KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2021

Jessica Korda

Atlanta Athletic Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Rolex Rankings No. 13. She's our 2021 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions winner, making her 11th KPMG Women's PGA appearance, best finish of fourth in 2018. You said you've walked six holes with a wedge in your hand yesterday. I'm sure trying to get some rest from a crazy week last week, but how does it look out there?

JESSICA KORDA: It looks really nice. It's obviously wet. They've gotten a lot of rain, and I think that there's some more in the forecast. It'll be interesting to see how it plays, but we walked a couple holes yesterday just to kind of see what it looks like.

Yeah, it likes nice.

Q. Overall I think this tournament always comes to great venues, great history, great courses. What was your prep for this? Had you ever been here before? What did you know about it?

JESSICA KORDA: Nothing. I knew nothing. I don't like going into majors knowing the venues, apart from ANA where we go every year. Forward practice has not been something I've done well with, so I just like coming in fresh and kind of being surprise. Obviously, playing the week before, we took it a little easy knowing that today was an 18-hole Pro-Am, and we still have tomorrow.

Q. You come off an exciting week for the family with your sister's win. It's got to be fun to finally get to see a couple of those. I know you weren't at her first couple wins.

JESSICA KORDA: It was awesome. I know it was the first one I wasn't stressed out about, even though she kind of made it a little stressful towards the end there. I had full faith, so it was nice to celebrate even though you don't really get too much time to celebrate. The Panera tasted good, though.

Q. What's the Panera order?

JESSICA KORDA: I don't know. She ordered. It was some quinoa bowl.

Q. Overall, how's your game shaping up as you head into the major week?

JESSICA KORDA: Obviously, it's been nice. I've been playing pretty consistently, which is what I'm after, and putting myself in the right positions. I'm excited to get this week going.

Q. When was the last time that you came to a major championship venue early and it didn't work out as planned?

JESSICA KORDA: I went to CordeValle early, and I played fine. I made the cut and everything, but I don't know, I didn't -- the greens weren't the same. We didn't know which tee boxes we were playing. It was a completely different golf course. The layout was what you were expecting, but the preparation for it, I still didn't really know what it was going to look like. I think that's one of the things with how our weeks are very busy, I think I'd rather spend the one week I have at home than coming out early and flying somewhere else for a forward practice.

Q. And in your mind, what makes a good major championship venue?

JESSICA KORDA: What was the last part?

Q. Makes a good major championship venue.

JESSICA KORDA: Obviously, the way they set up the golf course, obviously, the history of the course is so important. I think it's one thing I really like is the equal respect we're getting. They're putting us on major venues, like they do the men. That's one thing I appreciate so much, being able to play the same level like we saw at U.S. Open at Olympic Club, which I thought was really, really cool.

KPMG has been raising the bar since they kind of took over, and we appreciate it a lot.

Q. When you come to a venue like this, or last year Aronimink in the fall, do you actually feel the tradition of a place like this?

JESSICA KORDA: I think you just feel the magnitude of it. You know what's happened on these golf courses. I have to say, I haven't seen this one on TV. This is a complete surprise for me. I don't know much about this venue. Just the magnitude, how we're treated and everything, it has a major feel to it.

Q. What do you see as the biggest key of getting across the line in a major? What would have to happen in your game that would just push that across?

JESSICA KORDA: Stars align. It's so hard to win out here. You look at it week to week, the scores are so low. The battles, there's battles, it's not like it's a clear win ever. You've got to make the key putts, and obviously a sprinkle of luck always helps.

Q. Obviously, with your sister being out here, I was curious what are some of your favorite memories, either in junior golf or on the Tour with your family as it pertains to golf?

JESSICA KORDA: They traveled with me when I was a junior golfer. Not that they were playing, they were going on vacations and hanging out by the pool. I was a little jealous. But more out here, being able to share these moments with my sister -- even back then, when I would go to the range, my sister was coming with me, and she'd be whacking golf balls and running around and being a complete distraction, but I loved it. Everywhere I went, she was always with me.

Being out here as adults, I think we enjoy these moments a little bit more than we did as kids.

Q. We had some junior golfers send in questions. This being a major championship week, one of our golfers wants to know, how do you overcome a bogey, a double, not only in a major championship, but just in a normal round on Tour?

JESSICA KORDA: You know there's more holes in front of you. You're doing the best you can. You obviously try to avoid big numbers, but you're doing the best that you can. It's not like you're standing out there trying to make a double or trying to make a bogey. Honestly, just knowing that there's more holes in front of you and this isn't life or death. This is a game. We try to play it to the best of our abilities every single day.

Q. We just had Jin Young in here, who kind of lit up talking about how much she loves difficult golf courses. Are you in that same camp?

JESSICA KORDA: I love difficult golf courses. Not that the greens here are small, but I love like the small green type fairways. Like I said, playing at Olympic was one of the toughest golfing experiences I think I've ever had, but it was fun. It wasn't like I came out of there saying it wasn't fair. It was fair, but it was hard, and I love playing golf like that.

This week I'm really excited to actually go see the golf course.

Q. We're just coming off a golf course where Nelly shoots a new tournament record. That's probably not going to happen. Nobody's going to get 20-under. Are you more of an I love a 20-under golf course or I love a 5-under golf course?

JESSICA KORDA: It doesn't matter. I do well at both. Obviously, shooting low is fun, and having birdie opportunities is always great. It just depends on how the golf course is playing. It's not something we can necessarily affect. It's just how it's set up, and we've got to kind of manage our way around it.

Q. Your sister talked last week about the words of Matthew Wolff and Bubba Watson struck a chord with her. Did they to you as well? Could you relate at all to what they were talking about?

JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, I never say that it's easy out here. You've got to love it. You've got to be a little crazy to do what we do. We put ourselves out there every single week, and it's tough. You have fans coming to follow you, and if you're not playing your best, you obviously feel like you're disappointing everyone, and you get asked about it right after. It's never easy not playing well and then kind of answering the questions why because you're trying to figure it out yourself.

Like I said before, it's not like we're trying to make mistakes or trying not to win or not showing up. I think that's the comment I get a lot is, oh, you guys didn't show up. No, I showed up, it's just you go out there and try it yourself. And it's with every sport. So it is tough, but at the same time, it's a part of the job.

I like that people are starting to talk about it a little bit more because it's there. Everyone knows it's there, and we all feel the same. It's just no one really talks about it.

Q. What are a couple pieces of advice that you would give to junior players who are trying to get in your shoes?

JESSICA KORDA: Have fun. You've got to love it honestly. I think golf is such a great tool, not only to get into colleges, but for businesses as well. A lot of deals are made out on the golf course. It's also fun to play with your family. It's one of the small amount of sports that you can do with just about anyone at any level. It's one of the things I love about it.

You go and watch the Pro-Am today, you'll see a lot of good and a lot of bad. That's one of the good things about golf. If I have a kid in golf, I would always just tell them to have fun and play as many games as you can.

Q. Do you have any games that you remember from your junior days that you played?

JESSICA KORDA: We used to chip -- like we'd have eight kids chipping into a bucket, and you had to make two. The last two standing had to run the hill. In the heat, they'd get cones of water thrown at them. There would always be some type of punishment for the last two standing. So those were some of my favorite games.

Q. Is chasing the Olympic spot a motivator this week, or is it a major week, and you just kind of put that aside?

JESSICA KORDA: It's a major week, yeah. Honestly, what happens happens. It's out of my control. There's nothing I can do. With girls behind me, I'm just going to try to do me, and whatever happens at the end of the week happens.