck to what we were doing because there was already so much knowledge in the household.”
Growing up, Korda had a safari-themed room and a lion was her first stuffed animal. Her late July birthday makes her a Leo, and the lion symbol now lives on in her logo, which is ever-present at Concession this week.
“I was always like referred to as one even when I was young because I was a little feisty, but I always worked really hard and I always kind of fought through it,” she said.
“It just became a symbol for me. There are so many ups and downs in life. You always try to fight through it, right? You always try to be a lion and like grit your teeth and keep going.”
That fight was on full display as recently as last week, when Korda fought back after an opening 77 at the Chevron Championship to make the cut and ultimately take a share of 14th.
She took this week off from the tour to focus on her event, riding around in a golf cart on Wednesday to meet with sponsors and juniors as they played.
Chevron’s commitment in 2025 enabled The Nelly to give the highest travel stipends in tour history of $2,000 for U.S. players and $2,500 for international players. The Nelly also strengthened its field in 2025 by extending invitations to the top-10 eligible international players that may not be AJGA members and/or didn’t previously qualify for the event through the Rolex AJGA Rankings.
Korda oversaw and insisted on small details this week, like allowing parents to come eat with their kids in the clubhouse, to big things, like extending a major championship invitation to the winner. After playing in the junior-am, Chevron Championship executive director Glenn Weckerlin was getting a printed invitation to the 2026 event ready for Sunday’s winner.
It was at a major championship – the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open – that Korda first realized that this is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
“I could’ve played a million junior events,” said Korda, “but there was some type of different feeling playing in a major championship. … I was like, I want to feel this over and over and over again.”
The Nelly offers perks not often seen at this level. The TaylorMade tour truck, for example, was parked on the range on Wednesday. Korda plans to return to the club on Friday for Nike Night from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., where players will enjoy a host of Nike goodies and design their own shoes. The Nelly has quickly gained a reputation for having the best swag on the junior circuit.
“No. 1 by far,” said 15-year-old Honorine Nobuta Ferry. “By far.”
Players this week might need an extra carry-on for all their gifts, including two dozen TaylorMade balls, hats and a tournament-logoed head cover, a mini Tumi backpack, Stanley water bottles that are personalized and logoed, a Flye1+ wireless audio transmitter and receiver for the plane and a pin flag signed by the host. The Nike products players will receive include the Nike Free golf shoes Korda helped design, along with a tech fleece hoodie, leggings, slides, a duffle bag and custom off-the-course shoes they’ll create on their phones.
A grateful Korda lights up when talking about it all, noting that to this day she gets giddy about tournament swag.
“It’s so crazy, but it’s also like the little things that makes the experience of you wanting to come back,” said Korda. The girls spreading the word that, oh, this event is really cool, this is what we got this year, we can’t wait to see what we get next year. I couldn’t have done any of it without my sponsors. For them to kind of bring my vision, or our vision, to life has been really fun.”
Korda will float around the room on Friday night, making herself available to the elite field of 66. That suits her style more than a formal speech or program. Weckerlin noted that Korda’s commitment to being involved not just in name but in person was a big selling point for Chevron’s multi-year sponsorship.
“I don’t know how to put a value on that,” said Weckerlin. “It makes a difference.”
Of course, while The Nelly offers the opportunity to compete in a major championship field, it also exposes young players to Korda’s sponsors. The affable Ryleigh Knaub, a senior headed to LSU, was offered an internship on the spot from Ernst & Young by the end of Wednesday’s round.
Sophia Ellestad of Houston was in Korda’s gallery on Sunday at the Chevron Championship and was struck by her calm demeanor. The high school senior signed with Oklahoma State, and The Nelly will be her final AJGA event.
“Everything is perfect,” she said, walking off Concession’s 18th green.
Korda considers the practice facilities at Concession to be among the best in the state, perhaps even the country, and, like many, jokingly refers to her home course as ‘Concussion.’
Last year, on the day Korda left for the Chevron Championship, she played nine holes with a member and shot 42.
“I was like, well, this is great prep for a major,” she said with a smile. “I feel fabulous.”
Korda, of course, went on to win that week for her fifth consecutive LPGA title. Concession tests every part of the game, she said, and has especially helped her improve around the greens. Aphrodite Deng won last year’s inaugural Nelly Invitational with a 2-under total. Only three players finished the 54-hole event under par.
Petr Korda, a Grand Slam tennis champ who will be out with his daughter as she practices this week, takes pride in what Nelly and her team have created for the next generation.
“It’s just respect,” said Petr. “That’s what I’ve been answering, you know, what my daughter does for golf. She does her way; she has her vision.”
And she’s just getting started.
Read the full article here