View photos of Brooke Henderson throughout her career, including multiple major wins.
Brooke Henderson is one of the many young stars that shine on the LPGA Tour.
Beginning her professional career at just 17 years old, Henderson has been the face of Canadian golf since her LPGA debut in 2015.
Earning LPGA starts through Monday qualifiers and sponsor exemptions, Henderson made history when she won the 2015 Cambia Portland Classic by eight strokes. The margin of victory was the largest on Tour since 2012 and Henderson became just the second Monday qualifier ever to win an LPGA event.
In 2016, she became the second youngest women’s major winner when she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in a playoff over Lydia Ko.
Golf Channel’s Jerry Foltz addressed viewer frustration from Sunday’s LPGA broadcast on NBC during an episode of the Trap Draw podcast.
The frustrations that many viewers expressed watching NBC’s coverage of the final round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on Sunday might just become the event’s selling point in the future. It all goes back to format.
Social media was buzzing when the LPGA’s season-opening tournament – which began as a celebrity event and still features a celebrity division – moved from Golf Channel to NBC for the last few hours of the final round, but for all the wrong reasons. One of the chief coverage critics of the production was No Laying Up’s Big Randy, who got mixed up in a mini back-and-forth on Twitter with Golf Channel on-course reporter Jerry Foltz.
Those who were frustrated with the coverage brought to the forefront some understandable issues. For instance, over the first 30 minutes of the broadcast, only six full swings and six putts made by LPGA players were shown, which Big Randy noted as a “huge missed opportunity to showcase a wider variety of players, highlight personalities, and inform (potentially new) viewers.”
Instead of yelling at each other with their fingers on keyboards, Foltz accepted an invitation to join No Laying Up’s Trap Draw podcast to have a thoughtful discussion not only about the Tournament of Champions, but golf coverage in general.
“Golf really is the hardest sport to cover on TV and I think it’s important to understand that, because almost all other sports are one ball, one arena,” explained Foltz, who’s been with Golf Channel since 1999. “We have 18 different arenas. We have two or three arenas on each of those 18 different holes and we have multiple balls in the air at the same time so that’s what makes it so complex and such an orchestra and it’s amazing that we’re able to get it on at all, to tell you the truth, and we do it and everybody does it day in and day out like it’s nothing.”
His second, and perhaps more important, point was the event’s format and history as a celebrity event. This year, the final group featured the top three LPGA players on the leaderboard, none other than three top Americans Danielle Kang and the Korda sisters, Jessica and Nelly, while the penultimate group was comprised of the top three players in the celebrity division. The thought was two-fold according to Foltz: Focus the coverage on the players contending in the tournament while allowing the celebrities in the field to see how their closest competitors were faring on Sunday. There aren’t many live leaderboards on property and previous year’s final groupings featured two LPGA players and one celebrity.
“Typically on a Sunday we don’t show players who aren’t in contention,” said Foltz. “The only three that were in contention were in that final group. It was a unique format and a unique situation.
“I don’t think any producer really sees the point in showing (an average shot) just to show you another golfer because it’s not relevant to the story, the drama,” he said. “You watch for who’s winning by Sunday, that’s what it’s all about. Had the players been in different groups, I think it would’ve felt a little more traditional, jumping back and forth between different groups as opposed to having all three in the last group, and the only three who have a chance to win.”
So, did it work?
“Ratings were up 10 percent for the entire package, 29 percent on Golf Channel year over year, and it was the most-watched time of this event since we put it on the air,” explained Foltz.
“Celebrity golf can be tough to watch, especially when they’re celebrities you’re really not familiar with,” said Foltz. “(The Pebble Beach Pro-Am and this) are geared to draw the non-avid fan to watch, and I think the numbers show that they did. If it were John Smoltz and Aaron Hicks battling it out down the stretch like last year when I was following Smoltz in the last group when he was trying to clinch it, it was compelling. As it turns out Mardy Fish was unbeatable and it wasn’t compelling.”
Yes, Kang’s phone call to her instructor was perfectly legal before the playoff at the Diamond Resort’s Tournament of Champions.
Moments before Danielle Kang did battle against Jessica Korda in a sudden-death playoff at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, she called home. The sight of a player on a cell phone on her way to the tee certainly surprised some of the viewers at home.
Who did she call? And is that even allowed?
“I called my mom, brother, and Butch (Harmon),” said Kang after the playoff, “just three people I called letting them know I’m going to a playoff. They already knew.
“But talked to Butch, and two seconds of talking to Butch hit the best shot of today, which is great. I needed that. I told him I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the swing and he said, ‘You know what you need to do,’ and gave me a swing thought.”
Respect Danielle Kang casually taking a phone call as she walks up to the tee of the first playoff hole pic.twitter.com/49me8tI8H7
On the first playoff hole, Kang struck a 5-iron to 18 feet on the par-3 18th but failed to convert the putt after Korda drained a 25-footer for birdie. It was a dramatic end to an all-American Sunday shootout at the season-opener between Kang and the Korda sisters. (Nelly Korda finished solo third.)
Yes, Kang’s phone call to her instructor was perfectly legal, regardless of what Harmon said, given that the 18-hole round had concluded, according to the meaning of a “round” as defined in Rule 5.1.
“A stroke-play playoff is a new round, so the advice rule doesn’t kick back in until the playoff starts,” said the USGA’s Kathryn Belanger, assistant director, rules education and engagement.
In match play, however, a playoff is considered a continuation of the same round, not a new round.
Belanger notes that players can also change equipment before starting a playoff in a stroke-play event. That is not the case, however, in match play.
Competing inside the ropes alongside Annika Sorenstam never seemed like a possibility for many of today’s LPGA stars, until last week.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Cheyenne Knight played in Annika Sorenstam’s junior events and attended her clinics. But being introduced on the tee alongside Ms. 59 was next-level cool for the 24-year-old LPGA player.
“I hit my drive in the trees on the first hole,” said Knight of the extra nerves that accompanied the experience.
Competing inside the ropes alongside the greatest player in the modern game never seemed like a possibility for many of today’s LPGA stars, given that Sorenstam retired in 2008 and turned her attention toward her family, foundation and brand. But her latest partnership with Diamond Resorts opened up a unique opportunity for Sorenstam to compete in the celebrity division of the LPGA’s season-opener, where she finished ninth.
Much has changed since Sorenstam dominated the LPGA with 72 titles. Knight said Sorenstam’s caddie/husband, Mike McGee, had to remind her that she could now tap down spike marks and take a drop from knee height.
In her preparation for the event, the 50-year-old couldn’t believe how winded she got after ramping up her range sessions, especially given that she’s scheduled to soon compete in a triathlon.
“To hit a lot of balls is different type of endurance that I didn’t appreciate,” she said.
Annika Sorenstam competes in the celebrity division of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions (courtesy Diamond Resorts).
At the peak of her game, Sorenstam carried the ball around 250 yards. Now she’s down to about 235. She still hits her irons about the same distance.
“It’s the short game,” she said at the start of the week, “that’s where it is. I know the basics, I know the technique, but it’s the feel. The constant feel.”
Sorenstam was Gaby Lopez’s superhero growing up, along with countrywoman Lorena Ochoa. Lopez, the 2020 TOC champion, played Round 1 of the TOC with Sorenstam and called it one of the luckiest days of her life.
“We talked a lot about short-term goals,” said Lopez. “She dominated in so many ways, and she was always asking herself, ‘How can I just get better in this area, this area?’ Just breaking it down so she feels she’s achieving different goals in short-term to gain confidence, be comfortable.”
Danielle Kang considers Sorenstam a mentor, and while she didn’t get the chance to play alongside her last week, she wanted an up-close look at the Swede’s routine, how she handles distractions and how her energy changes over important putts.
“I would love to see how she executes shots,” said Kang, who lost in a playoff to Jessica Korda.
Sorenstam planned to compete in this year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open for the first time but the championship’s new dates, July 29-Aug. 1, conflict with the Tokyo Olympics, and that’s a massive problem given that Sorenstam is president of the International Golf Federation.
Sorenstam and 2011 ANNIKA Invitational winner Celine Boutier, who were grouped together in the final round of the TOC (courtesy ANNIKA Foundation).
She also wanted to compete in the Senior LPGA Championship at the French Lick Resort in Indiana, but those dates conflict with the Junior Solheim Cup, and Sorenstam is captaining the European team this year.
“I’ve enjoyed practicing and getting ready,” she said. “I’m not going to stop, going to keep on going and see what happens.”
The multi-year Diamond Resorts partnership includes sponsoring the ANNIKA Invitational which in recent years has taken place in St. Augustine, Florida. Sorenstam said the tournament will move close to the TOC next January so that juniors can take part in the activities of the LPGA event as well.
Those who didn’t get the chance to play alongside an LPGA legend last week will have another chance in 2022.
“The thing that stood out to me was that she birdied 17 and 18 (on Saturday),” said Knight, “and her husband said she was so mad because she shot over par each day. She birdied those last two holes to shoot even par. Even though she doesn’t still play competitively, she still has that fire. I was like, that’s why she’s the GOAT.”
Jessica Korda won her sixth career LPGA title and first since the 2018 Honda LPGA Thailand.
After firing a historic 60 in the third round of the LPGA’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, Jessica Korda came back to Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Sunday to finish off her first title since 2018.
Danielle Kang took the lead into the final round of the LPGA’s season-opener, but a few late stumbles on the back nine cleared the way for Korda to defeat her in sudden death.
Both finished regulation at 24 under. In fading daylight, the two headed back to the par-3 18th. Ultimately, Korda poured in a birdie bomb and Kang couldn’t match it.
With the TOC title, Korda claims her sixth career LPGA title. She has proved to be formidable in season-opening events, having won the first tournament on the schedule three times before, at the 2018 Honda LPGA Thailand, 2014 Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic and 2012 Handa Women’s Australian Open.
In regulation, Kang, who won back-to-back titles after the LPGA’s late-summer restart in 2020, had to go head-to-head with both Korda sisters. A formidable final group also included Nelly Korda, who finished third, two shots back.
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Kang and Jessica Korda were tied by the time they reached the 18th hole. Both had birdied the 17th hole. Korda picked up ground with birdies at Nos. 13, 14 and 16. Kang played that stretch in even par, logging a birdie at the par-3 14th but making bogey at No. 15 before salvaging a par from the pine straw right of the short par-4 16th.
On the final hole, as music blared from the loudspeakers (and Korda mouthed the words and danced on the back of the tee), Kang and Korda both left themselves with long birdie putts for the win and both left them short to force the playoff.
It was considerably more quiet by the time Kang and Korda circled back to the 18th – at least until Korda jarred one for victory.
Jasmine Suwannapura accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Saturday at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions will always hold a special place for Jasmine Suwannapura. It’s where Michael David Thomas got down on one knee by the 18th green and proposed on Friday, putting the ultimate sparkle in her season-opening event on the LPGA.
“I actually picked the ring myself,” said Suwannapura, “but he didn’t say when it’s going to happen or how.”
The couple met two years ago on the dating app Bumble, but they didn’t actually see each other in person for almost two months. Suwannapura, a native of Bangkok who lives in Ashburn, Virginia, kept her real name and occupation under wraps too, telling him she was an event coordinator who traveled the world. The two-time LPGA winner didn’t include any photos of herself in golf clothes, either.
“That’s what I put on there until I find someone decent,” she said. “OK, we’ve been talking for a while, alright, this is my name. Here you go.”
Thomas, an IT engineer who works for Dominion Electric in Virginia, mostly played tennis growing up. Suwannapura had to brush up his golf skills after they started dating.
“I think he almost play like total of 20 rounds of golf,” she said. “So, yeah, it’s getting better. His short game is pretty good though. He can putt.”
Suwannapura, 28, said it’s not uncommon for her female friends who play golf to also keep their identities quiet at first. But for male golfers, she said, it’s different.
“I see the guys say that I’m professional golfer,” she said. “But for the women I feel like it’s safe for us not to say that, because people can Google that real quick.”
Jessica Korda posted the fifth 60 in LPGA history on Saturday at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, where Danielle Kang leads by 2.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Looking back, Jessica Korda couldn’t believe that her only par on the back nine came on a par 5. That’s especially significant considering that the elder Korda sister posted the fifth 60 in LPGA history on Saturday at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
Korda said she wasn’t really doing the math out there until she dropped an 18-foot putt for eagle on the 17th hole to get to 10 under on the par-71 Tranquilo Golf Club. She then hit a 6-iron to 9 feet on the 18th to post her career-best round on her father Petr’s 53rd birthday. Her back-nine 28 included seven birdies and an eagle.
“Days like today don’t come often,” said Jessica, “so you really cherish them when they do. Everything has to come together to have a day like today.”
Even with that spectacular round, Korda still trails Danielle Kang by two strokes heading into the final round. Kang, who hasn’t made a bogey in her last 70 holes dating back to the CME Group Tour Championship, birdied the 18th to shoot 63 and tie her career low.
Her 21-under 192 total shattered the previous 54-hole tournament record by five strokes and ties the all-time total aggregate 54-hole score in tour history.
“I had a blast with Aaron Hicks and Mardy Fish,” said Kang. “They’re such good golfers, and Aaron kept outdriving by me about 150 yards, and Mardy a solid 80. Tried to just stay in my own game and make good shots.”
Danielle Kang plays a shot on the fourth hole during the third round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament Of Champions at Tranquilo Golf Course at the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club on January 23, 2021 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
In a departure from how Sunday groupings are normally done at this event, the top three LPGA players will be together in the final group and the penultimate group will be made up of the top three celebrities. That means leader Danielle Kang will be joined by the Korda sisters.
“You guys finally get your wish,” said Jessica.
Nelly Korda birdied the first three holes of the day and pulled into a share of first with Kang early in the round. A pair of bogies on the 15th and 18th moved her down into a share of third, six strokes back at 15 under.
NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Fox News Chief Political Anchor Brett Baier played alongside Jessica in Saturday’s round and tried to stay out of the way. Fitzgerald said he picked up on Nos. 16 and 18 to avoid messing up Korda’s flow.
“I just wanted her to be comfortable and stay in her routine,” said Fitzgerald, who watches more LPGA coverage than PGA Tour golf, “once we probably got about to 13 or 14 and saw her picking up steam, you just don’t talk to her unless she talks to you.”
60 🤯
With a lights out day, @Thejessicakorda cards only the 5th 60 in Tour history!
The trio took a photo together with Korda’s card after the round.
“I’ve played with Jessica a number of times and I’m like I don’t understand how this girl doesn’t win all the time,” said Angela Stanford. “She bombs it. Once she figures it out on the putting green, she’ll be unstoppable.”
Jessica, 27, is a five-time winner on the LPGA and has dealt with a number of health issues since turning professional. Her last victory came at the 2018 Honda LPGA Thailand event after she had major surgery to correct a severe overbite.
Kang, 28, also owns five LPGA titles and won the Vare Trophy last season for low scoring average on the LPGA. She won back-to-back tournaments in Toledo last season after the LPGA’s extended break for COVID-19.
“I think my mental game is pretty strong this week,” said Kang. “Just kind of chugging along. I know I’m being really repetitive, but that’s what I’m doing, is just focusing on what I need to hit and what I need to execute. That’s pretty much it.”
Fish, a retired tennis player who is quite familiar with the Korda family, leads the celebrity division with 117 points in the Modified Stableford format. Former NFL placekicker Josh Scobee sits in second at 111, while the Yankees’ Hicks is in third at 110 with girlfriend Cheyenne Woods on the bag.
Ariana Urrea and Katherine Schaefer shot even par to play their way into the 72-hole LPGA season opener.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Not all the players in this week’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions celebrity field are famous. In fact, there are 12 amateurs in the field, 10 of whom qualified through Wednesday’s pro-am. Two of the amateurs, in fact, are teenage girls: Ariana Urrea (age 13) and Katherine Schaefer (14). Both shot even par to play their way into the 72-hole LPGA season opener.
During Thursday’s opening round, Urrea putted out on the 18th green at Tranquilo Golf Club and looked up to see her face on the jumbotron.
“I was like, is that really me?” she said, smiling broadly to reveal a mouthful of braces.
Urrea’s phone immediately blew up with text messages and requests started coming in for her Instagram account. The seventh-grade Peruvian typically lives sixth months of the year in Orlando with her family and competes on the Hurricane Junior Tour. She hopes to soon qualify for her first AJGA event.
Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions: Leaderboard
Urrea first took up golf at age 8 after watching strangers hit balls on a driving range. She was a tennis player back then and no one in her family played golf. Now her father carries around Urrea’s personal business cards, which feature her personal logo and contact information.
Katherine Schaefer lines up at putt at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. (Photo courtesy of Diamond Resorts)
Katherine Schaefer, a ninth-grader at American Heritage Plantation in south Florida, teed off alongside Frenchwoman Celine Boutier and former MLB player Mark DeRosa in Saturday’s third round. Prior to this week, she said, the biggest stages she’d played on would have to be the state high school championships or the U.S. Kids World Championship at Pinehurst.
“I think I’m handling it pretty well,” said Schaefer, who was stoked to meet two of her favorite LPGA players, Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson.
Urrea poses with her autographed sign. (Golfweek photo)
One big difference between the qualifier and the main event: about 1,000 yards. The junior girls played from the forward tees in the qualifier. Saturday’s official yardage: 6,427.
“I’ve always been a shorter player,” said Schaefer, “so I had to get good with my woods and my hybrids. There hasn’t really been a challenge with the yardage.”
Urrea’s goal is to one day compete against the players she’s collecting autographs from this week. There haven’t been many players from Peru who have reached the top levels of golf. Jenny Lidback most notably won a major, the du Maurier Classic, in 1995. Another Peruvian native, Alicia Dibos, was a rookie on the LPGA in 1993 and is now director of instruction at Winged Foot.
“I didn’t think I would qualify,” said Urrea. “I thought, let’s meet Nelly Korda (in the pro-am). I feel like she’s really sweet and nice and she was.”
News of Hank Aaron’s death spread across the Diamond Resort’s Tournament of Champions on Friday.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – As news of Hank Aaron’s death made its way around the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, several baseball players competing in the celebrity division of the LPGA season opener took time to reflect on one of the great icons of American sport.
Aaron, the humble superstar who rose above racial prejudices to break Babe Ruth’s home run record, died in his sleep on Friday at age 86.
John Smoltz, one of several players in the TOC field connected to Aaron through the Atlanta Braves, said he never took for granted seeing the unassuming legend at spring training or the Braves’ stadium.
“There is not a superstar I’ve ever been around that, A, went through as much as he did, both in life and in the game,” said Smoltz, “and he just was a gentle guy that was there to say hello. You felt like you were in the presence of greatness every time you walked in.”
John Hart, former president of baseball operations for the Braves, played with a Hank Aaron glove in Little League and grew up to have an office next door to his childhood hero at both Turner Field and Truist Park. Hart called Aaron the executive both a friend and a mentor
“There are some guys with that type of talent who couldn’t, if you will, step back and run a minor league (system),” said Hart. “I’m going to deal with players who aren’t nearly as talented as I am. Or, I’m going to have all the answers. That was never Hank. Hank was not that guy. Compete? You betcha. He competed hard. He was tough. At the end he was authentically humbled and generous with his time, and he wanted to win.”
More from celebrity players on Aaron’s impact and legacy:
Tom Glavine, Hall of Fame pitcher for the Atlanta Braves
“You know, I think one of the first encounters I had with Hank is when I was a minor leaguer with the Braves. He was in charge of player development, so you had some interaction with him from time to time and it was — obviously as a young player it was cool. Hank Aaron, Hall of Famer, one of the greatest of all-time.
“So casual conversation were OK. You never wanted to be called into Hank’s office. If you were, that meant you were going home. So you always try to avoid Hank’s office. You wanted the conversations to be away from his office.”
Aaron Hicks of the New York Yankees and caddie Cheyenne Woods walk down the 17th hole during the second round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament Of Champions at Tranquilo Golf Course at the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club on January 22, 2021 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Aaron Hicks, Yankees outfielder
“I mean, he’s an icon in baseball. He’s a guy as a Black athlete, to be able to see somebody do that, you know, that looks just like me, is incredible.”
Greg Maddux, Hall of Fame pitcher for the Atlanta Braves
“Yeah, I mean, you know, he kind of put Atlanta on the map. Everybody came to see him hit a homerun, that’s for sure.
“I still remember him hitting that homerun and running around the bases and seeing the fans just wanting to touch him and run the bases with him. That was a pretty special day. And he was definitely the face of the franchise.”
Former MLB pitcher John Smoltz plays a shot on the seventh hole during the first round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament Of Champions at Tranquilo Golf Course at the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club on January 21, 2021 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
John Smoltz, Hall of Fame pitcher for the Atlanta Braves
“I think my memory of Hank is going to be twofold. It’s going to be at the Hall of Fame it was Hank Aaron, Joe Morgan and Frank Robinson. They all had walkers. They were coming to take a picture down at the end of the lawn like we do every year at the Hall of Fame. Somebody started announcing them coming down like a race.
“You could see each one had that little desire, and I think Hank turned it on at the end and I think he ended up winning. So that’s three iconic people obviously beat up by baseball and life, and we’re just going to miss them.”
John Hart, president of baseball operations for the Atlanta Braves (2014-17)
“Hank came up in a very difficult era. He signed in the early 1950s, Jackie (Robinson) hadn’t really crossed the color barrier. It still was very tough. He had to play all through the Southern League and nobody knew who Hank Aaron was. He had to go in with a lot of other African-American players and go through a very difficult time to get to the big leagues. It was a different era. Hank, he just had that, ‘Look, I’m going to let my talent speak. I’m going to go with it.’
“In Atlanta, you go back to the history of civil rights and look at Dr. (Martin Luther) King, all of the Atlanta pieces, Ralph Abernathy, all of the people who were Atlanta people. Hank was a bastion for the movement and for equality. Hank was a big part of it. He was with the baseball team, he was living his life, but he was also a very good voice in his own authentic, humble way.”
Joe Carter, two-time World Series champion, five-time All Star
“You tip your cap to those guys, because they paved the way for guys like me. It’s something I’ll never take for granted. They were pioneers. Jackie Robinson. Hank Aaron. Satchel Paige. Those were guys you heard about, you knew about, and you followed them. That’s who the Black community followed.
“They are heroes and legends and they played the game the way that it was supposed to be played. … We all loved watching Hank. It’s a terrible day, Hank passing away. Unbelievable.”
Headed into the weekend, Danielle Kang and Nelly Korda sit in first and second respectively at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Danielle Kang plopped down in an office chair to listen to country music artist Cole Swindell take questions from the press. Her caddie brought her a Sprite, and she settled in as Swindell talked about playing his first concert since March on Thursday evening at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.
The LPGA’s TOC is one glitzy party, hosted at the Four Seasons on the grounds of Walt Disney World in picture-perfect weather. Kang arrived late this year from Las Vegas due to two different exposures to COVID-19.
Her interrupted offseason preparations, however, did nothing to slow down the world’s fifth-ranked player. She leads the field of 25 by two strokes heading into the weekend after a pair of bogey-free rounds put her at 13 under for the tournament.
“I’m just trying to play smart,” said Kang. “I been here for three years now. I think I know where to capitalize.”
Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions: Leaderboard
Kang, who is known to crank up the country music on her way to the course, is grouped with Swindell at the TOC for the first round each year. The two friends got a bonus round together on Friday and were joined by Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, a two-time winner of this event.
Nelly Korda, who at No. 4 is the top-ranked American in the world, sits alone in second place. Her older sister, Jessica, dropped down to fifth after a 69. It was a special day for Nelly given that she played alongside LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, a Diamond Resorts ambassador competing in the celebrity division for the first time.
“She still has it,” gushed Nelly of Sorenstam. “She has her touch around the greens. It was honestly surreal.”
Nelly actually competed as a junior in Sorenstam’s foundation events, but Friday marked their first time inside the ropes together.
“She played fabulous,” said Sorenstam. “She drove it beautifully today. Hit a lot of good iron shots. I actually felt like she probably could have been a few shots better. These how good she played.”
Nelly revealed that after the CME Group Tour Championship she split up with swing coach Justin Sheehan and went back to longtime instructor David Whelan, whom she first started working with at age 15. They’ve worked on going back to a steeper swing, not moving as much with her hips during the downswing.
“I just trust Dave so much,” said Nelly. “I mean, he’s built my golf game.”
Nelly Korda during the second round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament Of Champions at Tranquilo Golf Course in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
In Gee Chun matched Kang for the day’s low round of 65 to take a share of third with 2020 TOC winner Gaby Lopez. While all the South Koreans ranked inside the top 10 chose not to come back to the U.S. for the LPGA’s season-opener, Chun never left. The two-time major winner bought a house in Dallas three weeks ago.
“I thought I don’t need a house here because I have a good host family in the U.S.,” said Chun, “so like a grand mom, and I always staying at their house.
“But I changed the mind during last year, because if I have a house here, it feels more like home, then maybe less miss all my Korean friends. Maybe I have more opportunity to make friends in the U.S. That’s why I change my mind.”
Cheyenne Knight shot 29 on the front side (her back nine) to shoot 66 on her 24th birthday and climb into sixth place. She nearly aced the par-3 third hole, hitting a 7-iron from 160 yards to 1 foot.
“You get a $1,000 gift card to Bonefish,” Knight said. “My caddie yelled, ‘Bonefish!’ while it was tracking to the hole. A tap-in birdie is always nice.”
Former tennis player Mardy Fish, a two-time winner of this event, leads the celebrity division by five points over Josh Scobee, a former NFL placekicker and Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks, who has girlfriend Cheyenne Woods on the bag.
Fish has amassed 78 points in the Modified Stablebord format. Sorenstam is tied for ninth, 13 points back.
