Nelly Korda Sends Urgent Request to Future Commissioner After LPGA Was Betrayed by Longtime Partner
It’s a bad year for the World No. 1s. High off of seven wins (including one major triumph) in 2024, Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler were supposed to carry the same momentum forward. As the latter still made a comeback with a season-first victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson with an impressive eight-shot lead, Korda’s fate has largely escaped a celebration. While there’s nothing that could’ve been done for her title defense at the Chevron Championship, the T-Mobile Match Play, or the Ford Championship, looks like not all of it was Norda’s fault.
We’re talking about FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship—an event slated for March 20-23 at the Palos Verdes Golf Club—that was canceled in January this year. As per an official press release by the LPGA, the cancellation “was unavoidable due to the event underwriter failing to fulfill any portion of its payment obligations to the LPGA Tour for the 2024 and 2025 events”. To get into more detail: JTBC, the tour’s official South Korean media rights partner, reportedly missed five payments accounting for media rights, 10 sponsorships, and three LPGA tournaments.
An official complaint filed in the Southern District Court of New York revealed that the LPGA had reportedly made “repeated and good faith efforts” to recover the money, but received “sparse and uninformative responses” from the broadcasters. The LPGA Tour also lost somewhat close to $2 million due to the cancellation. But the main losing party? The players, and specifically defending champ Korda, who didn’t mince words when subtly let her feelings be known.
Playing at the Liberty National Golf Club currently, Korda sat down for a press conference at the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open, when one reporter asked, “Obviously, a new commissioner is set to be named. Wondering, is there anything perhaps under the new leadership you would be looking forward to or want to see implemented?” The Bradenton local mentioned, “I think just capitalizing on the growth of women’s sports. You know, a lot of people are really eager to invest, and finding the right partners that are long-lasting partners that really love the Tour, love the product, and want to grow with us is really important. That’s for the commissioner to find, and also for us players to play and give that commissioner a great product.”
