U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

June 1, 2021

Jessica Korda

The Olympic Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Please welcome to the 2021 U.S. Women's Open interview area Jessica Korda. This week Korda will make her 14th U.S. Women's Open start. Just when you hear that, what comes to mind?

JESSICA KORDA: Whew. (Laughter) No, it's cool. It means I started early.

THE MODERATOR: The U.S. Open week, we heard you say it's different. What is different about it, and what's your expectations this week?

JESSICA KORDA: For me, it just holds a very special place in my heart. This is where I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer, and it gave me that first kind of test or taste of what it was like.

I'm just really excited to be here. This is going to be a great test of golf. This is a proper U.S. Open golf course. I'm just really, really excited to get the week started.

THE MODERATOR: You've had a chance to see the course now. What are your thoughts?

JESSICA KORDA: It's hard. I love it. Small greens, high rough. Yeah, it's going to be difficult, but I'm super excited about it.

Q. Speaking to the difficulty of the course, what is the challenge when you are a perfectionist used to trying to have a course succumb to your will, knowing that a bogey is a good score and that over par might well be the winning score?

JESSICA KORDA: Well, I think I heard during one of like the USGA interviews that there's only been four people that have ever broken par in 72 holes. I think that answers that question (Laughter).

It's pretty spectacular. You can see why. Like I said, there's no first cut out here. The rough is high. Greens are really small. So, yeah, it's going to be a difficult test, but I'm really excited about it because this is exactly what a U.S. Open, in my head, always is supposed to look like.

Q. Golf is a game of streaks, and you're trending toward being on a really good ball striking streak. Where do you think you are relative to the way the course is setting up?

JESSICA KORDA: I feel like I answer this all the time because golf, you just never know what you're going to get. You can be as prepared as you want, and sometimes it's just one slight thing that may be off.

But I feel pretty good. I've had a good couple of weeks. My coach is here until tomorrow, so we've been prepping for the course and just tweaking small things here and there. I'm excited. I really like this golf course. I like the way it fits my eye. It's definitely demanding off the tee visually because you see the fairway sloping one way, but you've really got to start it in a different way. Then you've got the wind aspect, and it's a bit heavier than we're used to seeing.

Yeah, it's going to be really fun, a lot of thinking. I'm probably going to have a lot of naps and a lot of ten-hour sleeps.

Q. Speaking of questions you get asked all the time, Sebastian Korda now has entered the winner's circle. How much motivation do you guys feed off of each other, given where everybody is in your family?

JESSICA KORDA: It was so cool to watch him win. I was actually packing to come here. I forgot some things I needed to pack, but other than that, it was great. We were so excited to see him win. He's been in the finals a couple times, he's been close, and he just kept knocking on the door until it finally opened.

Q. One more family question. What do you think about playing with your sister, and what will that be like in a major? Will there be much banter or totally focused?

JESSICA KORDA: Our parents are so excited. They're like, We don't have to walk 36 holes. We can all come at the same time. Nelly and I are just, you know, it is what it is. We like playing together, so there's no issue. We're in -- she was in my room last night. So it's fine.

Q. And for fans who maybe don't follow you guys that closely, how different -- in what ways are you and Nelly different? How much do you talk about golf? Can you kind of characterize what your relationship is like out here?

JESSICA KORDA: I'm more of an extrovert. She's maybe more of an introvert until she gets to know you. In terms of golf, we don't talk about golf once we leave the golf course. We talk about shopping, food, shows -- honestly, just like you would talk to your friend about. There's no golf really ever spoken about once we leave the course.

We enjoy spending time together on and off the course. Whether we're on the golf course, we're talking about different shots, and then when we're at home, it's what shoes we like.

Q. What did you forget to pack, first of all?

JESSICA KORDA: We were leaving the driveway, and I go, Oh, my God, I don't have contacts. So I had to run back into the house and grab my contacts, or a fresh towel, which my caddie now has to wash this week. Just small stupid stuff that you can buy.

Q. So there's a lot of talk in the run-up to the Olympics. I know your family, you could all be there. Do you guys talk about that that much? How special would that be if you were all competing in the Olympics?

JESSICA KORDA: It would be really cool. I think that's something that's so far in the future that I'm not necessarily looking at it just yet. I know that's probably not the right thing to say, but we still have a lot of majors left, and girls are playing well, and I'm kind of teetering. If it happens, great. If not, honestly, I'll be okay.

Q. Do you look at the rankings much?

JESSICA KORDA: No, I try not to. I know that it's talked about just because it would be kind of like a big thing, but, again, there's so much golf between now and then -- I think we have like this major, KPMG, and Evian. There's just a lot of golf. There's a lot of golf this year. We'll see kind of what happens.

Q. And a lot of tennis too, I guess, huh?

JESSICA KORDA: And a lot of tennis too, yes.

Q. Three of the last four U.S. Women's Open winners have been long hitters. Do you see that as an advantage out here given all the bend in the fairways and the rough and all that? And maybe because they'd be farther along, even if they're in the rough? Or do you see length kind of being negated this week in some sense?

JESSICA KORDA: Honestly, I played on Sunday afternoon and yesterday morning, so it all depends on how the greens are going to be. If they're going to be firm, I think coming in with a shorter club is definitely going to be an advantage. The rough is thick, so you need to keep the ball in the fairway.

That will be, I think, the key this week, keeping the ball in play in the fairways, because the rough's no joke. You're trying to just hack it out. Unless you have a favorable lie, and then you're able to go for it.

Then the greens are small, so there's just a lot going on. I think it will just be trying to concentrate on the shot that's in front of you instead of everything else.

Q. Have you identified numerous holes where you're not going to use driver?

JESSICA KORDA: Yes, we definitely have on the front nine. There's a good amount of holes that we won't be using driver. We might even use 7-wood. I think 18 looks like a 4-iron. It just depends how the golf course is going to be playing, the firmness of it. I only played the front nine yesterday morning, so obviously the ball is flying a lot shorter.

We'll kind of sit down as a team and talk through it all and see what it's playing like by tomorrow.

Q. Would that be kind of a venue where using fewer drivers would be a lot different than a lot of other places?

JESSICA KORDA: Not necessarily. The fairways are so, so narrow. I know they said they widened them a good amount, but we also don't have a first cut. So it will be really interesting. Like I said, I'm really excited to see. Some of it's going to obviously be luck as well, how your ball might be sitting in the rough if you do end up. It could also be where your ball kind of comes out of the fairway and is leaning up against that tall rough. Then what are you going to do with that? You just hit a good shot. All of a sudden, the next one's not looking so easy.

So it will be a challenging week, but like I said, this is a major championship, and this golf course is set up for that.

Q. One more for you. 16, what do you think of 16 as a par-5? Big horseshoe, kind of one of the stranger holes you've played?

JESSICA KORDA: You hit that ball straight and not around the bend, that rough is not really -- I hit it there and wanted to try to hit one out, and yeah, that was not nice. One, it was nice to find the ball, and then it kind of just ate up my club pretty quickly.

Q. How far did you hit the second shot?

JESSICA KORDA: I tried to get an 8-iron, like it maybe flew like total 100 yards, like 20 yards maybe in the air max. Like I said, keeping it in the fairway, being smart about placement -- it's a major. You've got to play it like a major. It's not like a regular week, so you don't get to play like a regular week.

Q. You're one of the top ranked players that chose not to play last week at the match play. Just your decision not to compete last week?

JESSICA KORDA: Too much golf (Laughter). If it would have landed anywhere else in the schedule I think that would have been an amazing event. I loved watching it. I thought it was super fun. Once I saw Sophia's feet kind of bleeding, I knew I made the right choice.

Q. How did you spend the week instead?

JESSICA KORDA: At home with family. I got to see my parents for the first time since Ocala, so that was nice to see them because they've been traveling with my brother and been at home. So, yeah, it was nice to see them and then just got ready. Repacked.

Q. Given your background in Florida, how cold are you? You said you forgot some stuff. Did you bring enough layers?

JESSICA KORDA: I was prepared for the layers. I played in San Francisco, especially this area, a lot. I knew exactly what I was coming into. I've got hot hands. I've got gloves. I've got it all. I'm warm.

Q. Over the past year, Michelle Wie West has become this really strong-voiced person and advocate for women and golf. Has that person been -- have you seen that person all along, or has there been something that has -- she seems to have blossomed or come into her own since becoming a mom.

JESSICA KORDA: I think she's always been like that. I think, when you're playing, it might be a little bit tough to be an advocate. I really think that having Makenna really lit a fire maybe a little bit more underneath her, and everything comes with time. I think her timing is really great, always has been. I'm really proud of everything that she's been doing and continues to do for the game of golf.