Nelly Korda tells Pat McAfee what Coca-Cola has to do with her impressive golf swing
Ishika Samant
Nelly Korda has things rolling so far on the LPGA Tour in 2026, winning three times (including a major) in six starts, and finishing second in the other three appearances. Not surprisingly, her visibility is climbing as well, with her face on a NYC/Times Square billboard, social media splashes and television interviews.
One of those came Monday when Korda appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. Fresh off her victory in Mexico on Sunday, the World No. 1 was all laughs when talking about her recent success. Asked about the secret to her stand-out swing, Korda revealed that she got her tempo in a unique way that she learned from her parents, former professional tennis players Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtova.
“Oh my gosh, if you guys looked at my swing from 2013, you’d be like ‘oh, that is so gross,’ ” Korda said while laughing. “I give a big shoutout to my coach David Whelan. He’s the one that built my swing. And also, my dad, my parents. They spent so many hours with me just working on tempo. That is the one thing they ingrained in my brain. My dad always referred to it as Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola.”
When Korda said Coca, she mimicked a short backswing made for a TV screen, then on Cola, she mimicked swinging through the ball.
“It’s super simple, but it was the key to having a fluid swing,” Korda said. “I always revert the same tendencies.”
While Korda was talking, McAfee was in the background trying his air swing with that Coca-Cola mantra.
McAfee, a former NFL player for the Indianapolis Colts, was showing off his swing and has been talking to Korda about improving it. Korda also talked about how her love of golf stemmed from having an activity she could do with her family.
“I correlate family time and golf,” Korda said. “That’s one of the things that drove my game early on and then I love competing.”
In the interview, McAfee called her a legend, described her swing as unbelievable and outrageous and told her they should’ve had her on the show years ago.
“I’m crazy, and my swing is what we like to classify as [crap],” McAfee told Korda. “I’m learning anything I possibly can.”
After winning in back-to-back weeks at the Chevron Championship and the Riviera Maya Open, Korda is taking this week off with the LPGA coming to New Jersey for the Mizuho Americas Open. Korda is scheduled to play next a week later at the Kroger Queen City Championship.