On Wednesday, the star-studded pro-am at The Annika was the place to be. Caitlin Clark was doing it for the second year in a row — and had Indiana Fever teammates Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull doing it for her — and When Trumpthe President’s niece, was also on the course, having secured the exemption of a sponsor for the week.
And then there was Nelly Korda, with whom Clark was paired. That powerhouse had a massive following throughout the day – which was also a great advertisement for Korda’s new kicks.
The two-time major champion debuted her new Nike golf shoes on Wednesday – Nike Free Golf “Nelly Korda” — and talked about the inspiration for them after her round. The shoes are white with red and yellow features (symbolic of a Leo, Korda’s zodiac sign), including Nike swooshes.
Although the most unique part of her shoes may be what hangs from the outside of each heel: gold charms of particular importance to Korda, including a smiley face, tennis racket and Nike swoosh.
Korda’s parents were tennis stars and her brother, Sebastian, is also a professional player, so sport has been a big part of her life. She wanted to make sure that she was represented in her shoe.
“Growing up, I had so many great role models, but they were in tennis,” Korda said Wednesday. “Everybody wore Nike. Everybody had their dresses. At the Grand Slams, Maria Sharapova came out in her dress. You had Roger Federer, Nadal. We watched a lot of tennis in our house, so I had tennis players as models. My dream at that point was that I wanted to be a Nike athlete. So now you know you managed to wear all the Nike athletes. The moment I was able to sit down with a design team and go through what I would it says more in my life, family, tennis, golf, whatever.
“And then the Leo energy, because I’m inspired by lions. I love lions. There’s so much that draws you to it,” she continued. “But I think that’s the coolest thing about what we do, it’s like the girls in the crowd right now, they’re looking up to all of us. We’re their role models. They can dream of being a Nike athlete and doing what I’m doing now. It’s really cool to see, and maybe that’s the best part of what we do, what we do the next generation, it’s their kind of game. We love it as much as we do.”
Korda also gifted him a pair of her signature Clark shoes, joking that they are “guaranteed” to make him play better.
While Clark has her pair, you’ll have to wait a little longer. The Nike Free Golf “Nelly Korda” releases on November 20th for $155. You can sign up to be notified of fall here.
“If you told me this, I don’t know, 10 years ago when I was in the crowd that I would have my shoe and I would be here playing in front of everyone and inspiring the next generation, I would have told you that you are crazy,” Korda said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
