SPRINGFIELD, N.J. – Nelly Korda didn’t touch a club for several weeks after lower back pain resulted in a forced spring break. When the 24-year-old returned to work, it was with a new swing instructor. Jason Baile, director of instruction at Jupiter Hills Club in Florida, started working with the former World No. 1 a week and a half ago and this week is at Baltusrol Golf Club helping Korda prepare for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
“A couple of my sister’s friends work with him,” said Korda, who noted that LIV’s Peter Uihlein is among them. “I heard he’s really good, so testing him out.”
They’ve mostly worked on setup, she said, moving closer to the ball and getting her right shoulder more through the ball rather than stuck behind it.
Korda, currently No. 2 in the world, hasn’t won this season but has notched six top-six finishes. She’s one of four players on tour ranked in the top 20 in both strokes gained off-the-tee (third) and strokes gained putting (16th).
Korda trails only Jin Young Ko in strokes gained total per round.
This isn’t the first time Korda, an eight-time winner on the LPGA, has dealt with lower back pain, which caused her to withdraw from the KPMG at Aronimink three years ago after the first round.
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This time around, Korda couldn’t point to a specific shot or movement that caused the pain, but she immediately talked to her doctor about it and decided to take several weeks of rest before it worsened. Korda’s last round on the LPGA was May 12 at the Cognizant Founders Cup, where she missed the cut. She’s now pain-free.
“There’s a lot of torque in the golf swing,” said Korda, “so I feel like I’m not the only golfer that kind of struggles with the low back.
“Also, when you’re traveling four weeks in a row, different beds, flying out right after your round, sometimes you just tweak it and you just need to take rest.”
Nelly’s sister, Jessica Korda, 30, announced late last month that she was taking a break from the tour indefinitely to try to get her back healthy.
“I think coming from a family that has played sports throughout their entire life, it just comes with it,” said Nelly. “You look at so many athletes, they all go through something. I can only speak on let’s say tennis, where you see (Rafael) Nadal, who battled with so many injuries throughout his entire career.
“It’s something you constantly learn from.”
Korda said her split from her previous instructor, Jamie Mulligan, was about time management more than anything else, and they remain close. She also still considers David Whelan part of her team. She sees Whelan often at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, when she’s at home, mostly casually. Korda started working with Whelan at age 14.
“Even when he doesn’t say anything, just the fact that he is there with me at practice makes me very comfortable,” she said. “I am where I am because of him.”
As the world’s best women take on Baltusrol’s Lower Course for the first time since 1961, Korda said the first four holes will be crucial. Getting through them in even par is a big goal for the week.
“They’re big, monstrous kind of holes,” she said.
Baltusrol’s dual courses (the Upper and the Lower) have hosted 16 USGA Championships and two PGA Championships. The championship tradition began in 1901 with the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Jack Nicklaus won two U.S. Open titles on Baltusrol’s Lower Course. Mickey Wright and Phil Mickelson won here, too.
“The club just bleeds major championship golf,” said PGA chief championships officer Kerry Haigh.
Korda was blown away Monday by the condition of the A.W. Tillinghast design, which was restored in 2020 by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner and reopened in 2021. The Lower ranks No. 35 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses in the U.S., and the Upper ties for No. 62. Both courses rank among the top 10 private clubs in New Jersey.
With rain in the forecast, players will face a different test than they’ve seen so far in sunny and dry practice rounds. The club’s new drainage and sub-surface air system might be put to the test before the weekend.
The rough, last cut on Sunday, is right where they want it. Korda said she tried to hit 6-irons from the rough and they came out as knuckle balls, dead left. Haigh said the PGA plans to top it off Wednesday and again Friday if needed.
“I enjoy these kinds of golf courses where you have to kind of think a little bit more,” said Korda, “and it’s a very demanding golf course as well … everything has to click for you this week in order to perform well.”
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