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.