Jessica Korda Eyes Return to LPGA in 2026

The six-time LPGA winner said she recently hit some balls for the first time in a while and was "sore" afterward.

Jessica Korda during the 2022 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. / Scott Taetsch-Imagn Images

Jessica Korda is eyeing a return to golf—but not for another year.

“I’m definitely itching to be able to play again, how much, I’m not so sure,” Korda said Friday during Golf Channel’s broadcast of the Grant Thornton Invitational. “I’ll take 2025 to assess and then per our maternity, 2026 is kind of what we’re shooting for.”

The six-time LPGA winner indefinitely stepped away from competing in May 2023 to heal anagging back injury. Then, later in the year, she announced her pregnancy. 

Now the mother of Greyson, whose first birthday will be in February, Korda, 31, didn't swing a club for a while. Recently, however, she knocked the rust off and realized how far away she was from the peak of her game.

“Definitely sore,” said Korda, the older sister of Nelly Korda and pro tennis player Sebastian Korda. “It’s been a year and some months that I didn’t hit any golf balls at all. It’s tough, my shoulder hurt, my forearm, my wrist, my glute muscles, that I hadn’t guess activated in that way such a long time.

“It was really nice to make some contact. I hit some tough shots that I was really proud of, clipping it nicely.”

She'll have another year to round her game into form. But for now, she's more focused on her life off the course.

“For me, it’s my son’s milestones that get me excited right now,” Korda said. “It’s a grind, so I feel like the patience is always being tested just like it would be out on the golf course, being a mom. The one thing I don’t do as well is my recovery ... I love to sleep and that’s nonexistent.”