World’s No. 1 Korda ready to tame the ‘beast’
FOR ALL of Nelly Korda’s accomplishments at just 25 years old, the world’s No. 1 women’s golfer has yet to finish better than a tie for eighth at the US Women’s Open.
She will take her 10th crack at the prestigious major at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania this week. A winner of six of her past seven starts, Korda has never been in better form ahead of a US Women’s Open.
“I’ve definitely played some really solid golf,” she acknowledged. “This golf course is a beast.
“Off the tee, if you don’t hit it into the fairways, it sinks down into the rough. These greens are small and very, very undulated. It’s a beast of a golf course.”
Korda has successfully tackled most of the challenges thrown her way on the course this year, including the first major of the year at the Chevron Championship.
Korda attributes her record-setting form to having her “team” around her. That includes coach Jamie Mulligan traveling to most tournaments this year to provide on-site swing instruction along with caddie Jason McDede.
Korda also is careful in planning her schedule in order to provide breaks from the tour grind. After playing 25 holes on Sunday at the Chevron to win her fifth consecutive start, Korda withdrew from the following week’s tournament at Los Angeles to recharge.
She has played two events since, winning the Mizuho America’s Open before taking another week off ahead of the US Women’s Open.
“I feel like that’s just everyone in general. That’s everyone who works your regular 9-5 job, just got to get away for the weekend,” she said.
“I think that in a sense it’s something that I’ve had to also work on and something that has come natural to me.
“As a kid, my parents really instilled that family values and hanging around our family and just disconnecting from the world has really been important to us.” – Field Level Media