Four major titles have built Nelly Korda’s reputation for staying calm when it matters the most. Yet even she has her share of embarrassing moments on the course, and one of them ended with a bloody lip and a scar over her teeth. Asked on the Jonas Brothers podcast to name the most embarrassing thing she has done on a golf course, Korda told the story with a laugh, with her caddie right there to witness it.
Korda started with a big, confident laugh, as if the story was right at the top of her mind.
“Actually, I never slam my clubs. The first year I started playing, Jason started caddying for me. I took the butt end of the club. So, I gripped it by the head of the club, and I slammed it into the ground right in front of him, and it ricocheted back and hit me in the mouth, and I had a bloody lip.”
“I thought I knocked out my teeth. Yeah. And he was like, “I thought if I laughed, I would get fired right there.” That would probably be the most embarrassing thing because, like, it just, I mean, that’s karma right there.”
The story certainly cuts against her image. Korda is known for her composure, yet she has a name for the self-inflicted trouble that sometimes follows her on the course. It even has a term: “Nelly Things,” as Golf.com reported. And this blunder, though rare, belongs on that list.
As for the caddie who feared losing his job laughing, it is Jason McDede, who has been on Korda’s bag since the start of the 2018 LPGA season. The two have shared a warm bond. He previously worked for Lizette Salas and is married to LPGA player Caroline Masson. That link also made for an awkward Sunday in 2019 when Korda beat his then-fiancée in a playoff at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship. Korda joked about it afterwards, saying, “I am the one signing his paycheck.”
But beyond the payroll, the bond goes really well. “Jay is definitely one of my best friends,” Korda said in an NBC Sports profile, which described him as arguably the closest member of her team. Moreover, Korda has leaned on her team as a social outlet, inviting them for dinners and offering extra bedrooms in her rental houses to meet McDede’s growing family.
As for her mouth injury, by her account, the damage was a bloodied lip. She did not, however, elaborate on any treatment or recovery she needed.
But it’s not the only time Korda has been caught out in front of McDede. At the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills, he went in for a hug after her opening round, and she did not hug him back. Lexi Thompson spotted him left hanging on the 18th green, and the two burst out laughing. Golf Magic later reported the exchange, calling it, as Korda called it, a “really awkward exchange,” as she chuckled at it.
The Evian Championship in 2022 once again produced an embarrassing, messy moment. Korda approached the par-5 18th, rolled into a lake, removed her shoes, waded in barefoot, and splashed the ball out. Once she did, she made a par and called the experience “really gross.”
But to be fair, every golf player has their own fair share of embarrassing moments.
For Nelly Korda, none of these experiences have dented her standing, as she has continued to shine on the biggest stages. Nelly Things, perhaps.