In her first LPGA event since 2023, six-time LPGA Tour winner Jessica Korda will compete in this week’s Grant Thornton Invitational in Naples, Fla.
Jessica Korda, 32, will join her younger sister, former World No. 1 Nelly Korda, in a field featuring 16 LPGA members and 16 PGA Tour players vying for a $4 million purse at Tiburon Golf Club.
At the event, which runs from Friday through Sunday, two-person teams will compete in three different events: scramble (Friday), alternate shot (Saturday) and modified four-ball (Sunday).
In May 2023, Jessica Korda played in the first round of the Founders Cup but withdrew with a back injury. Following the rehabilitation process, she gave birth to a son, Greyson, the following February.
Earlier this year, she asked longtime friend Bud Cauley to be her teammate at the event while working her way back into playing shape.
“I’m still taking it very much slowly because if I were to come back out on tour, it wouldn’t be until mid-March, so I have plenty of time,” Jessica Korda said Wednesday at Tiburon. “It was more just the buildup to this event and we’ll see what we need to work on going forward.
“But I can’t kind of make a tournament out at home because we’ll never get those competitive juices. Playing with the guys definitely makes me a little bit nervous, which is fun, and like I said, it’s just been a lot of fun to be out there. I feel like myself and it’s a little bit of a break from being a mom and wiping butts.”
Cauley and Jessica Korda, along with Nelly Korda and her partner Denny McCarthy, played a practice round together on Tuesday.
“(Jessica’s) been out a couple times here and there and throughout the years, but I’m excited for her to tee it up this week and to kind of feel the nerves back,” 27-year-old Nelly Korda said. “It’s going to be a fun week. It’s always so nice to have family around. I hope she just has fun and keeps it kind of light.”
