BELLEAIR, Fla. — Nelly Korda can’t remember the last time she took off eight weeks from competitive golf, but as she returns from an extended hiatus for the final event of the LPGA Tour’s regular season, she admits to being curious about how her game will hold up under pressure. And it will come with a ratcheted intensity.
With a victory at The Annika, a tournament Korda has already won three times, she would earn the final point needed in order to qualify for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. Earlier this week, Korda clinched the Rolex Player of the Year award for 2026 to put herself within one point of qualification.
“I’m honored to be on the list again of player of the year and hopefully that continues to push me forward,” Korda said while meeting with the media on Wednesday at Pelican Golf Club. “Winning it in 2024 and having a little bit of an off year in 2025 and getting back to it in 2026, to me that’s a testament of the people that I have behind me through the ups and downs just lift me up.”
But during Wednesday’s pro-am, it was Korda who was the one doing the lifting up.
Again this year, Kicks for a Cause returns to The Annika in partnership with AdventHealth and Gainbridge, who tapped nine pediatric patients receiving treatment at their facilities to design golf shoes for players and staff at the tournament. Mary Kate Waymack, a 7-year-old patient who was diagnosed with brittle bone disease, was selected to design shoes for Korda. Waymack has suffered 15 fractures and undergone four major surgeries in her young life. She has rods in long bones in both of her legs which run through her femur and tibia.
“You’d never know,” said Mary Kate’s mom, Jessica, about her daughter’s resilience. “She’s full of joy.”
Two days before Mary Kate was selected to design a pair of golf shoes, Jessica says her daughter came to her recounting a profound moment that she experienced in the middle of the night. While Mary Kate was lying in bed worrying about something, she said that the Lord spoke to her that night and told her to find a book in her room. Mary Kate said the Lord told her to turn to the first scripture upon opening the book. Mary Kate knew just what that meant and read: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:7.
“When she got asked [to design the shoes] the first thing she said to me was I want to put the scripture on the shoes,” Jessica said.
“I just like it a lot,” Mary Kate said about why she wanted to include the Bible verse on her shoe design. “It’s one of my favorites.”
Waymack didn’t find out until after she had designed the shoes that they would be for the world No. 1 and so she went to work on tweaking her design. In addition to the Bible verse, the final layout features a medal to represent Korda’s victory at the Tokyo Olympics along with waves, symbolic of Waymack’s snorkeling experience, and a rainbow. Waymack says it took her about two hours to complete the design that was transposed onto the shoes by artist Kate Shaffstall.
“She designed them really well. They’re super cute,” said Korda, who was able to spend time with Mary Kate throughout her pro-am on Wednesday. “It was a fun day.”
It could be quite a fun week should Korda come away with her fifth win of the season and fourth victory at Pelican Golf Club. Of course there is also that Hall of Fame point on the line, too.
Korda says she’s feeling rejuvenated after taking an extended break from competition. She last teed it up on the LPGA at the FM Championship in August followed by an appearance at the Solheim Cup in September. She said on Wednesday that physically she “wasn’t feeling too great.” Korda said she neglected to listen to her body in the past which led to further injury, and she wasn’t going to make that mistake this year.
“We’ll see how my game is right now. Obviously when you’re playing at home and you don’t really have too much pressure on you and you’re just going out to play, it’s much easier than competing,” Korda said about the state of her game. “We’ll see how this week goes, how my game holds up, and then if I need to make any adjustments going into next week, I will be doing that.”
