AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

August 19, 2021

Nelly Korda

Quick Quotes

Q. On those last two. Can you just talk us through your round?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it was really chilly this morning, but honestly the wind wasn't too strong, so I stayed pretty aggressive all day, and I took advantage of my opportunities.

Q. You must feel so confident at the moment, the run you're on. Did you feel that out there?

NELLY KORDA: No, I try to take the mindset of every day's a new day. It doesn't matter what my ranking is. Everyone's going into this event prepared and wanting to win. That's kind of like the mindset that I try to take into every event.

Q. This is known as one of the hardest golf courses in the world. Links golf is also very difficult to play. How do you do that?

NELLY KORDA: Honestly, I kind of talked to Karen Stupples a little, and she was telling me that she honestly -- because if you're in the bunkers in the fairways, it's very penalizing. Today was fine because it wasn't so windy so you can be aggressive, but when the wind gets obviously stronger, just taking that 4-iron and giving yourself another 4-iron in because it's easier to make an up-and-down from the green than to pitch out from the bunker and then having 170 in again.

Kind of over the years that I've kind of played links golf, I've learned that it's just better to have longer clubs in, and it's just a different style of golf, like my wedges release like 20 yards because it's so firm. It wasn't windy today, so you could take advantage of a little bit of the softer greens from the rain kind of and, yeah, the wind not being so strong.

Q. Did you take to links golf first time you played, or is it something that's taken time to adapt to?

NELLY KORDA: Definitely, it's taken time. The first year I played Kingsbarns, and I missed the cut there. Then I played Woburn the next year, but that's not a links style golf course. Last year we played -- where did we play last year?

Q. Troon.

NELLY KORDA: Troon, yeah, that was really windy. I feel like the more I play links-style golf courses, the more I'm learning about my game here.

Q. What kind of yardage for holes 17 and 18?

NELLY KORDA: I cut it a little close on 17 today, I was really close to that water, so I didn't really have much. I just had a 6-iron in. I don't know the exact yardage, but I hit it really well.

The last hole, I was between an 8- and a 7-iron into the wind, and I just told myself, since I was hitting it well, to stay aggressive, and I hit a little pin shot into eight feet.

Q. Could you tell on the 17th how close it was to the --

NELLY KORDA: I thought it was in the water. I told my caddie that's in the water. I was like great. So I was very relieved when it was just in front. Actually, it's definitely not the place to be like stress-wise, but there's a little bit more grass there, so it's not as firm.

Q. It was noticeable you didn't do a pre-tournament press conference, and there's a lot of interest in what you're doing right now. Is it a psychological thing? What is the approach there?

NELLY KORDA: No, I've had a long couple weeks. It was the day of my Pro-Am, and I was just really tired. I wasn't really hitting it well, and tried to just go to the range and tried to prepare for the next four days. Sometimes you've got to give your body a break.

Q. There's no sense of trying to play down all the noise and expectation around you, or you don't care about that?

NELLY KORDA: Obviously, there's expectations, but you just try to settle down and keep your head down and go with the flow.

Q. The second shot you played at 16, the par-3, do you think -- would you always play it like that, do you think? Do you think, as you play more links golf, you might play it differently?

NELLY KORDA: Right as I hit it, I was like, oh, that should have been a bump and run. Honestly, it's just the fact of there was more grass under it. I wasn't in like the fairway area where it's really firm. So I thought maybe I could hit it soft. But I didn't. I hit it too hard.

It's just difficult because like also you have to play for it needs to release a good bit. So you need to fly it a good bit, and it needs to release. Obviously, those are stuff I'm still learning about links golf. Yeah, maybe a bump and run would have been better, or it could have been worse. You never know.

Q. When you talked to Karen Stupples, did you seek her out?

NELLY KORDA: No, they were walking the golf course on Wednesday, so yesterday. I don't even know what day it is (laughter). Yesterday with the entire Golf Channel crew. I think I was on hole 11. Yeah, hole 11 because you kind of have to hit an iron off the tee because there's two bunkers on the right and two bunkers on the left. I just hit a 5-iron, and we just kind of talked about it, and that's kind of what she told me, and it is true so...

Q. Do you feel there's a difference between a major champion and an Olympic champion?

NELLY KORDA: No, I'm just going on like a little girl playing golf, enjoying myself in this cold weather (laughter).

Q. This isn't cold.

NELLY KORDA: From Tokyo it's cold.

Q. In November you'll find cold.

NELLY KORDA: For a Florida girl.