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RICOH WOMEN’S BRITISH OPENJuly 31, 2018Jessica KordaFife, Scotland MODERATOR: Welcome to Jessica Korda, who is our highest ranked American in the field, given the withdrawal from Lexi. So it's good to have you here. Last year she wasn't able to play in the Ricoh Women's British Open due to a tear, but she finished fourth in the KPMG and has had the last month off, which she will tell us about, and is fresh and rearing to go. How was the pro am tournament? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, I had a month off. It was really nice. But nice to be back. And the pro am was fun. I played with a group that I played with in St. Andrews, and it's always too much fun. MODERATOR: Is this your first sighting of this course? JESSICA KORDA: I played yesterday, a little bit different conditions. It's still a little bit wet. Today it was a bit faster out there. MODERATOR: And how does it look to you after Kingsbarns last year? JESSICA KORDA: Well, I didn't play. I played one round. It's a different links-style golf course. There was more hazards at Kingsbarns and there was more undulation I feel like. This is more of like a typical links golf course. It's very flat, lots of bunkers, lots and lots of bunkers. MODERATOR: 167. JESSICA KORDA: And they're all pot bunkers. There's no like you can't even get out of them, even if you tried. You just have to go sideways, take your penalty and go. But it's a beautiful golf course. I prefer this in terms of the links golf course than Kingsbarns where there is other kind of hazards versus just the bunkers and the out of bonds. MODERATOR: There's a lot of ^ chat from the girls who played here in '09 that have been looking forward to coming back. Have you heard quite a bit about that? JESSICA KORDA: Because I've taken some time off, it's been like what's the wave of excitement. But my coach was here back then, and I think he was actually coaching Catriona Matthew at the time, so I've heard a lot. And he actually played in the men's open here a bunch of years ago as well, so he's like, oh, this green, you could never see this green or there were never stands here; it was just trees. I think on hole No. 1 it was just dead silence. So it was just cool walking the golf course with him and kind of hearing how he played it and then how different it is for us now. MODERATOR: And has he given you any special tips? JESSICA KORDA: Just keep it in the fairway. MODERATOR: You've had the month off since KPMG and you were feeling a bit tired. You had surgery at the back end of last year. Feeling completely healthy now and refreshed? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah. I feel great. It's nice to take some time off and do normal stuff for about two weeks and then two weeks of practice. And yeah, it's all great. Getting back into the gym and into a routine of being home, because I think I did like four weeks on the road and then a week off and then two weeks on the road. And my body wasn't ready for that just yet. And you kind of saw that more at the U. S. Open where I was very tired and fatigued and I didn't plan it as well as I wanted to. MODERATOR: And it was always like at the start you have to keep playing because you're playing so well? JESSICA KORDA: Right. Yeah. MODERATOR: But weren't full strength, and you were saying earlier that you did it to avoid injury? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah. So when I would get tired, that's where an injury would come in, and so I just wanted to take some time off this time around and see how I do. So far, so good. MODERATOR: Any questions? Q. Jessica, this is a general question, but obviously Americans aren't used to being outnumbered or dominated in their own sport at home, but if you look at the rankings here, the Asians domination is very striking. First, why do you think that is, and secondly, is there any way to try and break through that a little bit? JESSICA KORDA: Honestly, I think they have a better developmental program from juniors. I can only speak for maybe like Korean national champions because you see the Korean girls are dominating. They have a national team. Golf is an expensive sport. They pay for that. They travel to different countries and play a bunch, and I feel like one of the things that the U. S. doesn't have is a national team and somebody to help the girls and the boys kind of grow through that process. There's no like camps. Basically the kids play AJGAs in America to try and get into college, and then from college they get jobs or all that stuff. So in Korea, I know that they have to play two years on the Korean LPGA before they even come to the States. So they've already been a pro before they come to our tour. So as you call them rookies, they've won, you know, like 10 times professionally. And that's a huge advantage coming here whereas if you see all of the American girls they might have played a year on Symetra Tour or they're fresh rookies. That's where I feel like the biggest disadvantage is for a lot of American players is there's not a developmental program, a team of some sort to either help them with their game, you know, somebody sees a little bit of talent in a player, and they don't have the funds to take them to all these tournaments, what are they going to do? Their best chance is to get into college and then through college they can play. But at that point when they come out there's a tough choice of am I going to spend the money to try and turn pro or am I going to get a job. You know, Q schools are expensive. Some of the countries I know that they support their players through Q-School where they might give them a certain type of stipend or pay for the Q-School, put a logo of let's say Australian golf, all that stuff, it is expensive, and I think that's one of the things that I think the United States is missing. Q. You're obviously familiar with certain other sports pretty well. Is golf like behind in the U. S. or is it out of sync with other sports? JESSICA KORDA: I know that the USTA is -- they're doing a bunch of camps for tennis. They travel with the United States Tennis Association. So I know that they're kind of taking the kids under their wings that way, which is great. And hopefully you'll see more male and women's tennis players kind of dominating the rankings coming up, because it just started to happen. I would definitely love to see something like that happen for golf. Q. Did you take to links-style golf right away, and if not, how did you come around to it? JESSICA KORDA: So my first introduction was Carnoustie in 2011, and I was on the on wave that got absolutely dumped on. So that was not the best introduction. But I fell in love with it. I love the different shots that you have to play, and you can't just hit a high ball and try and spin it and around the greens, there's so many different shots that you can hit. And I think that's really fun. It kind of brings the creativity back into golf a little bit more than versus just trying to hit it far and high. So I really enjoy links golf. I'm glad we play it only once a year because it is very stressful. When this wind starts picking up and you don't know what these bounces are going to do, because it is going to get firm out there, especially if we're not expecting a whole lot of rain, it's going to get very stressful out there. Q. And did you in your time off follow Brittany Lincicome playing at the Barbasol^ , and what do you think that did for the women's game? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, it was awesome. I loved significant Britt out there. I talked to her a little bit during the week when she was getting ready. And it was great. She had a great following, which I thought was really, really awesome. And it brought a lot of media attention, not just to Brittany, but also women's golf and kind of trying to bridge the gap between the two. So I thought that was really awesome. And for kids, you know, it shows the boys that the girls can play with them and that it's fun, because she did have a lot of fun. Regardless of her scores, she had a lot of fun. And her highlights on Saturday or whatever she ended up finishing her round, they were awesome. Holing out from the fairway and seeing the guys excited that she did something like that, it's fun. That's how it should be. Q. Just going back to what you said earlier about camps and stuff like that, there's a big push over here to try to get women and girls into golf. You're actually quite young, and I just wonder from your standpoint what an organization needs to do to try to encourage more young girls to take up golf. JESSICA KORDA: I think the -- I mean it's such a broad question because there's so many ways that kids can pick up golf, whether it's from doing summer camps with your local pros, start just getting a club in their head and making it fun for them. You're not out there trying to grind. You're trying to have fun, do games, trying and hit it inside of a hula hoop, trying to hit balls into a bucket. It's competitive. You always want to make it competitive, but at the same time you have to make it fun, and that's kind of where the challenge is. It's not that the coaches aren't making it fun. It's just that it is an expensive sport. So as they progress, there's a choice that has to be made, you know. And so -- Q. A financial choice? JESSICA KORDA: Excuse me? Q. A financial choice? JESSICA KORDA: Exactly. And that's where I think a national team can take a talented player or players and make a national team and they can help with that. Q. Jessica, you talked about the creativity in shots you have to hit on the links. Have you discovered also that it takes a certain different attitude to play well? JESSICA KORDA: Oh, yeah. You cannot get upset out here. You know, you might hit a great shot, you might catch a bounce and you might end up in some high grass or in a bunker or over the green. You just have to be committed to the shot that you're hitting, and that's all you can do. After it leaves that club face, you have no idea what's going to happen. You can guess, but again, it depends on the wind. If it's very windy, your guess is as good as mine. Q. And Carnoustie as your introduction to links golf, I mean how could you walk away loving it? JESSICA KORDA: You know, I just had so much fun being able to hit different types of shots. I have never -- I mean I've played a lot of golf in Europe, but I have never played links golf. And so I always just thought that it was just so much fun being able -- regardless of the bounce, regardless of the weather, being able to hit any kind of shot. You can bump and run a 4-iron from 70 yards out and you'll still be fine. Like I just think it's fun. Q. What's your favorite thing to do on links that you can't do on the tour? JESSICA KORDA: I love just for fun, not actually in tournaments, just getting into one of those bunkers and hitting different types of shots, seeing how high I can actually hit the ball out of a bunker, and the higher the lip, you just naturally seem to be able to hit it over it. And then when you get home, you try and have somebody stand there and pray to God you don't hit them. Q. It takes some practice. JESSICA KORDA: I really do. I think it's fun to get in there and hit different types of shots, because the height of the bunkers we don't see that often, and that's the one thing I find interesting when we come here that you like to get in there during the practice. I try and stay out of them during tournaments. Q. How excited are you to be here this year feeling like you do now compared to how you obviously were feeling 12 months ago going into Kingsbarns? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah. I mean I didn't practice at all going into Kingsbarns because I already had -- I didn't know at the time, but I tore my muscle in my forearm, and it was healing and then I partially tore it when I was here. Again, didn't know that that was the situation. But I didn't play a whole lot. I didn't know what I was going to be able to do. But I figured I was already over here and wanted to give it a go. Q. Was it because of Solheim that you had tried to keep going? JESSICA KORDA: No. I was already in for Solheim Cup. The reason I pulled out I was thinking that if I got treatment in time, that I would be able to play Solheim Cup. Little did I know that I played with a torn muscle in my forearm at KPMG and U. S. Open. So yeah, it was just bad timing for everything. But everything happens for a reason, and you know, you kind of learn from your mistakes, and life goes on. Q. Sure. I mean when you say you played through those tournaments with that injury, have you got high pain threshold because obviously you were suffering with migraines and headaches as well. So did you just feel like -- JESSICA KORDA: I guess I do. I don't think about it that much. I think more of with the forearm you get numbness in your hand. So I didn't feel my three fingers or basically from elbow down, I didn't feel, which is weird because you don't feel your grip pressure a whole lot, so you're kind of just guessing, and you're taped up. It's more of a nuisance than pain once it goes. I don't know. Maybe I do; maybe I don't. I have no idea. I just kind of try to deal with it and move on. I think more of the adrenaline helped when I'm out there. Q. It must be nice. I mean, I don't know, are you headache free now? JESSICA KORDA: Headache free. Q. That must be great. JESSICA KORDA: It is. It's very nice. Now the muscles are kind of getting tired from lots of chewing and talking because I've reintroduced basically everything back into my system. So it's really nice. Q. Jessica, are you looking forward now that your batteries are recharged to the second half of the season as such by taking this forced break? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah. One of the main reasons why I took the break is because the second half of the season is coming up and there's more tournaments to be prepared for, and I don't want to go into it being tired. I want to go into it being prepared. Q. Did you get a chance during the time off to hang out with your family? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, a little bit. Q. Do you live together still? JESSICA KORDA: No. They're still in Sarasota, and I moved over to Jupiter. So I drove over to see them a couple of weeks ago, and it was actually all five of us under one roof, which was very impressive, because my brother had just come back from London. Nelly had just come back from I don't know where she was, and then I drove over. And so for the first time in like three months all of us were together. I hadn't seen my dad in like almost three months. Q. Does he come to any of your events still or is he mainly with your brother, Sebastian? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah. He's mainly with my brother. He came to the U. S. Open, but I didn't see him a whole lot. He was there mostly with Nelly because she was the one that made the cut and I didn't. And then he came to ANA, I think. Q. Did he? JESSICA KORDA: He did. Yeah. Q. It was so long ago. Are you still working with Dave Whelan? JESSICA KORDA: Yes. I love David. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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