THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 18, 2023

Nelly Korda

The Club at Carlton Woods

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back inside the online and in-person media center at The Chevron Championship. I am pleased to be joined by major champion Nelly Korda. What is it like preparing for the season's first major here in Texas?

NELLY KORDA: It's been good. I played 18 yesterday, got in Sunday. Today is pro-am day, but it's raining a little. I played early in the morning, so it was nice to get out. I played as a single all day. I don't think many people can play as a single first day of prep at a major, so that was nice that I got to kind of practice around the greens a little bit more.

Q. Obviously this is a new chapter, a new part of this tradition and the legacy of this major championship, but what's it been like so far, your experience on-site here at the Woodlands?

NELLY KORDA: It's been great. Obviously I can't lie and say I don't miss Palm Springs just because I've been going there for so long and the history of the place, but so far, my time here has been amazing. They're treating us really well. It's amazing to see a company like Chevron step up and support women's golf. I think we're all extremely grateful for it.

Q. I saw yesterday on the Instagram story, your caddie taking a shot on the island green. Kind of explain the wedges and the state of your wedges at the moment.

NELLY KORDA: He apologized. It's been cleaned. There's no mark on the toe anymore. Hopefully my wedge doesn't misbehave this week after the treatment it got yesterday.

Q. I know we haven't seen you since PV. What have you been working on specifically heading into this year's major?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I had two weeks off, got to go to Portland to see Nike right after PV, and then went to the Masters on Saturday. That was really exciting. That was actually my first time watching the Masters, which was probably the worst day to watch. It was freezing.

Then I practiced all of last week. Honestly just kind of getting into playing mode, tightening up some loose ends that I thought maybe I could have worked on, done better throughout Phoenix and PV tournaments.

Yeah, just tried to get a couple of good scores in, tried to get into playing mode into this week.

Q. You talk about kind of cleaning up the loose ends. What were those loose ends in your mind?

NELLY KORDA: I just felt like every day I was kind of striking the ball a little different, so a couple of days of working on technique and then getting on the golf course and getting comfortable, envisioning my shots and executing them.

Q. Nelly, if you're able to divorce the history for a second out of your mind, can you compare the golf courses between what we had in Palm Springs and what we have here?

NELLY KORDA: They're completely different.

Q. And how so?

NELLY KORDA: One, it's a completely different layout. Water is way more in play this week I would say, completely different grass. This is a Bermudagrass. I don't know exactly what the grass was in Palm Springs, but the rough isn't as thick as it would be, let's say, in Palm Springs. But it's still a great golf course. You're still going to have to play really well.

I would say there's more trouble off the tee and the greens are smaller, and if it gets firm, it's going to play really tough because it is still long.

But I can't compare the two golf courses because they're kind of so different.

Q. The length here, do you think that it eliminates half the field, or is this one where everybody can compete?

NELLY KORDA: It's golf. I feel like anyone can win. It just matters about how you're hitting it, what kind of bounces you're getting. I don't think going into a golf course there's players that ever get really eliminated in a sense. Sometimes you look at the leaderboard and you're so surprised.

I would say that I never have that kind of mindset where I think that half the field can be eliminated just because the golf course is a little longer.

Q. You won a major championship on a golf course that was long and had Bermudagrass. What is your mindset now? Feeling good about it?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, I played 18 yesterday, and I like the golf course. It fits my eye nicely. Obviously it's a completely different ballgame starting Thursday.

I know that my caddie and I, we kind of talked to the superintendent, they said that they're going to make the greens probably a little faster depending on weather. Sometimes I get to a golf course and I play 18 or I play nine on Monday and then I play on Thursday and it's completely different.

We'll see how it plays on Thursday, but I like the golf course, and as a Florida girl, I like Bermuda.

Q. The 18th of the Dinah Shore course was an iconic hole on the LPGA. What was your first impression of the buildout here and the pond and the strategy of this hole?

NELLY KORDA: I think Chevron and everyone involved in the tournament is doing an amazing job to kind of keep the traditions alive. Obviously changing locations is a little -- it's different for sure. But they're trying their hardest to keep the traditions alive, and for us players, I think that we appreciate that a lot.

Again, if you win, you still get to jump into Poppies Pond and you still get to hoist the trophy, so at the end of the day that's what matters. They're stepping in and supporting women's golf, and I think that's the big picture that everyone should focus on is that they stepped up and they're the ones that are supporting us.

Q. Would you jump?

NELLY KORDA: Hopefully. We'll see. But yes, I would.

Q. You've talked a lot about the importance of being rested throughout the season. Are you feeling rested now?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, pretty good. I mean, this is week one of four in a row, so I don't remember the last time I did four events in a row. But I get to mix in a cool team event in San Fran for International Crown, which I'm super excited about.

But ask me by week four.

Q. You mentioned not hitting the ball consistently, yet your results have been quite consistent. What allowed you to maintain being in contention or close to it over that stretch?

NELLY KORDA: Honestly, I think when I'm really not hitting it well, then I'm putting and my short game is pretty on point. I've been kind of lucky to miss in areas where it's better to miss, where I don't absolutely kind of screw myself.

But yeah, I think it's positive and negative that I'm playing well, and I don't think that I've had my best stuff yet, so hopefully I can continue working on my game and peak in the right moments.

Q. Are there any drills in particular you were working on over these past couple weeks to get your game back to where you want it?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I always work with a swing guide. You can see I posted it on my Instagram, but it's just like this tool to help me with my backswing because it kind of gets wrapped around my body. Just like simple drills that I don't then bring that to the golf course where I'm not thinking about my swing and I'm more thinking about executing my shots, and that's why I tend to try to work on my swing at the beginning of the week and then play a lot towards the end so then I get into a playing mode where I'm not drilling out on the golf course.

Q. Obviously last year you weren't playing at The Chevron Championship due to health. Do you remember what you were doing during the tournament while you were home?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I was rehabbing in LA, so I wasn't too far, but I was rehabbing, and I honestly could only watch the last couple holes on Sunday because my sister was in contention. But other than that, I stayed away from the TV.

Q. Did you do that because it's going to be too hard to watch or were you just focused on rehab?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, kind of both. A little bit of both.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Nelly.