Jessica Korda’s victory last week at the Sime Darby LPGA Classic proved again that a motivated and focused Korda is one of the game’s top players. The 22-year-old Floridian has won four times in her career, beginning at age 18 in the 2012 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.

Here are some notes about her victory last week:

Korda switched instructors this summer, just before the Ricoh Women’s British Open. She started working with David Whelan at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Whelan also works with Paula Creamer and started working with Jessica’s younger sister, Nelly, earlier this year. Speaking of Nelly, the 17-year-old is going through the LPGA Qualifying Tournament and is entered in the second stage Oct. 19-25 in Venice, Fla. The final stage is slated for Nov. 30-Dec. 6 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. Nelly, who turns 18 in July 2016, was a member of the American Junior Solheim Cup team that won for the first time in Europe the week of this year’s overall competition in Germany.
Korda won with an Augusta caddie, Kyle Bradley, continuing a recent trend. Lexi Thompson’s caddie, Benji Thompson (no relation), and Shanshan Feng’s caddie, Mercer Leftwitch III, are also from either Augusta, Ga., or North Augusta, S.C., just across the Savannah River.
Another motivator for Korda was returning to the home country of her parents following the Evian Championship. Petr, her father, played tennis for Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) and won the 1998 Australian Open.

“I got to go to the Czech Republic for a couple days after Evian and sit down with my grandparents and my cousin,” Korda said. “Honestly, the last three weeks have been such a great time in my life.”

Korda’s victory was the fourth consecutive by a player who didn’t play in the previous event, the Solheim Cup, on the LPGA. Annika Sorenstam (three times), Betsy King (twice), Juli Inkster, Trish Johnson and Maria Hjorth all won the tournament following participation in the U.S. vs. Europe competition.

Here are the winners the tournament following the Solheim Cup:

Year    Player
1990    Betsy King
1992    Betsy King
1994    Woo-Soon Ko*
1996    Trish Johnson
1998    Rachel Hetherington*
2000    Juli Inkster
2002    Annika Sorenstam
2003    Annika Sorenstam
2005    Annika Sorenstam
2007    Maria Hjorth
2009    MJ Hurr*
2011    Yani Tseng*
2013    Lydia Ko*
2015    Jessica Korda**
*-Not eligible to compete in Solheim Cup.
**-Did not qualify for the U.S. Solheim Cup team.

Sky 72’s big facility

The Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea is the largest golf course in Northeast Asia. It includes 72 holes and the Dream Golf Range, a round-shaped practice range with 300 tee areas. The range was listed in 2006 as the world’s largest all-around practice range by the Guinness Book of Records.

Etc.

Stacy Lewis, who is not in the field this week, has recorded 13 runner-up finishes since June 2013 and 20 in her career, dating back to a second-place finish at the 2010 Tres Marias Championship in Mexico. Lewis has won 11 times in her career and has placed in the top 10 86 times (46 percent of her career starts). … Juli Inkster has been a considerable world traveler recently. She finished T38 at the Evian Championship in September in France, captained the U.S. team to a comeback victory at the Solheim Cup in Germany, attended the final round of The Presidents Cup in South Korea last week as a guest of U.S. captain Jay Haas and is in the field for this week’s LPGA event in South Korea. … Brittany Lincicome has finished T3, T7, 7 and T2 in her last four starts in South Korea and has been a combined 33-under par in those events. … American golf has some momentum, with three wins in the last four LPGA events. Kris Tamulis, the U.S. women’s Solheim Cup team and Jessica Korda sandwiched wins around Lydia Ko’s Evian Championship victory. However, an American has never won the LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship. … This pairing on Thursday and Friday combines youth and recent stellar play: Lydia Ko, Alison Lee and In Gee Chun. … Golf Channel will show the tournament live on Wednesday (11 p.m.-3 a.m. EDT), Thursday, Friday and Saturday (11:30 p.m.-3 a.m. the last three days).

Stats and Stuff: Korda surges with new instructor

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