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PURE SILK-BAHAMAS LPGA CLASSICJanuary 24, 2014Jessica KordaPARADISE ISLAND, THE BAHAMAS THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. We would like to welcome in our current leader, Jessica Korda. Great round, 7‑under par today. Quiet day when you got started early, and then the winds really picked up. How were you able to continue to put low numbers up out there once the winds kicked in? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, it was interesting. The winds picked up within 30 minutes. We went from beautiful, sunny, slight wind to cloudy and hurricane wind. It was a tough day out there. I mean, a little mentally draining because you really had to put everything into every shot. Paula kept pushing me because she kept making birdies, so I felt like I needed to keep making birdies, too. THE MODERATOR: Earlier start than normal for the LPGA Tour, much shorter off‑season. How did that change your preparation, and when you have such an early start, were you expecting to be able to come out and shoot this well so early? JESSICA KORDA: I mean, it didn't really change my off‑season too much. I started playing golf after Christmas like I usually do. I usually go to Australia early, too. This is kind of normal, maybe a week or two early, but yeah, I'm really surprised with how well I'm playing, and pretty happy about it, too. THE MODERATOR: I know you've been working on the golf swing a little, changed coaches two weeks ago. Talk a little bit about the decision making process behind that and what are some of the changes you've been making in your golf swing? JESSICA KORDA: It was just time for a change. There was just stuff that wasn't working. I've worked with this coach before, so I was really comfortable going into it, and he's just super positive, and that's something that I really needed coming into this year. We're just working on keeping everything in plane and keeping it really simple to where if something does go wrong on the golf course, I can fix it myself. THE MODERATOR: Who is your swing coach now? JESSICA KORDA: His name is Grant Price. He works at IMG Academies. Q. You said you went through some swing changes after the injuries you had. What are you doing differently to keep you healthier? JESSICA KORDA: Like I said, just keeping everything on plane so I don't have to use my hands as much as I did, which is taking a lot of pressure off my shoulder and my wrist. Q. You had a wrist problem that kept you out last year. Was there also a shoulder issue? JESSICA KORDA: Well, the wrist problem was my right wrist. I hit a metal pipe in Hawai'i last year, so that was completely different. It was my left wrist that's been taped for basically almost a year and a half now. THE MODERATOR: What is it about this golf course that really suits your game? Is there something specific that seems to play well into it that's kind of led to the low number? JESSICA KORDA: I feel like I'm in Florida. You have palm trees, Bermudagrass. The views are just unbelievable out here, too. It's really nice out here. I can't complain. Q. Can you take us through what happened at 15 and why somebody thought they should call in? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, that was interesting. 15, I was on the side on the left, on the green. Putted it up and went to go mark it. I had maybe like two feet, two and a half feet, and just as I was bending down to go mark it, the ball moved back, and I got up, re‑marked it, and then just picked it up, and I guess they thought I addressed the ball, or I don't know what they thought or why they would call in. But I had something happen at the British where I actually marked the ball and the ball rolled away and I had to play it as it lie without any penalties. I knew that I was in the clear, I just had no idea what it was about. THE MODERATOR: Just a little extra time in the scoring tent. JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, just why not get the blood pressure going. THE MODERATOR: As you said, talking about you and Paula both playing well in the same group, what does that do for you when you've got somebody‑‑ she started off with a double bogey and then started on a birdie binge, when someone else in your group is that hot do you just feed off of that throughout the day? JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, definitely. Feeding off of her was good. She made four birdies in a row after that, and it wasn't like she wasn't giving herself opportunities after that. It was birdie after birdie. It was awesome. It's awesome to play with somebody like that because they really do push you and keep making you try harder. Q. When the wind is gusting like this, what's the primary thing that you have to work on? JESSICA KORDA: I mean, into the wind, like 17 or 15, those are really, really tough holes. You don't know what the wind is really going to do because sometimes going straight into, maybe a little right to left, you really need to try and flight it low, but you don't want to go too low or else it's going to go straight through the wind and then you're on the back of the green. I think just communication with your caddie is really important and getting a good feel for it. We had a lot of holes to get used to it, so that helped a lot, too. In the pro‑am when we played it was gusting like this, too. We played in it before. Q. You've won out here; you know what that's like. Just talk about striving for your second victory. JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, I got a really good taste of it last year to where I had two opportunities to kind of finish it off. It hurt to not do that, but it kept pushing me forward to try and work harder and figure out what I can do to be better and try and win out here. It's hard; these girls are good. Like you said, it's tough to win out here, but I'm going to try my best. Q. Who's your caddie, and where did you find him? JESSICA KORDA: His name is Kyle Bradley. He's from Georgia, caddies at Augusta. My manager found him. He caddies out there for a bunch of guys before they come out and play the Masters. I like his southern accent. He keeps me calm out there. He's a really good guy. I mean, he reads greens really well with me, and we get on really well, so I can't complain. THE MODERATOR: Seemed to work out pretty well so far. JESSICA KORDA: So far so good. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, and best of luck the rest of the weekend. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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