AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

August 23, 2024

Nelly Korda

Mixed Zone

Q. Good couple of days?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah.

Q. You got calm for the first couple hours but then the wind picked up. Talk about the challenge compared to yesterday.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I warmed up in the rain. Yesterday it was just brutally windy throughout the range session until about probably 16. Then today it was raining for a good bit during my range session, and then up until probably my second or third hole. It was pretty calm the front nine, and then once we got to probably -- I think actually 18 and No. 1, that's when it started to start pumping. But yeah, just adjusted.

Didn't really take advantage of kind of the calmer conditions on my front nine, the back nine, but I played some really solid golf, and I'm happy with that.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, we have a good relationship right now.

Q. What did you hit in there today?

NELLY KORDA: I hit a controlled 7-iron in. I just barely got it on top and made a longer putt.

Q. Is 18 just as pleasing because you had to pitch and run --

NELLY KORDA: 18, yeah. I was practising it during one of the practice days and I was hitting it with a pitching wedge but I was a little closer to the green, and I just thought that maybe a 9-iron would suit better. But since it was downwind, kind of got a little hot on me and went by a good bit.

But happy with the putt, yeah.

Q. Did you make any changes to your bag for this week?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, my putter. I just put a new putter in, the Spider. I just needed to look at something different. It rolls really nicely. I'm very pleased with it. I have no complaint.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: No, I had a square back.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, a little bit of a mallet. They're the exact same. They're matched up specs, completely the same, they're just obviously different heads. This one is definitely a mallet.

Q. Do you feel like you have your major (indiscernible)?

NELLY KORDA: I'm just trying to stay very present and not think about anything other than one shot at a time, and whatever golf and links golf throws at me, I'm going to take it head on.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I think when the conditions are a little tougher, expectations in golf -- in a sense normal golf is thrown out the window and you're just trying to play the wind.

Q. How exciting is it for golf heading into the weekend that you're up there, Lilia is up there, Lydia Ko, Charley? That's exciting for the game, is it not?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, for sure. There's so much support for Charley here, it's incredible to see. The fans and the crowds have been amazing thus far, and I can't wait to see what the weekend holds.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: For sure. I think just this year in general, I've won on just so many different types of grasses in different types of conditions that you just kind of always have to adapt. That's the same thing in tennis, same thing in life. You're always adapting to your situations at hand, and I think that's what's so fun about links golf is you're literally starting it 30 yards left of your target, and I'm not a fade player but I'm hitting massive fades. I think it's fun hitting these little low drivers, too.

I'm having fun, and I enjoy links golf a lot. Obviously every year that I get to play it, I learn a little bit more about it, too.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: Sure, I think I'm more adapted to the mindset of literally just taking it a shot at a time, not thinking ahead of myself and trusting my lines a lot. You're literally hitting slingers in -- I mean, I hit a hybrid 150 yards today on hole No. 2, which that's like my 200 club. It's all about just trusting the process and trusting what you have in your hand.

Q. When is the first time you played links golf?

NELLY KORDA: My first ever links golf? Yeah, the first time I ever played links golf was my rookie year, Kingsbarns, just down the road here.

Q. More of the same weather-wise over the weekend, would that suit you?

NELLY KORDA: Whatever it throws at me, I'll just adapt to it.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, honestly, it rolls really nicely. The greens being pretty slow due to the weather here. They're rolling about like a 9.4. I just wanted something that -- I just needed something different to look at. Sometimes you just need to switch it up. It's been working really well. It's rolling off the face really, really well. It's my first time ever putting a Taylor Made putter in play as a pro. I used to have one when I was in junior golf, but I've won so many times this year with the putter that I had, and I just wanted to kind of look at something different.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, you have a lot of 30-footers. I feel like 50-footers out here because you're hitting it into the wind. Then also the one that I had on -- my 17th hole of the day, No. 8, it was probably like a 20-footer and I hit almost like a 40-footer. It's all about distance control out here and kind of getting it within a certain range so you have an easy two-putt.

Q. How long had you used the previous putter?

NELLY KORDA: Since Bradenton, but I've had it way before that. I have a lot of putters. I've changed different weights and such, but before that I've used it for a while.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: No, I think I've just learned from every situation. I don't think anytime I've changed putters it's been a mistake.

Q. (No microphone.)

NELLY KORDA: No, honestly, I just gave them my putter to match up to the Spider that I'm using right now, and when they matched up my specs, I never even looked back. I just thought it was a really good putter, and I've putted with it since.

Q. When did you putt for the first time with it?

NELLY KORDA: Wednesday. But I had a different one, a little lighter, last week that they made me.