"Nelly Korda can hit it just as close" – Analyst predicts Olympics mixed golf event will put female golfers in the spotlight
Nelly Korda is defending her 2024 title in the Chevron Championship in The Club at Carlton Woods. She had a disappointing opening round, ending T115 with a 5 over par score. However, the World No. 1 and a few of her fellow LPGA teammates are set to participate in a unique Olympic event.
On April 15, the International Olympic Committee Executive Board approved a mixed team golf event for the upcoming 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
On the latest episode of the Fore Play Golf podcast (episode 759), hosts Ryan, Trent and Frankie talked about the unique event. Trent brought the topic up, and Frankie started the conversation by mentioning the 2025 Masters Champion, Rory McIlroy. Borrelli praised Nelly for her skills in the sport. Check what he said (around 51:00):
"And it really is going to highlight how good the female golfers are. In our video with Nelly Korda, both of them — I mean, we've done two or three of them now — but the one from this year, where we played her, we were like a three-man scramble against her, she’s so good at the game of golf."
Frankie talked about the video they did with Nelly Korda back in January 2025, where they challenged the world's top ranked women's golfer (titled We Played Nelly Korda In A Match). Korda's collaboration with Fore Play Golf was posted on the official YouTube channel on January 29, 2025.
"Like we’ve always said, if you just put them at a distance where it becomes fair, their short game is just... I mean, from 150 yards in, it's just as good."
Frankie also urged the users to check out the video once again to witness how good Korda hits her shots.
"I mean, Nelly Korda can hit it just as close and make just as many putts as anybody in the world. So, go watch that video we did with her this year."
"She hits some touch wedge shots that are one in a million to pull off. Just really, really good golfer. So yeah, the Olympics is going to be really cool."
Nelly Korda is already an Olympic gold medalist. The LPGA Tour pro achieved this feat at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Nelly Korda's 2020 Olympics journey explored
On August 4, 2021, Nelly Korda started her round with steady shots, which included birdies on the back nine. This kept her scoring train on track, leading Korda to finish her opening round at 4-under par (67).
In the second round, she shot nine birdies, one eagle, and finished round two with 9-under par score. Korda's 62 tied with the record of the lowest round at the Olympic Games. This round put her at No. 1 on the leaderboard with a four shot lead.
In round 3, Korda finished 2-under par (69). She kept things under control without any major errors. In the final round, Korda had some initial hiccups, with bogeys on hole 7 and 11.
However, she scored inpressive birdies on hole 14 and 17. Amid Mone Inami and Lydia Ko's strong performance, Korda clinched the gold medal with a one-stroke margin. Her 2020 Olympics victory made Korda the first woman from the USA to win a gold medal in golf since Margaret Abbott.