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SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACERMay 29, 2014Jessica KordaGALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY THE MODERATOR: It is my pleasure to welcome in Rolex Rankings No.16 Jessica Korda into the interview room. Jess, thanks for coming in. Our newest champion on the LPGA Tour coming off your third career win in Mobile. Let's talk about the third win. First win could be lucky, second win it wasn't a fluke. Third win, does it feel different coming into this week with No.3‑under your belt? JESSICA KORDA: Not really. You know, it's actually just‑‑ I've kind of settled into it now. I think after my second win I was really, really excited and it definitely kind of showed me that the first one wasn't a fluke, and this one I felt more like myself. I felt really comfortable out there, and I just knew how to go through all the motions and emotions. Q. So many American winners. It's a big story line this year. I know you're very patriotic, a lot of your Solheim Cup teammates winning. What do you think has been the key to this resurgence? A lot of people said maybe the loss in Colorado, but what has been the key point of the resurgence of the Americans? JESSICA KORDA: I think the girls are coming up now. We're getting more comfortable out here. It's Lizette's I think third year, my fourth year, Lexi's third year, as well, and obviously Lydia has been playing very well. Even though she's not an American, it's still great for our Tour. And Paula is kind of starting to come into her own. She's very happy. Definitely Solheim kicked us in the butt a little bit. But I would just say we're coming into our own and starting to be comfortable on the LPGA Tour. Q. What are your thoughts on the course conditions? I know people have said greens are great, fairways are rolling. What are your thoughts? JESSICA KORDA: I think it's in really good condition. The rough is definitely very high this year, and it's going to be very important to stay in the fairway. I think the greens are in really good shape. They're a little spongy, so definitely a lot different from last week where they were a little bit firm, so had to get used to chipping into the green being a little bit more aggressive, just seeing a little different line. Q. Now, your parents weren't in Mobile to see your win again. They're at your brother's tennis tournament. Tell us about just your entire family situation where you might not even be the biggest star just yet. Sebastian and your sister are coming up the ranks, too. Talk about how happy you are to share your successes with them but them being great athletes, as well. JESSICA KORDA: Yeah, it's great. It kind of just shows that I'm just not Peter Korda's daughter. I have more to me than kind of what my dad accomplished, what my mom accomplished, and coming into my own is really nice, as well. I wouldn't say I'm the highest priority anymore. I'm 21 years old, I travel on my own, I live on my own, so they've got my brother and my sister, my brother who's 13, my sister who's 15, and they're both playing golf and tennis tournaments, so my parents are all over the map right now. I think one day it would be really nice just to have them out with me for one of these wins. But love the fact that we're at least on Golf Channel and that it was live so they got to watch everything, so that was really nice. Q. You mentioned the American players like yourself feeling more comfortable after a couple years out on Tour. Did the media expect too much of people when they came on Tour at 16, 17, and expect them to be immediate winners or win right out of the gate? How important is that experience having a couple years under your belt as far as playing well out there? JESSICA KORDA: I think for everybody it's different because when I came out here, I had no professional experience. It was literally the first time I went and played professional golf full‑time. I never Monday qualified, I only played on one sponsor's invite, and the only experience I had was playing in a U.S. Open, and that's completely different to any other week that we have out here. So for me it was very difficult, and I had to get used to the life. I had to get used to playing 20 tournaments in a year instead of 10 or 11 like I would in junior golf or amateur golf. For me personally, it was a lot of getting used to, and that's what took to come out here. You have girls like Lydia and Lexi who played a bunch of professional tournaments before they actually turned pro. Lydia won as an amateur, and she's just so young. And Lexi has been out here for a very long time. We've heard Lexi's name since she was like 12 or 13 years old. You do expect them to play well. They're great players. I'm very impressed how early they won because I did have a very hard time coming into my own. Q. You mentioned the Solheim Cup. There's kind of two ways you can go after an experience like that, down and up. You guys seemed to all go up. Was that loss motivating? Did you talk about what happened that week, or why do you think all of you seemed to have responded in such a positive way out of that experience? JESSICA KORDA: You know, I don't think that we really played bad. We didn't hit bad shots. We didn't hit bad putts. They just didn't go in the hole. It wasn't our week I don't think. We looked at it in a very positive way. As soon as we lost, we're like, you know what, Germany, let's go. We're already like, all right, so what are we going to do to get better. We didn't really get down. We were really down on Sunday. We were sad, obviously, we lost the Cup on home soil, but we were already looking forward, and I think that's a huge motivator for a team. We want to bring that Cup back and we want to be on the team. First Solheim, it's amazing, it really is, walking up to the first tee, hearing them chant "USA" or your name, and just the team aspect of it and representing your country, it's something very, very special, and you want to fight back and be back on that team and play even better. Q. You mentioned experience is very important and getting wins out here, but in your case and the case of other young players, is it all experience or is there something to do with your mental makeup or your training? I know you and Lexi were in AJGA together. What else contributes to that success as an early age? JESSICA KORDA: There's not one key to success. Everybody takes a different path. I wouldn't be able to tell you what the key is. My key was to be more comfortable out on Tour. I started traveling on my own, I started figuring out what I liked and what I didn't like. It's the same thing when a kid goes to college. They figure out who they really are, what they really like, and they carry that on with them throughout life. That's kind of where I am right now. And also obviously being in contention and having those emotions out there and just knowing how to control it definitely helps a lot, and I went through a lot of changes this off‑season. Obviously I have a new coach, a new caddie and a lot of people in my life that are supporting me and helping me be better, and so I kind of just changed‑‑ I changed a lot of things for this season, but ultimately I'm still trying to do the same thing as when I came out here at first. Q. Talk about your relationship with your caddie. I know you said last week he played a huge role within your success of just this season. Talk about how that relationship started and how you guys got hooked up and how big of a role he's played this year. JESSICA KORDA: You know, obviously Lexi and I are friends, and she came out with a caddie in México and won with Benji Thompson on the bag. Knowing Benji in the past, he caddied for Casey Wittenberg, and I've known Casey since I was a little girl. I came up to him, and I'm like, look, I'm looking for a new caddie. Who's like you? I obviously can't have you, so who's like you. And he's like, oh, my best friend, he's played, he made it to second stage. So I called him up, and I was like, hey, this is Jess, and he's like, oh, hi, I'm Kyle. I was like, I like your southern accent. We came out to Bahamas and we just had a really good time on the bag. Obviously everybody saw how I shanked a shot and it was clearly out of bounds. There was no question about it. He picked up the bag, didn't even let me go grab for another ball and walked away and made me cool off and came back, and he's like, okay, you can now grab the ball and hit another shot. He obviously helped me there a lot. Last week it was really cool because he just had a baby girl, his third child with his wife, and he came out and I was really happy, and he just helped me through that whole week. I was struggling a lot and we were just making sure that I had fun out there and always was relaxed, and it was just a lot of fun. Definitely I don't think I could do it without him on the bag. Q. Now, two wins already this season, and we're about a third of the way through. Do the goals change as you thought about how many wins you wanted to get this year? JESSICA KORDA: I set my goals really high for this season. I played very well last year, was in the top 10 a lot, I had a couple of chances to win. So I set my goals very high this season, and no, I'm not changing them. They're still staying the same. THE MODERATOR: We had a very exciting announcement today, and that is the rebranding of the LPGA Championship, now the KPMG PGA Women's Championship. Talk about that announcement and just impressive the changes that are going on with this Tour in terms of branding and sponsors and new things coming. Talk about what you thought when you saw that announcement. JESSICA KORDA: I think it was great. I think that us keeping a fifth major was important, and the fact that our money went up is huge, and the fact that we get more TV time, being somebody that's always away from home and not having your parents out and your family out to be able to watch you. The fact that we're not only going to be on Golf Channel but we're also going to be on NBC is very, very neat, and we're not leaving New York, so it's going to be awesome. I'm very excited. I'm very pleased with the news. Q. Can you talk about the two back‑to‑back missed cuts you had, what was going on with‑‑ JESSICA KORDA: Kind of a missed cut. Q. Can you talk about what was going on with your game and what factors into you getting a new coach? What factors in that change? JESSICA KORDA: Well, I mean, I changed coaches obviously because I was very‑‑ I was injured a lot last year, and it was coming from my swing and just wasn't very happy with things that were going on. That was a very long relationship that I had to end. I went a different direction, and obviously it's been working very well. And the two cuts that I've missed, it happens out here. I don't know, I wasn't hitting the ball well. I wasn't being myself. I wasn't happy all the time. It's something that I think everybody goes through. I was really disappointed because I was going on a really good made cut streak, so I was really disappointed, especially I missed the cut by one shot, wasn't playing my best golf, didn't think I was anywhere near the cut line. But it's just one of those things that happen. You just have to keep moving forward from it. Q. Can you talk about consistency, what that means to you, not necessarily being in the hunt all the time but being around for the entire weekend? JESSICA KORDA: Well, my goal last year was to be more consistent, and I did do that. I didn't win. And this year I was like, you know what, if I miss a cut, I miss a cut, but I want to be able to give it my all and not try and play super consistent. Like not try and constantly be in the top 10. I want to be able to win, and if it's missing a cut one week, that's fine, because that means that whatever I'm working on, I'm still constantly working on my swing changes. So one week it might work and then the next week it might not. It's golf. Sometimes the putts fall, sometimes they don't. Q. A lot of positive things happening with the LPGA, but still, if you look at what the men are making, at Memorial this week, the top two players will make more money than this entire field here. Does that bother you? JESSICA KORDA: You know, I think that's just the way it is for women's golf right now. Growing up obviously in tennis, I see men and women are making the same amount of money at majors, and I think that we're slowly moving towards that direction. Obviously our Tour is getting‑‑ improving every year with tournaments, with money, we're adding more, we have more exposure, we have more TV time, and that's really what matters right now. I think we're on a great path, and hopefully we can work our way up to that. Q. Have you played Pinehurst No.2 before? JESSICA KORDA: No, I haven't. Q. What are you expecting of it? Are you going to try and get there beforehand? And do you have any concern about playing on it so soon after the men, the condition it might be in? JESSICA KORDA: You know, no, I'm not going to go early. I've never been out there before, and it's a Donald Ross golf course. I've played so much on Donald Ross; I live five minutes from Sara Bay, which is a Donald Ross golf course in Sarasota, so I'll be out there for a little bit. Obviously everybody is going to be concerned about what the week has to bring. You know what the golf course is going to look like every year when you get to a U.S. Open. You've got fresh cut grass. It's amazing condition. It's untouched for I don't know how many months or weeks. Obviously it's going to be way different than what we're usually used to. But concern is there for everybody, but it's going to be the same for everybody at the end of the day for the women. So just have to take it how it is. Q. And piggy‑backing on his question a little bit, what do you think it'll do for the women's game to have back‑to‑back tournaments, Opens, like that on the same course at the same resort? JESSICA KORDA: It's going to give us some good exposure, I think, definitely. It's already attracting a lot of media attention because it'll be the first time this is ever going to happen, and we'll see how it goes, but we're definitely going to get a lot of media attention from it, and hopefully it'll be an interesting week not only for the viewers but also for the players. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for coming in. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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