HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 19, 2023

Nelly Korda

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Your first round of the season; can you take us through it a little bit?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I started off pretty solid. I birdied 2 and 3. Kind of tugged a couple of my irons on par-3s today, so that saved a good up-and-down on 6 and then bogeyed No. 4, I think.

Overall it was a pretty good day. New clubs, new season, kind of haven't been playing, obviously, as much as I would in a season, but I'm happy with today's round.

Q. Did you feel a difference at all with the new clubs?

NELLY KORDA: No, they were really solid. I hit the ball really, really well today.

Q. Brooke Henderson also now TaylorMade at the top of the leaderboard; what is it about the TaylorMades that's working for everyone today?

NELLY KORDA: Team TM is thriving. They have a good team.

Q. No matter how much you test, when you put these things into competition, it's different --

NELLY KORDA: Correct, yeah.

Q. Did you feel anything different, or was it just comfortable immediately?

NELLY KORDA: Honestly, I was very comfortable. I really like the irons, but you're right, when you're testing it's very different compared to when you're playing, so obviously this week I'm taking it as a feeler, seeing where I need to dial into it a little bit more, maybe tweak some things, but overall I was extremely happy with the way my clubs were flying. The shots that I kind of missed, that was because of me. I released it a little too early.

But overall, I think I've seen a good bit of improvement with my long irons, with the TaylorMade irons, the P770s, and I'm extremely happy with my set.

Q. Do you have a favorite club yet?

NELLY KORDA: I never have favorite clubs. They're all my favorite, all 14 of them, so they don't misbehave, plus my ball.

Q. I think Sebby's match starts at 4:00 a.m. --

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I'm not going to be watching. Hopefully it's not still going by the time I'm up. Hopefully he's won already. But yeah, I'm sure my parents are going to watch. They'll be a little sleep deprived tomorrow walking 18.

Q. I want to ask you about Derek today and your grouping. How much fun did you have? Any inappropriate stories to share?

NELLY KORDA: No, it was just the whole day was really fun. Even Jack was great. It was my first time playing with him, and he was so down to earth, so fun. Same with Derek. We kind of already have so much history together that it's just so easy kind of chitchatting with him out on the golf course.

I did kind of joke with him at one point where I was like, okay, 100 bucks if you hit it inside of me, and he didn't hit the green, and I was like, cha-ching. But obviously it was just a joke.

Q. He is also one of the celebs at the top. Were you guys feeding off each other?

NELLY KORDA: Definitely. I hope we play together. Did you see that dart into 18? So good. Hopefully we get paired together again. It's always so much fun playing with Derek.