Q. Nelly Korda is with us now at the 2026 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Nelly, thoughts please on your opening round.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it was solid. Honestly just made one bad swing, which ended up in a double.
But overall, pretty happy with my day.
Q. 16 your tee pick up was quick. You knew right away?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, yeah, I just overturned it. By now you just feel it when it's bad. So the wind was off the right and I actually I think just made a too fast of a swing and I was kind of in between clubs.
It's a pretty intimidating tee shot and I just didn't really like the way I hit it off the start.
Q. What's the club selection you go through in your mind for that hole?
NELLY KORDA: It's between a 3-wood and driver. You can't lay it too far back because then you're blocked out by the trees and you have a long shot into a pretty difficult green that is pretty undulated, so got risk it.
Q. Knowing you had a pretty good gap after round one of the U.S. Women's Open, does it just, you know you've done this, you can do this?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it's definitely a confidence boost for sure, but every tournament is so different just based off how you're feeling, how you're hitting it, the course, if it suits your eye or not.
So I put myself into a good position. I'm really happy with the first day. You can't win it on the first day but you can definitely lose it. Yeah, just overall happy with a solid start.
Q. There is a lot of little girls out there with your name on their back.
NELLY KORDA: So cute, yeah.
Q. What was that like for you?
NELLY KORDA: I saw them when I walked up to the first tee. I saw they had the No. 13 jersey but I didn't know my name was on the back of all of them. It was a cute surprise after a few holes when I noticed them. A lot of posters with, Go, Nelly, go.
I mean, they take so much time out of their day to do that, so come out and support us, and it was quite amazing. I've never had that before at a tournament and they were all so cute.
When they wanted me to sign anything during the round I did it. I had a lot of -- I had a smile on my face through the majority of the day when I saw them.
Q. Am I correct in that your first professional event as a fan would've been at Interlocken, is that right?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, not too far from here, right? It was -- was it '08?
Q. '08, yeah. What do you remember about that, watching your sister?
NELLY KORDA: I remember having a trampoline in the back of the house, having a great time. No, it was so fun. I mean, it was fun to see my sister on is that stage and come out and support her and be a little fan girl. She took me inside the locker room a couple times that week, too.
Q. Nelly, I noticed when you were coming up on 18 you kind of peeked over at the leader. Thoughts on what she did out there today with 63?
NELLY KORDA: Oh, was it? I was honestly just -- I didn't even know. I did, but it wasn't like I was really looking, looking. I was kind of just looking that direction.
63 is always impressive on in I golf course, especially at a major championship.
Q. Did the conditions change? You guys tee'd off it was kind of chilly and a little more windy.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, definitely. I think it doesn't fly as far, right, so when it gets a little warmer and the skies clear you start to hit it kind of the distances you're normally used to.
Q. On 16 was the wind down?
NELLY KORDA: No. I just didn't hit it good, yeah.
Q. My name is Elise.
NELLY KORDA: Hi.
Q. We were really excited to see you. Were you excited to see us?
NELLY KORDA: Yes. I was super excited. You guys made my day so much better. Thank you.
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