CARLSBAD, Calif. (Jan. 28, 2024) -- Nelly Korda captured her ninth career LPGA Tour win at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club with Qi10 Max driver and TP5x golf ball. Korda’s win in her home town of Bradenton marks the fifth win on professional tours for the Qi10 series of drivers in 2024.
In her second start with Qi10 Max driver, Korda came up clutch on the 17th and 18th holes to force a playoff. On 17, Korda found the fairway and put her second shot onto the green before draining an eagle putt from the edge of the green to get one shot within the lead. Then, after finding the fairway on 18, Korda nearly holed out for eagle as she left just inches for birdie to force the playoff. Korda played the 17th and 18th holes in 6-under on the weekend.
In the playoff, Nelly produced a clutch up and down to win with a par. It marked the first professional win for Qi10 Max driver.
INSIDE THE FIT: NELLY KORDA'S Qi10 MAX DRIVER
The testing process for Korda’s Qi10 Max driver began all the way back in June of 2023 as our TaylorMade tour reps visited Nelly to begin testing the Qi10 family of drivers. When it comes to driver fittings for Nelly Korda, one thing is a must: she has to be able to see the ball draw and fall to the left.
In just the first few swings, Korda saw exactly that with the Qi10 Max head which is built for exactly that right to left ball flight.
“The reason why I picked the Qi10 Max driver is the look of it compared to the other models. When I put it down and look at it I feel like I can hit any shot I want with the subtle blue face and silver topline. When I look down at it I feel like I can aim it realy well and I know where the center of the clubface too. For a golfer, if you don’t like the look of the club, you’re never going to be able to it hit. Once I put the Qi10 Max down and teed it up, I feel like I could hit any shot I wanted to.”Nelly Korda
About a month after the initial visit, the tour team went back to test more in depth with Nelly and dialed in her Mitsubishi GT 60 S shaft. The team made a tipping adjustment to her shaft that allowed Nelly to turn it over a little bit easier and have the control she was looking for. They also adjusted the backweight on her Max head to be lighter to bring the spin down and promote the draw even more. All in all, it took two to three iterations of the original head they tested in June to find the perfect build for Nelly.
“As we look to create new shapes in our driver heads, we found something with the shape of the Qi10 Max that was a little deeper front to back and a slightly more heelward center of gravity. She instantly set that club down and loved the way it looked. Nelly was able to start the ball on her intended line and loved seeing the ball fall left and be able to move it how she wanted in addition to hitting different flights and windows. She also notices on mis-hits that the spin stays really consistent. The window it takes off on is great and the shot shape is very repeatable for her.”Ryan Ressa, TaylorMade Senior Tour Manager
WHY KORDA PLAYS TP5x GOLF BALL
“Nelly was looking to bring the spin down, especially on her driver, so we did some testing in September," said Ressa. "We saw the benefits of TP5x in her driver and irons bringing the spin down a couple hundred RPMs. Then, around the greens, her launch on chips was a little bit lower and she generated more spin around the greens with TP5x than TP5. She produced a lot more check in a preferred trajectory coming off of the TP5x versus the TP5. She’s been happy with the ball ever since.”
NELLY KORDA WITB
- Qi10 Max 10.5° driver
- Stealth 2 15.0° 3-wood
- Stealth 2 21.0° 7-wood
- P·770 5-iron
- P·7MC 6-PW
- Milled Grind 4 50° SB, 54° SB
- TP5x golf ball
