Latest news with #GrantThorntonInvitational
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nelly Korda said having sister inside ropes for TV at Evian felt like a 'comfort blanket'
Nelly Korda had a familiar face following her inside the ropes at the season's fourth major. Big sister Jessica served as an on-course reporter in Korda's group during Round 1 of the Amundi Evian Championship, where world No. 1 Nelly opened with a 4-under 67 to trail a group of five players by two strokes. Jessica, who was on medical leave for a back injury before she got pregnant with her first child, has worked in television at previous events, but this marks the 32-year-old's first time with the Golf Channel crew. Advertisement "I was to ask as well if it makes you nervous that I'm commentating on your group," Jessica said to Nelly after the round. "You did almost hit me a couple times when you missed fairways today." "Maybe you should have stayed in the fairway and I would've hit you," Nelly responded, before adding that she loves having family inside the ropes. "It's like a little comfort blanket to have you out there. Hopefully I have you for the rest of the week." "Do you guys hear that?" Korda said to producers. "She wants me the rest of the week, so we have to adjust coverage based on that." Jessica Korda, a six-time winner on the LPGA, said last year while a guest in the Golf Channel booth at the Grant Thornton Invitational, that she planned to come back to the LPGA in 2026. The LPGA updated its maternity policy in 2019 to give moms up to two years from the date of the baby's birth to return to playing. Advertisement At this time last year, Nelly had won six times on the LPGA calendar but is winless thus far in 2025. She noted earlier in the week how nice it is to have her best friend back on tour, giving her someone to share meals with in France. Jessica wrapped up Thursday's post-round interview by noting that son Greyson couldn't wait to see Aunt Nelly after the round. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jessica Korda works as on-course reporter in Nelly's group at Evian
USA Today
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Nelly Korda said having sister inside ropes for TV at Evian felt like a 'comfort blanket'
Nelly Korda had a familiar face following her inside the ropes at the season's fourth major. Big sister Jessica served as an on-course reporter in Korda's group during Round 1 of the Amundi Evian Championship, where world No. 1 Nelly opened with a 4-under 67 to trail a group of five players by two strokes. Jessica, who was on medical leave for a back injury before she got pregnant with her first child, has worked in television at previous events, but this marks the 32-year-old's first time with the Golf Channel crew. "I was to ask as well if it makes you nervous that I'm commentating on your group," Jessica said to Nelly after the round. "You did almost hit me a couple times when you missed fairways today." "Maybe you should have stayed in the fairway and I would've hit you," Nelly responded, before adding that she loves having family inside the ropes. "It's like a little comfort blanket to have you out there. Hopefully I have you for the rest of the week." "Do you guys hear that?" Korda said to producers. "She wants me the rest of the week, so we have to adjust coverage based on that." Jessica Korda, a six-time winner on the LPGA, said last year while a guest in the Golf Channel booth at the Grant Thornton Invitational, that she planned to come back to the LPGA in 2026. The LPGA updated its maternity policy in 2019 to give moms up to two years from the date of the baby's birth to return to playing. At this time last year, Nelly had won six times on the LPGA calendar but is winless thus far in 2025. She noted earlier in the week how nice it is to have her best friend back on tour, giving her someone to share meals with in France. Jessica wrapped up Thursday's post-round interview by noting that son Greyson couldn't wait to see Aunt Nelly after the round.
Newsweek
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Newsweek
Joel Dahmen Reveals Key Metric for LPGA Star to Contend at PGA Tour Event
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A debate that resurfaces from time to time in the golf world is the likelihood of LPGA Tour stars versus their male counterparts. Opinions vary widely, especially when the PGA Tour is included in the analysis. Fan favorite Joel Dahmen weighed in on the issue recently and, probably surprising many, didn't rule out the possibility of a female star finishing in the PGA Tour's top 10. Dahmen was asked about this via X and mentioned the factor he considers key to such a feat: "Course is a big factor. Nelly is the obvious answer, but going to need speed. The shortest hitter on pga is still longer than the longest on the lpga." Naturally, off-the-tee performance is crucial in this analysis. However, The Golfing Gazette journalist Anthony Martin, who generated Dahmen's analysis, put together some data that allows for a different perspective on the matter: 5 longest LPGA Tour drivers 5 shortest PGA Tour drivers Polly Mack 289.17 Brian Campbell 276.6 Julia Lopez Ramirez 287.16 Paul Peterson 280.0 Auston Kim 285.10 Andrew Putnam 282.0 Emily Kristine Pedersen 283.66 Matt Kuchar 284.7 Weiwei Zhang 280.53 Brandt Snedeker 285.5 Can an LPGA Tour Player be Competitive on the PGA Tour? At first glance, it would seem that some, if not all, female players could become competitive on the PGA Tour. However, it's noteworthy that none of the players included on the list above have won on the LPGA Tour, while four of the five players (except Paul Peterson) included do have at least one PGA Tour title. The bottom line is that driving distance is an important factor, but not the only one to be taken into account in the analysis. It's not for nothing that only one of the seven LPGA Tour stars who have competed on the PGA Tour has made the cut, and that was more than 80 years ago (Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Los Angeles Open, 1938). Joel Dahmen of the United States and Lilia Vu of the United States celebrate on the second green during the final round of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club on December 10, 2023... Joel Dahmen of the United States and Lilia Vu of the United States celebrate on the second green during the final round of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club on December 10, 2023 in Naples, Florida. More Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images Another scenario would be to include stars like Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko, playing at the top of their game. As recent as 2023, Lexi Thompson came within inches of making a cut at the Shriners Children's Open. But that is still a ways from a top 10 finish. A completely different analysis is the chances LPGA Tour players have against scratch golfers, a debate that also resurfaced a few days ago. Fan opinion is divided on the matter, although the vast majority believe that professional female players would have a significant advantage over scratch golfers. However, there are those who think exactly the opposite. Where there is a virtually unanimous consensus in favor of LPGA Tour players is among experts. Analysts like Lou Stagner, journalists like Sam "Riggs" Bozoian of Barstool Sports, professional players like Byeong Hun An, and renowned coaches like Jon Sherman cast their votes in favor of professional female stars regardless of their name or pedigree. Logic is on their side. More Golf: John Deere Classic: Max Homa comes painfully close to snapping drought
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Mixed-team golf is coming to the 2028 Olympics. Here's what we know
Mixed-team golf is coming to the 2028 Olympics. Here's what we know Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda pairing up for a mixed-team event in the Olympics? It could happen in three years. On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee announced new mixed-gender events when it unveiled the entire sports program for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Included is a team competition in Olympic golf, which previously only featured individual men's and women's competition. The exact format is to be determined. "The mixed events are a real true embodiment of gender equality − men and women competing in the same team, on the same field of play for their country," IOC sports director Kit McConnell said in a news conference. "We've seen the real success of these (mixed-gender events). They bring something incredibly special for the athletes involved." The only mixed-team event in golf is the Grant Thornton Invitational, a silly season event in December featuring 16 pairs of PGA Tour and LPGA stars competing at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Last year, the IOC proposal was for a 36-hole team competition featuring 16 teams playing one round of alternate shot and another of fourballs. Golfers would be selected from the 60 men and 60 women already qualified for individual stroke play. The mixed event would be held Sunday and Monday between the men's and women's 72-hole individual tournaments. The men's competition would likely move to a Wednesday-Saturday schedule, similar to the women's schedule a week later.
USA Today
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Lydia Ko played Augusta. Here's what she thought, what she shot and what she ate
Lydia Ko played Augusta. Here's what she thought, what she shot and what she ate Lydia Ko has become known for playing quite a bit of casual golf since getting married to Jun Chung, who has definitely been bitten by the golf bug. The couple played frequently while on their honeymoon in New Zealand. She's even caddied for Chung while he played in a U.S. Am Tour event. After Ko won her 23rd career title in Singapore earlier this month, the couple went on a golf spree. Ko went to Pebble Beach for an outing with one of her sponsors, and while there, played Cypress Point the next day. They also played Lake Merced, where she's had so much success, there's a plaque with her name on the 18th fairway, and Pasatiempo Golf Club. In all, they played about eight rounds in 10 days. It was a round back in December, however, that proved especially interesting. That's when Ko and her husband played Augusta National for the first time. "I had texted Jason Day actually after my first round and I said, this course is so hard," Ko told Golfweek with a laugh. "I'm so glad I'm not playing in that tournament because it would kick my butt." Ko and her husband played two rounds at Augusta National with another couple. Ko shot 71-70 on her own ball. "I think because of how sectioned off the greens are, it was really difficult to just get really close to the pins and set up a lot of birdie opportunities," said Ko. "But on the last day, I finished off with a birdie on the 18th, so that was a perfect way to cap off the trip." Ko, who partnered with Day to win the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational in 2023, said she got to the tee box on every hole at Augusta and had the same reaction: Wow, this is not what I thought it was going to look like. "I think the elevation and just the shape of the holes. I thought it was just a slight dogleg, but No. 2 was ultra downhill and it kind of swings to the left but the slope goes left to right. I was like, wow, I understand now, and that's like one of the more fairly easier holes for the guys, I think, when they play." Ko's first visit to Augusta National was back in 2016 when she was on hand to receive the Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year Award. She caddied for Kevin Na in the Par 3 Contest and hit a shot on the ninth hole, stiffing it to 3 feet. The LPGA Hall of Famer never actually saw anything beyond the range and the Par 3 Course on that trip, though. This, she said, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. When it comes to Augusta National food, Ko said their flight into Atlanta was delayed, and she tried Chick-fil-A for the first time at the airport. She was impressed with the waffle fries and Chick-fil-A Sauce, opting to stay healthy with the grilled nuggets. When she got to the club, however, she indulged in the fried chicken. "That was definitely one of the most memorable bits," said Ko, adding, "I'm a sucker for fried chicken and fries."
