U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

June 2, 2022

Nelly Korda

Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club

Flash Interview

Q. Nelly Korda, 1-under 70. Nelly, it has to feel good, four months after and you shoot under par at a U.S. Open.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it feels great. I definitely had a lot of adrenaline on that first hole. I think I piped my driver so far. I like kind of felt sick how much adrenaline I was feeling, and then calmed myself down and played pretty well. Just had one unfortunate lost ball on I think 11, but other than that I played pretty solid.

Q. To the naked eye it looked like you put together an even better round than 1-under. What felt like the best part of your game?

NELLY KORDA: I think overall everything. If I missed, I missed in the correct area, gave myself a good look, a pretty decent chip at it.

Yeah, I think overall I think all of it came together really well, and hopefully I can continue building into the next couple of days.

Q. How did you feel physically in terms of I know you said you didn't have too many expectations for yourself, but how did you feel physically?

NELLY KORDA: I felt fine, and then on the back nine it was a pretty brutally slow day. We were waiting a lot. So the heat definitely got to me. I walked under the umbrella as much as I could. But it was hot. I'm sure everyone was struggling out there. But I feel fine.

Q. Just going forward, I guess now that you have a round in, does it almost help to have one under your belt after coming back for a while and then moving on to tomorrow?

NELLY KORDA: For sure, yeah. I definitely don't get a lot of rest, teeing off early tomorrow morning. Going to try and get ready for that. It definitely helps playing the golf course in the heat, and to play with like the juices flowing, that definitely helps. But you never know, and I'm just happy to be out here.

Q. What did you learn about the golf course today seeing it in actual championship conditions?

NELLY KORDA: I thought actually on the back nine I was told that the grass actually -- because it's so hot, the grass grows a good bit I think throughout the day, so it definitely slowed down on the putting greens throughout the day, learned that, so I guess that's good if you have an afternoon round. I'm sure it's not going to be like that in the morning tomorrow. It plays differently from the morning to the afternoon, but that's pretty much what I've learned.