DIAMOND RESORTS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 22, 2021

Nelly Korda

Tranquilo Golf Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Nelly, you've got your second round in. How do you feel now that you got the second round in?

NELLY KORDA: Good. It was a bit of a longer round today. A lot of waiting around. But had a lot of fun with my group.

I'm happy to get it in at 5-under.

Q. How was it playing with Annika today?

NELLY KORDA: It was really cool, honestly. She still has it. She has her touch around the greens. It was honestly surreal.

Q. What's is the biggest takeaway from playing with her today?

NELLY KORDA: That you can still compete at her age. Once you have it, you never lose it.

Q. And then you had an amazing six birdies today. When would you say the momentum really kicked in for you?

NELLY KORDA: I think the back nine really. I played well on the back nine. Been struggling a little bit more on the front nine. Haven't been making as many birdies. I think it's just been playing a little harder.

I had a lot of opportunities. Didn't convert them. Pretty short range. Other than that, I'm really happy with my round. Still so much golf to be played, so see how it goes.

Q. Do you think you set yourself up for a lot of chances today? If so, would you say that your long game is what really worked?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I was striking the ball really well today and I gave myself a lot of chances, and I converted a couple here and there. I made one kind of stupid bogey, a three-putt.

Other than that, I hit it really solid. I think I just missed one green, honestly.

Q. All week your ball striking has looked terrific. Do you walk away from a round like this saying, Man, I left a lot out there, or, As well as I'm striking it, I'm in a really good spot?

NELLY KORDA: I think obviously you try to look at te positives. There is still so much golf to be played, so you just think about the positive.

I'm hitting it really good. I'm back with my old coach, David Whelan, and we really dialed in on my irons and swings, so I'm very happy with that.

Q. When did you go back to David?

NELLY KORDA: Right after CME.

Q. And what have you guys been working on to get you to this spot?

NELLY KORDA: Just kind of back to a little bit steeper of a swing and not moving as much with my hips in my downswing.

Q. Si standing it up a little quicker?

NELLY KORDA: Correct, yeah.

Q. What goes into the decision to go back to your former swing coach? Just felt like the chemistry wasn't there with Justin?

NELLY KORDA: I just trust Dave so much. I mean, he's built my golf game. I've been with him since I was 15. I wouldn't be where I am without him. He holds a special place in my heart. Always will. And I think the chemistry is obviously there and I just have -- we work well together.

Q. Is Jessica working with him, too?

NELLY KORDA: No, I don't know. Yeah.

Q. Okay. You guys have dinner at night this week when you're together at the hotel?

NELLY KORDA: We had dinner once together. The other times I like to eat a little earlier. She has Charlie, so she has a little bit more going on.

So I eat earlier and go over to her room.

Q. That's one of the questions I was going to ask. Did you and Jessica talk at all last night? And if so, what did you talk about?

NELLY KORDA: Really, we don't talk about golf at all. I mean, once we're off the golf course we try not to think about golf as much.

We just talked about, I don't know, everything. We heard the music last night and it was very loud, too, so we were like, Oh, my God, I love this song.

Q. My final question is what is the game plan heading into the last two rounds?

NELLY KORDA: Try to stay aggressive, keep up with my ball striking. Danielle is playing well. My sister is playing well. So there is going to be some low scores this weekend is so try to stay aggressive and capitalize on that.