Jessica Korda’s final tournament of her rookie year as a professional golfer was in October 2011 and very far from home: Taiwan.
She played awful, she said, finishing in 86th place.
It was her first tournament without her father, Petr, by her side. Her sometimes-caddy and full-time support system told her to go this one alone.
“I was literally kicked out of the nest,” Jessica Korda said.
“He had traveled with me my rookie year and I was the last person to get into the event in Taiwan in 2011 and he said, ‘Maybe you should try this one on your own.’ I didn’t have dad to lean on on the golf course when I made a mistake. It was just me and that was difficult.”
It wasn’t the last time Jessica was sent off on her own.
Last year, she played in Canada, Australia, California and Malaysia by herself. The results were better. She won the Australian Open in her first tournament of the season, pocketing $165,000, and finished eighth at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia tournament in October.
This year she has four top-six finishes in LPGA tournaments and today she will play in the U.S. Women’s Open in New York. Her father will be there, but he will be caddying for Jessica’s younger sister, Nelly, who qualified for the Open, too.
Nelly is 14.
Jessica still has her home base in Bradenton, where she lives with her parents and siblings. (She still does chores, too). Her home the rest of the year is around the world, at hotels and on golf courses. She enjoys it even though it was rough at first.
