|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
LPGA MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 22, 2015Jessica KordaTHE MODERATOR: Thank you all for joining us. I'm here with Jess core da, here at the PGA show in Orlando, and just thanks for joining real quickly to chat with Jess. I know she's excited to get the 2015 season started and enjoyed a nice off season. We'll just get started. Jess, just give us a quick synopsis of your off season, what you were working on, how long you took a break off of clubs and all that good stuff. What was the highlight of your off season so far. JESSICA KORDA: The highlight of my off season has been just enjoying time at home with family, getting to move into the house properly, as in put up some artwork, not fancy art, just some regular artwork and just be at home. I took a whole month off of golf, which is different. I haven't done that since I basically turned pro, and it's been fun, but getting back into working has been equally as fun. So I'm at the gym a lot and doing some things differently which hopefully I can take into the season with me. THE MODERATOR: Did you take any recommendations from people to say take off a whole month? I know a lot of players more so now are taking extended time. I know people say put them away for weeks at a time. Did you see other people doing that and think I should maybe try that out this year. JESSICA KORDA: Every year I've been taking some time off, but as a kid I used to take all summers off, or all winters off. This year I felt like I just needed some time off. I was playing pretty well at the end of the season and I was feeling really well, so I was a little afraid to give that up right now, and David Leadbetter was really‑‑ really kind of trying to let me see the other side of things, like you do need to take a rest. Your mind needs to get away from it all and you need to be motivated and excited to come back. I said, but I'm already excited to come back. I don't want to leave yet. And he really urged me to take that month off, and it did help. I got a lot of things done that I needed to get done, and I got to enjoy time at home with my sister and brother and mom and dad. So it was really nice. THE MODERATOR: Now, just looking forward to 2015, looking back on your 2014, you had a very strong start, two wins in your first ten starts in 2014. As a player starting a year, do you really try very hard to get off to a strong start? Is that something where you want to get everything clicking right away or do you think it's going to be a process? How do you approach the start of a season and trying to get those wins under your belt quickly? JESSICA KORDA: I try and make it as painful (sic) as possible. Coming back you have no idea what you're going to get. It's your first tournament back. To win on your first tournament, you always want to win, but you don't expect to win. You don't really know what you have yet. So obviously winning first tournament of the season is alwaysa huge confidence booster, but like I said, we are all kind of just trying to figure out what we have, trying to figure out our equipment, just like the little things really. But you know, I think that now I'm going to try and be more consistent, whereas, last year I kind of won and then I disappeared, and then I won and then I disappeared. And then I kind of had to come back and bring out that consistency at the end of the year and that's really something that I really want to concentrate on this year. THE MODERATOR: You mentioned the gear and the equipment. We're here at the PGA Show. I know you were on the Adidas/ TaylorMade stage. Any changes in the equipment? I know you're excited about the clothes, but equipment wise any changes in the bag that we should look forward to? JESSICA KORDA: Obviously I'm using the R15 driver. I haven't made the switch to the irons just yet. That's going to be just a little bit of a slower process for me. But I'm really excited about that R15 driver. It's a great driver. It flies really nicely. It's consistent, and that's really what I was looking for. Hopefully I can use it a lot on the golf courses. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions now. Q. Hi, Jessica. JESSICA KORDA: Hi. Q. You mentioned doing things differently, some things differently. Do you mind telling us a little bit more about that? JESSICA KORDA: You know, I mean obviously I have no problem with it, but I've never been the one that loved to work out on the road or, you know, really concentrate on the things off the golf course more than on the golf course. So I'm going to try and really learn to balance that out, because by the end of the year, a lot of the time you gain a couple of pounds here and there, you're not as in shape as you would like to be, and it affects the golf swing ultimately. And like I said, I'm looking for consistency this year, and I think if I continuously do the correctional things that I need to do in the gym, it will also help me with my swing, and I'll feel better about myself. Q. And if I could follow up, you know, you're a winner on the LPGA. Is your focus going more to major championships now that you've won regular events? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, I mean a win's a win. It's tough to win out on the LPGA Tour, especially these last couple of years. I feel like we've got so many first‑time winners and the rookie classes are getting stronger and the players are getting better. It's tough to win out there, but definitely like I said about the consistency, I want to contend in majors, and that's always been something that I've wanted to obviously accomplish. But coming from a tennis family, the four Grand Slams were always the most important, and that's where you would try and play your best, and you know, obviously having that mentality coming into the four‑‑ or five majors kind of‑‑ it's been taken from my parents. So majors are very important to me, and I'm honestly trying to win any tournament I can. A win's a win and I love it. Q. So I'm curious about, you know, last year you came in new swing, won right off the bat and then won again, and then in the middle of the year you switched instructors. How is your swing different with Leadbetter and why the switch? What were you looking for? JESSICA KORDA: Honestly, Grant went back to work at the Academy, and it's just tough to have a coach that is full time in the Academy. You know, he's got a group of kids that parents pay a lot of money to go see him, and it was just very difficult to find the time around his hours and around my hours. Grant and I are still very close, and we talk a lot. And so it was tough for me to kind of make that decision, but it was something that him and I talked about, and I had to make the right decision for myself. But with David, I think we're just‑‑ we're not really working on anything too different. My swing was getting a little long and a little slow, which obviously I have long arms and long legs, and that's bound to happen, especially with the length. So just trying to make it a little bit shorter, a little bit more compact, just get some speed into there. And it's been feeling really good. Q. And when you were summing up 2014 and you said and then I disappeared, and then I disappeared. Was there something that kept disappearing, you know, each time? Was there one specific area of your game that you were increasingly frustrated with that would reappear or what happened when you disappeared? JESSICA KORDA: Well, I struggled off the tee. I really tried to change into a certain driver that I wasn't necessarily comfortable with. It wasn't fitting to me the way I swing, and so I was really struggling off the tee and I couldn't find a good combination. You know, it's just one of those things that if you can't get it in play off the tee, it's tough to be in contention. And then, you know, we figured it out and figured out a good combination with the driver and the shaft, and it started to get a lot better. I was putting the ball more in play which meant I could hit some more greens, which meant I could make some more putts and gave myself that opportunity, which is so important. Q. Do you feel like‑‑ you talk about striving for more consistency as you get older and more mature on the tour. Does any of your personality which you've always been known as having a bubbly and kind of a free‑spirit personality. Do you find that you can still kind of hold onto that? Does that help you or do you in any way feel like you have to become more serious because you're looking at being more consistent? JESSICA KORDA: No. One of my most consistent years was 2013. I didn't miss one putt. I was like‑‑ I was always inside the top 20, and you know, I had a good year. I didn't win that year, but I was very consistent. I think my personality, it is who I am. It's something that either people around me have to embrace, and you know, after my rookie year I was comfortable and I was going to let me personality shine. It's been welcomed, which is good. It's really nice. But you know, it's one of those things that I'm not going to try and fake who I am, because it's not going to help me with my golf game. If I can be comfortable in my own skin and be comfortable with saying what I want to say and doing what I want to do, then I think it's going to even, you know, it's going to show in my golf game, the confidence and just the comfort. Q. How would you describe your personality to people who don't know you? JESSICA KORDA: I like to laugh a lot. I love uncomfortable situations. I like making them even more uncomfortable. I love watching people squirm. It's so much fun. It's bad to say, but it is. I just like to have fun with situations, you know, with every situation. Obviously I'm serious when I need to be, but the job I do is absolutely incredible. I mean I am so blessed, and I don't take anything for granted, and I really just try and enjoy it as much as I can, and me enjoying it is me having fun and laughing. Q. Jessica, you beat Stacy Lewis last year. I was wondering, does that make that victory at Pure Silk any more satisfying, because she was playing so well? JESSICA KORDA: I think any win over Stacy Lewis is satisfying. She's such a great player. I mean talk about consistency, she's just amazing. Not only that, she's got an amazing personality, you know, that backs up her golf game. She's just‑‑ she's really‑‑ she's somebody to always look up to, and you know, she's so inspirational, just with her story and everything. But it was fun. It was fun battling kind of down the stretch with her, especially when we had to wait on the 18th tee box last year, she was on the tee box and I was just walking off of 17 after I just made that birdie, and that was the first time I looked up at her board, and I was like, oh, my gosh, we're tied going into the last hole. Cool. You know, just watching everything kind of unfold behind her, because she was playing in front of me, it was something really cool, and you know, the way 18 unfolded for me was really funny, it took the pressure off, made me laugh a little bit, and then just went on with it. It was really cool. Q. And following that up, Jessica, about Stacy, as the top American in the world, has she become a leader among the American women, and what do you guys look to and admire about her? JESSICA KORDA: She's‑‑ I mean first off, she's just a really good person. You know, she's a great ambassador of the LPGA Tour and women's golf. She always will tell you her honest opinion, which is something that I really admire, because a lot of people will, you know, tell you the nice things or the comfortable things, but they'll never tell you the uncomfortable things, and Stacy's the type of person that'll just tell you like it is, and you know, you just take it because that's the way it is. She's a consistent player. She's obviously, you know, battling No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, and it's a fun battle for us to kind of witness as well. But I really do think that she's a great ambassador, and she is, she's become a leader of the United States kind of squad, I would say. THE MODERATOR: I have a couple of follow‑up questions, actually. You guys can mull over there. I'll touch back on the Bahamas, Jess, for returning as a defending champ obviously is always special at any event, but it was the season‑opening event. Now it will be the second. Does that change your approach at all? Does it dull it a little bit not being the season‑opening defending champion? How do you feel about it being second and not first to open up the season? JESSICA KORDA: You know, either way. It doesn't‑‑ defending is defending. It doesn't matter what part of the year it's in. I'm just happy that we get to go back and obviously starting our season in Ocala is going to be so much fun because, A, it's only two and a half hours from my house. I can drive. I can pack as much stuff as I want. I can go home and rewash my clothes. I'm excited. I love playing in Florida; it's close to my family, and obviously it feels like home. So I don't mind at all, but I am excited to get back to the Bahamas. It's just so beautiful. THE MODERATOR: Now, you touched a little bit about how 18 unfolded last year. You had that putt under cables and off the green. I know you've been working a lot on your short game. Would you look back to that occurrence and play it differently or would you play it exactly the same? JESSICA KORDA: No. I would definitely play it exactly the same. It was a 12‑hole tournament the last time we played Bahamas, and on the last day they reopened 18, and so we played 18, and I had a very similar shot and I tried chipping it. Either you're going to stay short like Stacy did, because it's very grainy down there, or it's going to go past the pin, because it's all straight downhill from there. So I knew that that was not the play, and I didn't expect to be there. I didn't‑‑ I mean that ball went way too far. It wasn't supposed to go that far. It was totally different. We were looking for it in the bunker, and then they told us it's behind the green. So that was pretty funny as well. But I would always‑‑ I don't know if I would always putt it under wires and have peanuts around my ball, but I would always putt it. That was interesting. THE MODERATOR: Perfect. I know we'll all be looking forward to that week and following everyone's Instagram. What is your favorite off‑course at Atlantis? JESSICA KORDA: I love the turtles. I love the turtles. I had a turtle there that was missing his front fin, and I called him Fred, Fred, the turtle. And my room was just above the turtles every day, and I would watch them get Fred, and I would see Fred trying to wave off all the other turtles to get his own squid, and so I love the turtles. THE MODERATOR: All right. Any other questions for Jess before we wrap up? Q. Jess, do you mind sort of sharing any of the‑‑ you know, you talked about working out and stuff in the off season and being with your family, but any of the funnier, goofier, more enjoyable moments with your family that, I don't know, sometimes it's just the little moments, but anything that you kind of, you know, will miss or just chuckle about as you think about your off time? JESSICA KORDA: I definitely love them. We went out for a family dinner at New Year's, and I was wearing four‑inch heels, and I was just as tall as my brother. Surprised that I'm going to‑‑ every time I come home he's going to be taller and he's going to look different. It's just something that I've gotten to see over the past month and a half or two months that I've been home to see both my brothers, my sisters grow as people, whereas, when I was gone all the time, I would always just come back and I would feel like I didn't know who they were. I was like, oh, my gosh, what happened to my little cute brother. He's about as tall as I am now. Or my sister, like their interests has changed so much, and obviously being 16 and 14 years old, they're going to change a lot; and you know, just missing those little things I think I'm going to miss the most. But it's also something that I always look forward to when I go back home because I can't wait to see the next thing that they do. Q. And you'll see your sister more often now; right, or no? JESSICA KORDA: I'll see my sister more often? I don't think so. She's quite busy with her golf. She just won the Harder Hall and finished second at The Sally, which I was so proud of her for doing, especially with the whole battling all the back injuries and going through a ton of changes and getting her confidence back. So I think she's going to be really working hard right now on herself and trying to get her golf game to the next level. And it's slowly going there, so I'm really excited for her. Q. I just have one more quick one about the Solheim Cup. I wonder if you could go back to Colorado and talk about the experience and the nerves you felt and what you learned from that and maybe what you're looking forward to about Germany having one under your belt? JESSICA KORDA: You know, Solheim is definitely one of the most nerve‑wracking weeks of my whole entire career. I mean winning, trying to drain that five‑footer on the last hole doesn't even come close compared to the nerves that I had at Solheim Cup. I feel like every week since then it's been easier. But I'm so excited about Germany and hopefully going to make the team. Playing under Juli Inkster is going to be amazing, and we're basically coming in as the underdogs this year. So you know, the pressure is basically on them. They are at home; they've won the last two, and it's going to be‑‑ it's going to be a lot of fun regardless, plus Czech Republic is really close to Germany. So hopefully if I make the team, some of my family can come and cheer for the United States. Q. Have you ever felt like an underdog before? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, my rookie year. No, I mean my rookie year I was 17 years old. There was not really many young girls out on tour. I kind of learned as I went. You know, seeing the rookie class now is basically all my friends that I grew up with, which is crazy to think that I'm starting my fifth year and they're starting off as rookies. It's just really crazy to me. And that's the only time I think I've ever felt like an underdog was my rookie year. THE MODERATOR: I'll follow up on that question, too. Do you think that role for the U.S. team will do you guys better, maybe more so having your backs in a corner as the underdogs, you're going to be coming out swinging. Do you think that will change the mentality and there's really not that much pressure and you can go out and just take care of business? JESSICA KORDA: I mean we'll see. That's one of those things that you just don't know. But like I said, we are basically. There shouldn't be any pressure on us, but we are‑‑ the team is very hungry. They're very motivated, and everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to bring it back. But you know, like I said, we've lost the last two, be the on home soil. So it's going to be fun and interesting and I just can't wait. THE MODERATOR: What differences do you think in management style you'll see between Juli and Meg? I know they're both very laid back and very funny and kind of loving. But where do you see the differences in terms of their captainships and where you think they'll be different. JESSICA KORDA: I'm not sure. Like you said, they're both very laid back, so I'm assuming that that's going to play a big role in it as well. They both‑‑ I mean I can only speak‑‑ because I only played under Meg, and she was just‑‑ she's awesome. You know, everything was so organized, and it's tough. I mean how do you organize players? How do you tell them what they're going to do and they're all professionals? I think I would have like the hardest time with that, because I wouldn't not upset a player. I wouldn't want to make the wrong decision. I feel like the players just know what it is that they need to do, and that's what Meg was always saying, I'm not here to tell you what to do. You guys are on the golf course. You do this for a living. You know what you need to do. I'm just going to tell you what time you need to tee off. That's basically it. So I'm excited to see kind of how Juli embraces the role, and definitely when I found out that she was going to be the captain, I was very motivated to be on that team. THE MODERATOR: All right. We can probably wrap it up unless we have any last questions. We're right out of time, but we'll open it up for any last questions. All right. JESSICA KORDA: Thank you, everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|