THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 21, 2023

Nelly Korda

The Club at Carlton Woods

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Nelly Korda following her second round at the Chevron Championship. You're now two rounds in. What have you sort of learned from this course, and looking ahead to moving day, what do you need to do?

NELLY KORDA: I mean, two rounds on two kind of completely different golf courses. The setup, it was moved up a good bit. We played lift, clean and place. It was very wet out there, a lot of mud balls, and the greens were really soft as well compared to yesterday. Two rounds and two kind of completely different golf courses, so it was fun.

Q. I've seen some bogeys on your card and then a lot of birdies. How do you sort of manage the expectations playing on a major championship course?

NELLY KORDA: Just know that there are bogeys out there and you try to minimize your mistakes as much as possible. I was punching the air a couple times after my two three-putts, which kind those are kind of stupid mistakes, but you just kind of have to stay mentally stuff and know that there are some birdie opportunities, as well.

Q. Were the greens a lot different today? I know they played a little slower in the afternoon yesterday after all the rain.

NELLY KORDA: No, they were actually -- the greens I felt like drained pretty well. The golf course is just really muddy. You've got no roll really, so I think that's why they pushed us up a good bit. That's about it.

Q. I was curious what the turnaround was like last night --

NELLY KORDA: Quick. I went straight to Kava, got myself a bowl, and got some treatment and went to sleep.

Q. What is the treatment that you typically get --

NELLY KORDA: Just maintenance. Just maintenance, more of like flushes, making sure that my body is in one piece, which doesn't happen very often.

Q. Is it in one piece?

NELLY KORDA: Yes, it's in one piece.

Q. My question for you is I know mindset is super important when playing golf. What do you think is the biggest difference between the mindset of an Olympic gold medalist compare to an amateur golfer?

NELLY KORDA: I don't know. I mean, I feel like I've just -- I have more reps. I've been doing this longer, and I guess playing under pressure helps. I've always said that even though you don't come out on top, even if you're in contention and you're in the final group, I think you learn a lot from it, and the more you put yourself into that position, the more you learn to handle the nerves a lot better.

I think just playing more golf and more competitive golf at a higher stage, I guess.

Q. Adversity is very normal, especially on the golf course. How do you overcome that, especially when you're going through maybe a bad drought for a day?

NELLY KORDA: I mean, I feel like through every round, I feel like everyone kind of experiences a little bit. Just tell myself that there's more holes out there to play, and hopefully I get a birdie chance and capitalize on it. You try to stay as positive as you can. My caddie is very, very positive. Sometimes it annoys me how positive he is. But having a teammate like that helps a lot.

Q. Were there any of those annoyingly positive moments on the course today?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, usually after like one of my three-putts. Actually it was really funny, someone in the crowd was like, you're still 5-under. I was like, did you see that three-putt? That did not feel good.

Q. Given the short turnaround from yesterday, how hard is it to adjust to what you said is an entirely new golf course, and how long does it take?

NELLY KORDA: I mean, I've kind of been doing this for so long that I've had rounds where I've had such quick turnarounds, rain delays and whatnot. It's the beauty of the sport, and that's the struggle of being late-early sometimes, you just have that quick turnaround. Sometimes you're actually on the better side of the wave with weather.

I feel like yesterday they had a bit more wind in the morning, and it was pretty nice today, other than waiting in the clubhouse for two hours and that 5:00 a.m. wake-up call. 7:00 a.m. would have been much nicer.

Other than that, I feel like you just kind of get used to it.

Q. If you had it your way, would you prefer early-late or late-early?

NELLY KORDA: I don't mind both. I like both. Yeah.

Q. I would think you would have to be feeling pretty good about your game and pretty confident because you are picking up a lot of birdies out here.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I feel like I'm hitting it close sometimes, and sometimes I'm not really not. Like today I had a couple missed shots where -- and yesterday, too, where I was really disappointed with how I hit it.

But then on the next hole, I bounced back and hit it close, and I make a birdie.

There's holes that you can capitalize on, some par-5s, some par-4s that are shorter, and with lift, clean and place and moving the tees up, it makes it a little shorter so you have shorter clubs in, and the greens are softer, too.

Overall I think you can capitalize on when the course is this soft.

Q. You've just got to avoid the three-putts?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, correct, at all costs, at all times, forever.

Q. With your extensive career in the game and you have accomplished so much, how do you determine what goals and what dreams and aspirations for yourself?

NELLY KORDA: I mean, there's so many greats in the game that they just kept dominating and dominating and dominating, setting records and then -- so I feel like it's just -- that's what's amazing about this game is that you can constantly push, and then you have new competition that they start playing well, and that motivates you, as well.

I feel like it just matters about the drive that you have inside of you, and that's what I love about this game.

Q. You're not going to stop anytime soon?

NELLY KORDA: Oh, no. I'm 24. Yeah, no.