Paul Azinger Joins the Korda Frenzy at Founders Cup—What’s the Connection?

BRADENTON, Fla. — Paul Azinger smiled and clapped when Nelly Korda found the green on the par-3 7th hole at Bradenton Country Club in the final round of the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands.

The former lead golf analyst for NBC Sports, who was announced in January as the new lead analyst for the PGA Tour Champions broadcast, took in the golf just as a fan on Sunday in Bradenton, Fla. A long-time member of Bradenton Country Club, Azinger spent several of his formative years nearby in Sarasota, playing out of Bent Tree Country Club, which, funny enough, is where Nancy Lopez won her first LPGA Tour title back in 1978.

Today, though, Azinger watched some of the Tour’s other superstars, following around Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Korda and Australian major champion Hannah Green, incredibly proud to see the LPGA Tour’s top talent traipsing the same fairways he does every other week of the year at this facility.

“It’s shocking really, but it was a lot of work, and Hollis Stacy did a lot of the work. Kudos to her and everybody that were helping. I’m thankful,” Azinger said. “This is an old, beautiful Donald Ross course built in 1924, and I’m glad that it’s on TV. I watched it on TV (Saturday) quite a bit, and it looked great on TV, I thought. I know the women love to come here and play. Hopefully, they want to come back.”

Azinger was just one of several spectators who turned out to support their local hero during the final round, a crowd that was hoping to see Korda make a late charge and earn her 16th LPGA Tour victory at home. The Bradenton native won the last LPGA Tour event to be held at Bradenton Country Club, taking home the LPGA Drive On Championship title last year after outlasting Lydia Ko in a thrilling two-hole playoff on Sunday afternoon.

It was a victory that kicked off a five-tournament winning streak for Korda and was one of seven total wins that she captured throughout the 2024 season, a historic performance from the now 26-year-old that solidified her place as one of female golf’s generational talents.

Azinger captured 12 victories during his time competing on the PGA Tour, one of which was the 1993 PGA Championship, and knows exactly what it’s like to deal with the pressures of playing professional golf at the highest level. Azinger has known Nelly and her sister Jessica for quite some time and has been impressed with how well the younger Korda sister has handled the heat of the spotlight over the last few years while rising to the top of women’s golf, recalling a short-game lesson he gave the sisters when Nelly was still just a teenager.

“I think (Nelly has) taken on the big time so gracefully,” Azinger said. “I’ve known her and Jessica since they were pretty young. Jessica was on Tour, and Nelly was like 14 or 15, and I remember I was giving Jessica pitching lessons and learning how to get the ball in the air, and Nelly was listening in, and Nelly became part of that same lesson. They were chipping it off the putting surface, not making a divot, right over the flag stick within 10 minutes. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, they’re so good.’”

But even though he mostly kept up with Korda and Green on Sunday at the Founders Cup, Azinger was also wowed by just how low the scores were at Bradenton Country Club, a course he admitted isn’t the easiest to play, and lauded the amount of talent on display on the LPGA Tour every week.

“It’s played on a different scale, but it’s still incredible golf,” Azinger said. “I don’t even remember who’s leading. I saw 19-under and thought, ‘Oh my word.’ That is really good. They’re playing this course at about 6500 yards, give or take 50 or 60 (yards), and the greens are tricky, so it requires great ball striking to hit the greens for one. There’s enough rough to give you all kinds of trouble, too. Me and my son-in-law are coming out and see what we can shoot for four days when they leave.”