Jessica and Nelly Korda will make history when they tee off in today’s Solheim Cup foursomes as the first set of sisters to play for Team USA.
Having earned their places through automatic qualification, the Korda siblings will square off against Caroline Masson and Jowdi Ewart Shadoff of Team Europe in the third match of the morning foursomes at Gleneagles. Nelly is making her maiden appearance in the biennial team matchplay competition as one of six American rookies, while Jessica won 1.5 points for Team USA on debut in 2013.
“We’ve played a couple of practice rounds and it’s great to be part of a team environment,” noted Jessica, who has struggled with injuries the past few seasons and missed out on the last two Solheim Cups.
“Luckily, I had a little taste of that last year at the International Crown, but being able to play on a bigger team and be part of the Solheim Cup is always super special,” she added.
Jessica (L) and Nelly Korda (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Younger sister Nelly noted that being able to experience the 2013 competition, albeit behind the ropes, was a great boon.
“I really got to experience everything, the environment, and I actually got to go inside the locker room too,” she said. “I think that year, when Jess got to experience it for the first time, was when we thought about having a goal of playing together.”
Earlier this year, the sisters teamed up at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational and finished T12.
“We kind of know what ticks one another off and we know how to calm each other down as well. We handled it quite well and got a gameplan going,” said Nelly.
The only other sisters to play on the same Solheim Cup team were Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam for Europe at Muirfield Village in 1998. However, they were not paired together.
