Kordas’ Solheim struggles: Nelly sits; Jessica reportedly ill but playing

TOLEDO, Ohio – The reunion of Jessica and Nelly Korda at the Solheim Cup was arguably the most anticipated pairing in the lead-up to the matches at Inverness Club.

However, the week hasn’t gone as expected for the Korda sisters.

Jessica Korda sat for two consecutive sessions at the Solheim Cup, the afternoon fourballs on Saturday and the morning foursomes on Sunday. A source within the U.S. team room told GolfChannel.com that Jessica has been ill this week. Jessica will play the Sunday fourballs alongside Megan Khang, and they’ll face Europe’s Carlota Ciganda and Nanna Koerstz Madsen.

While Jessica will play Sunday afternoon, Nelly will sit out a session for the first time this week.

After going 2-0 as a dominant team in 2019, Jessica and Nelly were paired together for just one session this time around. The sisters teamed up for the opening foursomes match on Saturday morning in which they lost to Europe’s Mel Reid and Leona Maguire, 1 down.

Match scoring for the Solheim Cup

Nelly has had a disappointing start to her second Solheim Cup appearance. After an impressive 3-0 result in her debut at Gleneagles in ’19, the world No. 1 is sitting out the afternoon fourball matches on Sunday after being dealt a 5-and-4 defeat alongside Ally Ewing by Reid and Leona Maguire.

“Yeah, just to give her a little more time to rest,” said U.S. captain Pat Hurst. “I mean, we wanted her out. We think she’s a great alternate-shot partner, or foursome partner, so that’s why we wanted to play her in the morning.”

The loss comes after a difficult Day 1 for Nelly, who was embroiled in a rules controversy with Europe’s Madelene Sagstrom, who picked up Nelly’s ball prematurely with officials deeming it overhanging the lip. The ruling resulted in the Americans winning the hole and ultimately the match.