THE MODERATOR: All right, welcome everyone here to the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Very pleased to be joined by our world No. 1, Nelly Korda. Nelly, I know it's been a few years since I played this event.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, two.
Q. Never at this course obviously. Welcome back to Los Angeles.
NELLY KORDA: Thank you.
Q. Tell us your initial thoughts on playing this week and El Cab.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I think it has actually similar qualities to PV when you're out there, Palos Verdes. It's a great golf course. Definitely tests a lot of parts of your game, so excited to see where the week will lead me.
Q. Know your game has been pretty good lately. How have you felt about your game and what about this course is going to suit you this week maybe?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it's been not the best start to the year for me, but I would say, you know, hopefully it'll continue trending in a good direction.
Haven't really felt like myself with my game out on the golf course, especially with my irons, so hopefully I've got that kind of dialed in it.
So, you know, that's golf. You're never going to be 100%. Hopefully I can kind of lead into a very busy part of the year going in, trending in the right direction.
Q. Just your thoughts as you head into this part of the year with the first major coming up after this week. Obviously got some good feelings there as well. Just your thoughts on how you prep for this long stretch ahead.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, we're getting kind of into the busy part of the year where there is lots of travel and amazing golf, lots of big tournaments coming up, too.
Very excited for that. This is my favorite part of the year where you're playing in a lot of major championships, and the first one being next week back in Houston. It has a very special place in my heart from last year, so very excited to go back.
Yeah, I mean, mentally and physically that will probably be the busiest time of year for every girl. For me, making sure my body and my mind is 100% is probably going to be the most important.
Q. Speaking of majors, checking to see if you watched the final round of the Masters and what you thought of Rory winning the career grand slam?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, hats off to him. Such an amazing accomplishment. But I did not watch at all. I don't think I watched one shot of that final round. I didn't even watch the Masters too much this year. I followed along mainly on social media.
Yeah, hats off to him. That's such an amazing accomplishment, especially with all the outside noise, all the pressure leading up to it. For him to kind of set that aside and go out there and play golf, especially with the kind of mistakes that he was making also during his round, is incredible to see. Very impressive.
Q. Curious if you messaged him or reached out.
NELLY KORDA: No. Yeah, I don't have his number, so, no.
Q. That's all right. Lastly from me, your thoughts -- obviously you won two of the different majors.
NELLY KORDA: Uh-huh.
Q. Your thoughts on where that -- if it's a goal or where you line up wanting to have the career grand slam and how that I guess works into your career goals?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, I would say that every tournament that I play I want to contend and win.
I think if you ask any professional golfer that's a goal at the end of your career, is to have all the majors under their belts.
For me if I start thinking about that I get too ahead of myself, so being very present and staying one tournament at a time is the mindset that I like to have.
But, I mean, obviously that would be an amazing accomplishment and would be one of my goals for sure.
Q. Just wanted to ask you about playing in this tournament in particular and what this means to you as far as having this opportunity after it's been so many years before playing here?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I think Walter and Shirley do such an amazing job at putting on a great event. They treat the players so well, which goes a long way for us.
They do just -- when it comes to golf course, when it comes to player experience, they do such an amazing job. I played in this event two years ago, so coming back to LA and playing in this area is always really nice.
And this is the first year at this golf course and I'm really impressed with it.
Q. Okay. So I know you said you played not at this golf course in particular. Were you familiar with this course at all as far as the knowledge of before it got renovated, and do you think that will impact how you play today -- I mean, this week and for the tournament?
NELLY KORDA: No. I have never played out here. Never even been in really this area before this week, so not familiar with it at all.
Q. Last question: I know you said you didn't. Watch the Masters. I also know you had a moment with Caitlin Clark in the WNBA recently at the draft.
NELLY KORDA: Uh-huh.
Q. Just curious, what do you do to prepare or what were you watching during this time?
NELLY KORDA: The draft?
Q. Yeah.
NELLY KORDA: The didn't watch the draft, no. But the time I got to spend with Caitlin last year was a lot of fun. She's super down to earth. It's great to see the draw that she has when she's competing in any type of sport.
So it's really cool to see the impact that she has on people and for her to grow her game as much as maybe another game is really cool to see.
Q. Thank you so much and good luck.
NELLY KORDA: Thank you.
Q. Nelly, yesterday the IOC announced they're going to add a team component to the Olympics. Curious your reaction to that news.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I think it's amazing. I know there has been a lot of talk about it for the last couple years. I think it's what will make the Olympics even more special, and I think it's another great way to grow the game.
You know, in a sense you kind of go into the Olympics and you always felt like you were playing another event, so this will be a really special component to the Olympics I think.
Q. You talked a moment ago about your slow start to the year. What have you found in the past works well for you to get back to feeling like yourself and getting your game back to where you feel more comfortable?
NELLY KORDA: Just playing, more reps. I haven't had -- sometimes it just clicks and sometimes takes a little bit longer. I think if I just put myself into under-pressure moments and I have more reps under my belt that gets me a little bit more comfortable with my game and out there competing.
So I think it's just about getting more high-pressure tournament reps in.
Q. Do you think you'll add more events to your schedule to try and get more of that?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, every year I shoot for about 20, 21 events, but I have been injured every single year so haven't really hit that. But that's the goal this year, is to get around 20 events.
I've kind of always dabbled with playing before a major, not playing before a major, so this year I'm going to -- if I can and I have the opportunity to play before a major, I will be doing that.
Q. And I'm curious how you got into LEGOs.
NELLY KORDA: (Laughter.) I've always loved LEGOs. Like I actually started earlier this year and it's just another way to get your mind off things.
I mean, you can go home when you're at tournaments, read a book or you can go watch your favorite show, but when you're not really interested in any of those two things, it's just another way to kind of get your mind off of golf.
It's very intricate. Sometimes it says nine and up and I'm like, how are nine year olds doing this? Even I'm having a hard time doing this.
So I love it. Steph and I did three the week of Arizona and we finished the first one really quickly and we were like, okay, let's just keep going. (Laughter.)
I've made it a thing of mine. I haven't done one this week, but at every airbnb I'm just going to leave a LEGO there. My sister said it was going to be -- she was like, that's expensive. I'm like, yeah, I know, but it's a form of entertainment for me.
Q. What's your favorite one you built so far?
NELLY KORDA: My favorite? Actually I think the orchid I built. I'm building little lion at home but I haven't finished that one yet.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports