Nelly Korda unfazed by dip ahead of Women’s PGA Championship
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Nelly Korda's form has dipped drastically recently, with two straight missed cuts following a blistering six tournament wins in seven starts earlier in the season.
PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON – World No. 1 Nelly Korda has shrugged off her recent dip in form, as she chases the third Major title of her golf career at this week’s Women’s PGA Championship.
The American is hoping for a better result after back-to-back missed cuts at the US Women’s Open and last week’s Meijer Classic, a sharp contrast to her blistering early season run of six tournament wins in seven starts.
Despite her poor performances, the 25-year-old is not hitting the panic button as she prepares to tackle the tight fairways of Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, where accuracy is paramount.
She has said that she prefers to focus on the positive aspects of her recent struggles, if any at all, maintaining that the occasional trough is inevitable at this level of golf.
“You can dwell on the negatives, but that will never lead you anywhere, so you try to look at the positives,” Korda said.
“That’s golf. I’m going to go through these situations so many times where I feel like I’m playing really well; and then I’ll go through a little lull where golf is the hardest thing in my life right now.
“I feel like that’s what grows myself as a person and what makes me appreciate the sport so much and makes me appreciate the wins and the highs and good shots.”
The two-time Major winner will indeed need to put behind the horror she experienced at the US Women’s Open as soon as possible if she were to move on and get back to winning ways.
Korda carded a shocking 10-over 80 in the first round of the Major, where she was done in by a septuple-bogey 10 on a par-three hole. She also could not recover from an opening 76 at last week’s Meijer Classic and missed her second straight weekend.
What she needs to do now is just to focus on the present and not the past, and she has prepared well for this week.
While accuracy off the tee at Sahalee is critical, Korda says she has no plans to rein in her signature, big-hitting style as she tackles the 6,731-yard, par-72 layout.
“Still going to be aggressive,” she insisted. “There’s a couple holes where I can’t hit driver, but majority of the round I will be hitting driver just because you don’t want a longer club into these greens.
“If you have the length you may as well – you have to hit it. This is the type of golf course where you just got to sack up and hit your driver.”
Korda is also not prone to “analysis paralysis” – in other words overthinking a problem – as she plots her way around this week’s championship course. Instead, she intends to play it as she sees it.
“You can write as many things into your yardage book and you can pick a game plan that you want to execute, but typically it doesn’t happen that way and you just got to adapt,” she explained.
“Everything is about adapting, that’s why I like to go out and just play the course and see the game I have that day.”
Korda, who won her first Major at the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship and her second at this season’s Chevron Championship, admits she also has one eye on the defence of her Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games in July.
“I have never been to Paris, and the one thing that I’m really looking forward to is the croissants probably on every corner,” she said. AFP, REUTERS
