Anna Nordqvist may be defending her Founders Cup title this week but she — like LPGA colleagues Jessica and Nellie Korda, and everyone else in the golf world — will have Tiger Woods on her mind and her TV set.
LPGA stars geek out over Tiger Woods the same way you do
‘Everyone is watching’ Woods, according to the LPGA’s 2017 Founders Cup champ Anna Nordqvist, and the numbers prove her right.
Photo by Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Images
For sure, the three LPGA stars were among the record seven million Woods fans who watched the Big Cat stalk and nearly catch his prey in Sunday’s Valspar Championship finale.
No doubt they’ll be part of another huge contingent of viewers to take in Woods’ effort this week to bag his ninth Arnold Palmer Invitational victory. That is, when they’re not trying to capture the title at the LPGA’s first domestic event of the year, the Founders Cup.
“I was in Dallas on Sunday, but found myself watching as much as I could. I want to see him do well. Everyone is watching,” Nordqvist said Tuesday from Phoenix where in 2017 she hoisted her seventh of eight tour trophies. “Living in Orlando, yeah, this is a week where you kind of want to be home and watch the whole thing maybe even live.”
The Korda sisters — Jessica and Nelly — are fully on board the Woods Comeback Train as well.
“I was glued to the TV,” Nelly, in a joint press conference with her sibling, told reporters about how excited she was to watch Woods almost win his first PGA Tour contest since 2013.
Woods came up one shot short of forcing a playoff with eventual winner Paul Casey, but that certainly did not dampen the enthusiasm of Nelly’s big sister for bearing witness to her favorite’s impressive comeback from four back operations.
“We’re Tiger’s kids basically. We’ve watched him play. We watched him hit those shots. Like, he is our idol,” said Jessica, who has seen how Woods’ confidence has grown as he works hard on his game at Medalist Golf Club. “I geeked out so hard when I saw him after the season ended.”
Funny story, that.
Seems Jessica, who returned from jaw surgery to prevail in Thailand last month for her fifth tour victory, bumped into Woods and Rory McIlroy during a Thanksgiving round at Medalist. When Woods asked her who won last year’s season-long bet between the two Korda’s, Jessica’s reaction was pretty much what any starstruck fangirl or boy’s would be.
“I was like, ‘You talking to me?’” she recalled. “He was like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘I did. I won … a purse.’”
Woods and McIlroy joked about playing for a handbag themselves, at which point Jessica called Nelly.
“I was like, ‘Tiger knows who we are,’” Jessica told Nelly, who is still seeking her first tour W. “So like you geek out totally. It’s really, really cool because this is your golfing hero.”
Fortunately for all three competitors, they may be able to catch a glimpse of Woods’ opener at Bay Hill. They’ll tee off in their first round Thursday at Wildfire Golf Club some two hours after Woods hits his first shot at Bay Hill since 2013. Jessica Korda and Nordqvist kick off their West Coast swing at 10:44 a.m. ET, while Nelly will be right behind them at 10:55 a.m.
Woods, who has once again captured the attention of even the most casual sports fan — as the TV ratings number indicate — has an 8:23 a.m. tee time at Arnie’s Place.
