THE MODERATOR: All right, pleased to welcome Nelly Korda, our defending champion here at the Bradenton Country Club. Nelly, home game for you.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah.
Q. How excited are you to defend I know DriveOn title here right in front of the home crowds?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I thought Rose was defending champion.
Q. Rose is defending champion of the Founders Cup and you're the course's defending champion.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah. It feels great. It's kind of weird sleeping in my own bed. I feel like my routine is a little off.
But it feels great to be back here. I have not been in this area in a year though. I live like 45, 50 minutes away. My parents are 15 minutes. So many of my friends have already asked for tickets.
So that's probably the most exciting part of playing in my home down, is having all the local support.
Q. I was going to ask who we could expect to support you this week. You just answered that. I'm hoping you can take us back to a year ago when you were here and some of the key moments, especially in the final round. You really dug deep. What do you remember the most from that year, from last year?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, gosh, I just couldn't get really anything going on Sunday, and then my last two holes, I mean, to go eagle, birdie, especially with the pin on 18, was pretty incredible.
I mean, I don't know where I pulled that out of but I did. (Smiling.)
But, you know, made me realize that even though Jay did say that there is no chance that I could win going to 17 tee, that even though there was a bunch of adversity, anything can happen in golf.
Q. I know you sort of denied Lydia her early Hall of Fame entry. She's in now.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah.
Q. Do you guys ever joke about it, talk about it?
NELLY KORDA: I feel better now. No, we didn't. I did send her a message after the playoff though. You know, we've been friends for a really long time. We've played in so many groups together throughout our careers on tour.
She's always someone that I really enjoy talking to and playing with. There is no bad blood, I hope. On my side there is not, but I don't know about hers.
Q. You mentioned friends coming out. Do you have any non-golf friends who come out to watch that really have no idea what it is that you exactly do?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah. Well, my best friend, she was a tennis player, Klara. She was out here last year. She told me I almost gave her a heart attack; same with my parents.
Yeah, typically a lot of my friends are athletes. They understand that when you don't talk to them for two, three weeks it's just because I'm busy and traveling.
So a lot of my friends are just athletes.
Q. So there was a meeting last night. Slow play was discussed.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah.
Q. Tell me your initial thoughts on the new program.
NELLY KORDA: Finally. Yeah, I'm very excited about it. I think that's one of the things that I've just noticed over my time on Tour, is that we used to go from five hours, under five hours, to now you it's just five and a half, typically, our rounds.
So I think that implementing harsher rules is going to be good for the game of golf. They were saying at the meeting, at the end of the day we're a form of entertainment. If we're taking really long out there, I mean, that's not entertaining.
Q. What would you say was the general reaction in the room to the policy?
NELLY KORDA: I would say it was pretty positive around, yeah. No one really -- I think it was more of people were asking how the rules officials time exactly. Like what if a rules official times -- they don't see the ball still moving on the green and they start the timer, but it's not necessarily you're time to hit because the other person -- theoretically the ball is still moving, right, so your time shouldn't start yet.
There were questions about that. I think over time that's going to be ironed out, and I think everyone is just -- it's going to be better for everyone that the rounds are going to be moving a little faster.
Q. Obviously got your week started off last week at place that you clearly love.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah.
Q. After last season, I know everybody probably has so many expectations and I know you do a good job of blocking those out. Did it feel good to play as good as you did last week, with maybe some expectations coming into 2025?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, for sure. I really enjoy playing golf and traveling and especially getting to do that in front of my family. I think having my parents there and Jess on the weekend just kind of disconnected me from golf when I was not on the golf course, too.
But there is just something about having your people there and their support that just kind of eases you a little bit more.
But to get that first tournament kind of under my belt and know that like what I worked on kind of in my short offseason was good.
Q. I know you talked a lot about confidence and you seem like you have plenty of it on the golf course and carry yourself with a lot of confidence. How confident are you this week playing in front of your hometown crowd and having played here and won here in spectacular fashion last year?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, confidence is funny with golf. It can take forever to build and you can lose it immediately. For me the best thing to do is just dial in on the shot that I have right in front of me. If I concentrate on that and that only, I think that I don't really struggle too much with my confidence.
Where I start to get a little bit iffy with my confidence is when I start to listen to the outside noise and to think ahead of myself or what I'm going to do with the next shot. That's when I start to lose my confidence and more of my concentration.
Q. Obviously here at the Founders Cup, and we always talk about the importance of 13 Founders while we are here. What you've been doing on the golf course is taking what they started and really growing it and pushing it forward. How proud are you to contribute to that legacy as the LPGA experiences its 75th year and the Founders Cup this week?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, my favorite thing about playing out here and getting to do what I do for a living is growing the game and inspiring the next generation. If a kid comes up to me during the round I will always sign their hat, flag, anything. That's my favorite thing about this game.
Hopefully the 13 Pioneers that grew our game to what it is today, hopefully we can all continue to do that for the years to come.
Q. Obviously you've been playing the Founders Cup for quite some bit here on Tour. Is there any kind of Founder's moment that you remember or that sticks out in your mind? Anything with Shirley or Marilynn while they were still with us?
NELLY KORDA: Honestly for me it was just seeing them in Arizona back then on the 18th green and embracing with them. I didn't really get to know them too well, but seeing them come out and support us and to say how proud they are of us was always really nice to hear.
Obviously they took our Tour this far, and hopefully we can continue doing that for them, taking it further and further.
Q. This tournament also typically celebrates Pioneers. Wondering if there is an older player who has been especially influential to you. Obviously Hollis.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, Hollis for sure because we kind of live in the same area; she's a member out here. Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel. I love them. They're the greatest. I played the Kathy Whitworth Invitational growing up so I really liked getting to know and spend time with Kathy. Growing up we exchanged a few messages here and there.
Probably the people that I talk to the most are Meg and Beth, yeah they're the greatest.
Q. Two questions. First, what is your game plan for the upcoming time off?
NELLY KORDA: My game plan? I'm going to take some time off. I'm not going to touch a club. I don't know. Maybe for a week, week and a half. And then get in the gym and start practicing.
Q. And lastly, on the pace of play, you said in the past that if you were a fan you would've been annoyed. Wondering what kind of impact you think the rules can have. Do you think this will draw new fans? Do you think this will bring back fans that maybe didn't want to be out on the course five plus hours?
NELLY KORDA: I think it's just going to be a positive impact on the game of golf. I feel like it's not just women's golf that's kind of struggling with it. I think the entire game of golf is struggling with slow play.
It's a very, very big topic across all tours. I think it's just going to be better for the fans. They're going to be -- instead of losing half your fans on the back nine, I feel like look they're going to stick with it and watch the ending of it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports