After winning five times in a row this year, Nelly Korda has leapt to the top of the world ranking. Here, the 25-year-old American talks about what kick-started her recent run of form and looks forward to a packed summer schedule, which also includes defending her Olympic title in Paris
Do you feel like the LPGA is getting enough attention as it should compared with other women’s sports?
I think what’s holding it back is that we’re not on prime time TV obviously all the time like the men are. I think that’s where you get the most viewership.
But it is trending in the right direction. And a lot of people, if you give them a finger, they want the whole hand, they want the whole arm. So you have to go a step at a time.
And I think that we are making the right steps forward as a Tour. But obviously being there, you would like it to progress maybe faster. But I think it’s all about putting it in the right spot and on the right platform, and that’s, honestly, prime time TV.
Do you feel as though you have an extra obligation or anything to try to lift the women’s game outside of our bubble and into the mainstream?
I feel like for me, the way that I promote the game is just the way I am. I’m very true to myself. I’m never going to do something I’m not really comfortable with. Obviously I love seeing all the kids and I love promoting the game.
I mean, there is nothing more that I enjoy more. I’m always going to stay true to myself, and hopefully that way do I promote the game.
Winning is obviously a lot of fun. You’ve been doing a lot of that recently. You look like you’re having so much more fun on the golf course. What’s been that key to kind of letting yourself go and letting yourself play loose just have fun out there?
Honestly, having a really great team around me, having really great people, that really helps. I’ve always said that staying in my own little bubble really, really helps me.
Not getting too distracted or lost in something that isn’t really what I want to be lost in. There is always temptations when it comes to a lot.
So I have a really great team around me that keeps me really grounded, and they know me so well that I can say anything to them. Even through hard situations, they know what to tell me to make me bounce back.
How aware of that dynamic are you, and therefore how aware are you of what you’re achieving right now?
Yeah, in 2021 I won’t on a run, and then in 2022 and 2023 golf really humbled me. I think they’re sports; there are ups and downs.
Every athlete goes through the rollercoaster, and that is what makes the sport so great. You mature and grow so much and learn more about yourself.
You never take these weeks for granted. You always try to appreciate and become very grateful for them. It makes just all the hard work so worth it.
But I think I’ve learned so much about myself even through the losses.
To hit the reset button. What advice has he given you in this unique stretch in your career?
Just to enjoy every second of it. Careers go by really fast and there are so many highs and lows in a career. To just be grateful about it all and very humble.
You mentioned staying grounded by being around your team, them keeping you in the present moment. This is possibly a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity. What is that challenge like to put that to the side and really try your best not to think about it?
I don’t know. I think obviously I’m so grateful and happy to be in this position that I could pull off four wins in a row. I feel like in sports you’re always looking ahead, what’s next, instead of like reminiscing on what has happened.
So, again, I’m so grateful for my team that we all kind of like live in our own bubble that we take it a shot at a time. Yeah, that’s what I’m going to be thinking about. I think added pressure isn’t always a good thing.
Do you remember at what point in time in your career that focus on the present really clicked into place for you?
I was actually talking — before my first-ever LPGA win I was talking with Hollis Stacy on the green at Concession. I was out there putting, doing a drill, and she always comes up to me when she sees me out there. She was just — I was talking to her about like obviously that I haven’t won on the LPGA Tour.
She just said, when the time is right. So I just put that in my yardage book that week that I won in Taiwan at Swinging Skirts. I said, when the time is right it’ll happen.
That made me very present and that made me think more of golf is a shot at a time, not to get too ahead of myself, and when the time is right it’ll happen because I put in the work.
I wanted to know coming from your first major win, whether that being in middle school or high school, or even the harder individual, how has your game improved the most, whether that be physical or mental?
I think overall everything has to improve when it comes to my body. Obviously over the past couple years I’ve had issues with injuries, so making sure that my body is good with all the travel.
And mentally I think the most I’ve learned myself is when I play in under-pressure situations. So being in contention and how to handle those situations. Because even though a lot of the people may not seem that I — that I show it, I definitely feel all the emotions internally.
So knowing how to process those emotions and not have to come out negatively. I learned a lot about myself through those situations.
What does history and your place in it, what does that mean to you in this game?
I feel like that’s a question that I haven’t really thought about too much.
I like to live in the present, so I don’t let myself think about that too much. I feel like that just comes with a little bit more added pressure.
Obviously like there is nothing better to me than seeing all the little kids come out and saying that I inspire them to pick up a golf club or I’m their favourite golfer. There is no better feeling than that. Hopefully I do get to inspire the next generation with the love that I have for the game and hopefully they have it too.
But when it comes to the history, I feel like I’m so caught up in being present that I haven’t thought about that too much.
Having played on the Epson Tour in 2016, how impressed are you with the girls out there now and how ready they are to come out here and compete?
I’m so grateful for my time on the Epson Tour. Obviously back in the day it was Symetra. It shaped me to be the player I am today. I would recommend it to everyone. There is just — it was a great experience for me. I was in between going to college for a year or playing on the Epson Tour for a year.
I’m so glad I took that route. I learned what it was like to play week in and week out and not seeing my coach after one tournament where.
I think that really, really helped me to be the player I am today. I know the year that I was out there I was out there with Ally, I was out there with Madelene. Like the scores doubled under par. I mean, the competition that year was so, so good.
I know every year the competition out there is getting better and better.
It’s great to see sponsors support the Epson Tour and raising the prize money, because those girls are good and it’s a great way to pave their way on to the LPGA.
What did a typical workout look like during that period?
Just a lot of strengthening in areas that — I don’t want to train like a golfer, I want to train like an athlete. Thankfully my team and I, we all have the same outlook on it. Just honestly, just a full body strengthening session.
I have a lot of consistency in my life. I see the same people every single day. I do the same stuff every single day. I try to stay in my own little bubble, and I feel like mentally that’s the best thing that you can do for your mental and physical health, is stay in a routine.
When you’re on a streak like this, are you aware of how well you’re playing or are you just in the moment just facing the next hole being one hole at time?
I’m just trying to stay very much so in the moment. I feel like with sports and golf in general, you have so much time to think, so I think that staying in the moment is something that I try really hard to focus on.
But obviously with that being said, I’m super proud of the events that I’ve played and the hard work that I’ve put in and the amount of work my team and I have put in to get those victories.
Do you have any concern that you’re peaking before the majors or before the Olympics?
I always try to stay very present. I don’t try to change my attitude for the majors. Just another regular LPGA tournament. The fields are usually just as strong in these events as in the majors. You see pretty much the same girls every week.
You play on amazing golf courses. Getting to represent the USA has always been a huge honour. Every time I’ve done it I’ve been super proud of doing it.
You don’t just play for yourself, you play for your country. Getting to do that on many stage as Solheim Cup, International Crown, and the Olympics, has been so much fun. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to do that again.
There is talk of a mixed event coming to the Olympics. Is that something you thought about, and how do you feel a mixed event on that stage could help the game?
I’ve heard about it. I think I read about it mainly on social. I think it would be really good for the game of golf. I don’t know how logistically they would handle it.
I would say since the Olympics happens every four years you don’t want it to be just like a regular event in a sense.
You want it to be something different. So I think that would be really fun, if there would be a team aspect involved as well as the individual.
So you would you like to see some different formats introduced to golf work?
I think there’s definitely been more noise in the past couple years regarding doing a team event with men and women. I think that would be a lot of fun. I would be a huge advocate for sure.
I think that’s a great way to grow the game and for us to also have a platform to show the men and everyone that’s watching that we’re just as good.
And I think that for the event to come together, that’s out of my hands, but I know that anyone that you talk to, all the players are big advocates for it.
WHAT’S IN NELLY’S BAG
DRIVER: TaylorMade Qi10 Max (10.5°)
FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade Stealth 2 3-wood (15°), TaylorMade Stealth 2 7-wood (21°)
IRONS: TaylorMade P·770 (5), TaylorMade P·7MC (6-PW)
WEDGES: TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 (50° SB, 54° SB)
PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Special Select Squareback 2 Prototype
BALL: TaylorMade TP5x
