Nelly Korda hires new putting coach, looks to three-peat at Pelican Golf Club

“Before I was kind of blind going to a putting green. I did it myself,” Korda said.

Nelly Korda comes to Annika Sorenstam’s namesake event on the LPGA hoping to do something the LPGA legend accomplished twice in her career: win an event three years in a row.

Korda’s last victory on the LPGA came last year at Pelican Golf Club, where she beat fellow Floridian Lexi Thompson by a stroke. Two years ago, Korda triumphed in a sudden-death playoff over Lydia Ko, 2020 champion Sei Young Kim and Thompson. Korda was not in the field in 2020 due to a back injury sustained at the KPMG Women’s PGA.

The penultimate event on the LPGA calendar was renamed The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican for 2023 and features a purse of $3,250,000. Sorenstam won the McDonald’s LPGA Championship from 2003 to 2005 and the Mizuno Classic from 2001 to 2005. Inbee Park was the last player to win three consecutive events at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship from 2013-15.

“To three-peat, obviously there is pressure that I want to perform,” said Korda, “but I try not to think about it.”

Korda was grinding on the practice green Tuesday with putting instructor Eric Dietrich. The pair first began working together around the Solheim Cup, and she has since switched her grip and her putter. Korda said she feels more organized after making the move to Dietrich.

“Felt like I just have a plan now, or I have tendencies that I know about that I can always go into a drill and kind of work on those tendencies,” said Korda.

“Where before I was kind of blind going to a putting green. I did it myself.”

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Korda has switched from a left-hand low grip back to a conventional grip. She also began using a mallet putter for the first time in her career at the LPGA stop in South Korea last month.

“Honestly, I haven’t been putting bad,” she said. “I’ve been in contention a bunch this year. It’s just I want to improve. I want to improve in every part of my game, and I just thought this was a necessary change to that.”

Photos: Nelly Korda through the years

Korda has a 65.571 scoring average at Pelican through seven rounds. The grass, the weather, the fact that her family can drive to watch her compete all factor into her success here. The eight-time LPGA winner has eight top-10 finishes this season. She took a month off midseason to nurse a lower back injury.

“I talked about it a couple times like where the beginning of the year golf felt in a sense like I don’t want to take it for granted,” she said, “but it felt easy, top 10-ing, playing well, and being in contention.

“Then I got injured and just felt hard to get back into that flow. I somehow like had a hard time finding it, so that’s kind of why I brought Eric in. And with Jamie (Mulligan), we’re all working really hard on my entire game. Hopefully, we can continue improving, but it’s more about the consistency.”

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Annika Sorenstam set to host Tampa Bay area LPGA event beginning in 2023

The ANNIKA is coming to the LPGA.

Annika Sorenstam will return to the role of LPGA tournament host. The LPGA and Pelican Women’s Championship announced on Tuesday that the Tampa Bay area event will go by a new name in November 2023: The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

Gainbridge has served as title sponsor for LPGA events the past three seasons, including two at Boca Rio Golf Club in Boca Raton, Florida, and one at Sorenstam’s home course, Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando. Sorenstam returned to LPGA competition for the first time in 13 years at Lake Nona in 2021 and made the cut.

Gainbridge also served as sponsor for the LPGA’s Indy in Tech Championship from 2017-2019.

“It is an incredible honor to host one of the premier events on the LPGA Tour schedule at Pelican Golf Club, a world-class facility, alongside my good friends at Gainbridge,” said Sorenstam in a release. “Giving back to the game I love and mentoring the game’s next generation of players have always been at the forefront of everything we do. I’m excited to kick off this great new partnership and elevate this tournament to new heights on the LPGA Tour.”

In addition to college and junior events around the world, Sorenstam co-hosts the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed with Henrik Stenson on the LET and DP World Tour. In 2007 and 2008, she was involved in the LPGA’s Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Sorenstam won 72 times on the LPGA, including 10 majors and remains the LPGA’s all-time money leader with over $22 million. She returned to the major championship stage last summer when she won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in her debut.

Nelly Korda
Nelly Korda poses with the trophy after winning the Pelican Women’s Championship in a playoff at Pelican Golf Club on November 14, 2021 in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

This year’s Pelican Women’s Championship will feature a field of 120 players competing for a $2 million purse at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. It will be the final full-field event of the season, leading into the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. Nelly Korda won the second edition of the event last year in a playoff over Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko and defending champion Sei Young Kim.

“The opportunity to create ‘The ANNIKA’ in partnership with Pelican Golf Club, allows Gainbridge to continue to support these world-class LPGA athletes while celebrating the legacy of the greatest woman golfer of the modern era,” said Dan Towriss, CEO and President of Group 1001, the parent organization of Gainbridge in a statement.

“Through the work of our sister company, PARITY, and other partnerships in the works, we will continue to highlight the contributions of Annika and other legends of women’s sports, both in and outside of the competitive arena.”

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