WOMEN'S OLYMPIC GOLF COMPETITION

August 7, 2024

Nelly Korda

Le Golf National

Quick Quotes

Q. Thoughts on the day?

NELLY KORDA: Won't be very positive on the front nine but on the back nine I started hitting better putts. I actually didn't hit it that bad. I just made four 3-putts. The greens were just so like completely different, just from the practise green to the golf course, they were a lot slower. I feel like they were almost a foot slower from what I felt personally. It was very much a pace thing. I actually came up really short on No. 1. Short on No. 2. Very short on No. 3. So it was just a pace thing.

Q. Take you awhile to adjust it or trust it?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it's tough because you've practiced out here and you've practiced with two days, and you know that mentally that you know how hard you kind of have to hit it and you don't want to overhit it so just trusting it. I got into that groove on the back nine.

Q. When you are 3-over on 8 is there any sense of panic?

NELLY KORDA: No. I just got into the mindset of one shot at a time. I was just trying to figure out the basics of just hitting my shots. Yeah, the putting was -- I was hitting them a little short, too, expecting a release from my longer irons but they just weren't releasing either because they were much softer than what I was practicing yesterday. So overall, it just took a little bit to adjust but adjusted well on the back nine.

Q. What happened on the second shot -- how big was the save there?

NELLY KORDA: I feel like -- it's like weird. I think it's like three feet or three yards of first cut and then there's like a lower part in the rough, like let's say it's not as high, and I was in the really thick stuff. I could barely see my ball. I was in a thick part on the hole before that on the par 5 but I could get my 8-iron just to the fairway and run it up.

But I tried to hit the same club, the 8-iron, and I just couldn't even get it out. I mean, it's not -- I'm sure it's not as high as the men but it's just so, so thick and it just sits to the bottom of it.

Q. How big to make a putt?

NELLY KORDA: My longest putt today.

Q. 9 off the tee --

NELLY KORDA: That's the one we've been hitting off --

Q. The last couple months, you've been playing every single tournament. Is there a way that you are successful at staying sharp and really focused when you're not competing?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, at start of the year, I played that one event and then I took, let's say, eight weeks off from just competitive golf. And then I played three in a row. And yeah, it feels nice when you're in a groove but when you play under pressure and you're in the final group, and you feel the emotions that you do, it takes a toll on you like mentally.

So I think I wrapped it up at the beginning of the year, and with all these big events in the middle of the year, it feels like I pretty much played five majors in a row, and my next event is a major.

It's just a lot. So just trying to take like a mental break is also nice. But you know, Jamie comes in and I practise. A lot of people don't see what we do when we are not at tournaments and I practise a lot. I work out in the gym, and I just try to stay sharp that way.

Q. Is that something that you feel like you've grabbed a hold of, that mentality, this year, more than any other in your career?

NELLY KORDA: Taking a break or a step away? I was very lucky with having two parents that played professional tennis, and also my sister being a professional golfer. Burnouts are very easy. It's easy to just push through it and just tell yourself, you know, just grind it out.

But as important as it is to grind it out, it's important to putt your clubs away and just be a regular human being. For me, it was like I finally realised that everything that I did at the start of the year, I kind of enjoyed it a little bit more with my family and realised how big of an accomplishment that is; and that life and golf and everything is such a roller coaster that it's good to step away and appreciate the whole journey.

Q. What do you say about the atmosphere compared to any major or other tournament?

NELLY KORDA: It's amazing. We were actually talking that it would be so much fun to have a Solheim Cup out here. I know the Ryder Cup was amazing, but the atmosphere was insane. I can't even imagine what it is like within Celine's group. I've heard a couple of the roars, and it's been such an amazing experience so far.

Q. Do you think that that experience will help give momentum to golf being back in the Olympics?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I saw the crowds for the men, and to see the similar crowds for the women is just kind of for me mind-blowing. I wasn't sure what to expect walking on to that first tee, and obviously my first view was the tee.

Then I kind of looked out to the green and I just saw like four people deep and I told Jason, I was like, oh my gosh, this is absolutely amazing. Like I did not expect this many people to come out and support everyone out here.

Q. I don't know about Solheim Cups, but have you ever walked across a bridge that everybody could see you coming?

NELLY KORDA: No, never. It's cool. It's a neat experience.

Other than that, I think Solheim just wants -- we walk through the stands.