Ahead of the PNC Championship, Nelly Korda shared a bit about her engagement and talked about playing fewer events in 2026.
ORLANDO, Fla. – The day Casey Gunderson came over to the Korda house to ask for Nelly's hand in marriage, he came armed with fruit-filled dumplings for Petr and Regina. Old-fashioned gestures never go out of style.
"He knows what he’s doing," said Nelly, flashing a smile. "He’s very thoughtful."
The theme of this week's PNC Championship is family, and when the entire Korda family gets together next week for Christmas – a rare event for these globe-trotting athletes – there will be much to celebrate.
Nelly, 27, announced her engagement to Gunderson the day after Thanksgiving and several weeks after brother Sebastian, a 25-year-old ATP pro, revealed his own engagement to longtime girlfriend Ivana Nedved. Nelly and Ivana were childhood best friends.
"I honestly knew since like 14 that they were going to get married," said Nelly.
Both weddings will likely take place in 2027.
"I’ve been with my wife for 33 years," said Petr. "We’ve been together for close to 40 years. It’s what you wish for your kids, going in the same direction."
Gunderson and Korda went to high school together at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and started dating about a year ago after reconnecting. Gunderson played college football at Bryant University in Rhode Island and now works on the business side of an engineering firm. He proposed on the beach.
"He said yesterday, I wonder how many times were were around 100 feet of each other throughout our lives," said Korda.
When asked if her Gunderson plays golf, the two-time major winner and Olympic gold medalist smiled and said, "No, thank God. I’ve seen his swing twice, and that’s all I needed to see. No, I’m kidding. He’s very athletic.
"What’s nice about the relationship is that when I’m home, I’m just Nelly. I’m not Nelly the golfer. I’m not talking about golf when I’m home. I’m just, like, listening to real world problems when I’m home. He’s honestly the best supporter too, so I'm extremely lucky."
Last week at the Grant Thornton Invitational, Korda's older sister Jessica teed it up for the first time since becoming a mom. She's eyeing a comeback to the tour in 2026, though said it likely won't be full time.
The family won't be out en force this week in Orlando to watch Nelly and Petr compete in the 20-team field because the tournament dates fall too close to Christmas.
"The preparations that everyone has for American Thanksgiving, we have double that for Christmas," said Nelly. "That’s how we take it."
This marks the Kordas' fifth appearance at the PNC. Last year, Nelly came into the event fresh off a seven-win season. This year, her stats were astoundingly similar, yet she didn't win one event. Petr called 2025 a "phenomenal year" for Nelly and felt that she'd learned a lot.
Nelly Korda aims to play fewer LPGA events in 2026
"I would love to see her play less than she was playing this year," said Petr, a grand slam champion who was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world.
"You know, really pick up the right tournaments, right time. I believe that the fall showed her that she had some energy and really played well. That would be just me as a dad. I don't know if it's manageable."
Korda played in 21 events in 2025 and believes her perfect number is somewhere between 18 and 20 events.
"I like being on max three in a row," said Korda. "I will not do four in a row. I've seen my body deteriorate over that and I kind of get into the zone of possibly getting injured.
"That's the one thing that I have learned this year or throughout my career is just like, okay, where is my max, right? It's okay to push it, but you want to kind of be freshest in some periods of the season. Like that middle part the season gets compacted with a lot of events and flying, so you really want to make sure you're giving yourself a break, you're fresh going into those.
"I mean, golf is already tough mentally, and then flying cross country, you know, traveling by yourself, sleeping in a different bed, I'm getting to the age where I'm feeling that now."
Petr, for the record, agrees with the need for balance but has a different, lower, number in mind.
"We talk about the schedule at the beginning of the year and there are some disagreements," said Nelly. "Usually I have to make my own mistakes. They've taught me that the majority of my life."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Nelly Korda opens up on her engagement, smaller 2026 LPGA schedule
Category: General Sports
