LPGA: Nelly Korda overcomes canine chew, prepared for one more main

Nelly Korda has had a whirlwind of a season that has included six wins, with 5 coming consecutively. That additionally features a victory on the Chevron Championship—the season’s first main. However she has two missed cuts to her identify, too: on the U.S. Ladies’s Open and the KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship.

Add a canine chew to all of that, as properly.

A canine jumped up and bit Korda within the thigh whereas in a espresso store in Seattle, the place Sahalee Golf Membership welcomed the most effective feminine gamers on the planet for this yr’s KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship. Due to the incident, she needed to withdraw from the Girls European Tour’s Aramco Group Collection occasion in London.

However now she is prepared for the Amundi Evian Championship in France after spending a few weeks together with her household.

“It was good for all of us to be collectively,” Korda mentioned.

“The final time we had been collectively was November final yr, so it is actually healthful attending to spend time with household and recharge my batteries by doing that.”

Photograph by Matthew Lewis/Getty Pictures

Korda arrives on the Evian Resort feeling refreshed—a course the place she has had loads of success however has but to snag a victory. She tied for ninth on the Amundi Evian Championship in 2023 and completed in a tie for eighth the yr earlier than. Korda additionally completed T-19 in 2021.

“I feel the actually large phrase this week is endurance. You’ll be able to hit a extremely good shot and get a extremely unhealthy bounce, and you’ll hit a nasty shot and get a extremely good bounce. So it’s actually essential to be affected person out right here this week,” Korda defined.

“It positively took me a few years to determine it out. An important factor is to not get too forward of your self and never get too annoyed with the unhealthy bounces.”

When Korda first performed within the Evian in 2017, she missed the minimize. The next yr, she tied for 61st after which tied for twenty fifth in 2019. However that was earlier than she ascended to the highest of the game, the place she at the moment resides.

And but, even the most effective gamers wrestle with this sport, as Korda did at Lancaster Nation Membership and Sahalee over the previous two months. It’s not typically that you just see the most effective participant on the planet make a ten on a par-3, both.

Photograph by Matthew Lewis/Getty Pictures

“I feel I’ve gone by each emotion doable on the golf course this season, and it is solely July. You understand, I like this sport. I like the unhealthy. I like the great,” Korda mentioned.

“The unhealthy makes you recognize the great, and that’s simply how it’s. It’s sports activities. In the event you care so deeply about it, you’ll simply undergo the wave of the curler coaster. I’ve an important group and superb household that preserve me grounded and preserve my perspective constructive. All of them raise me up even once I’m down, they usually be sure that all of us keep very, very grounded and really, very humble as a result of generally you may get somewhat too forward of your self.

“However the sport humbles you sufficient itself, which I realized an important deal lately. That’s what I like about it. Even when I’m not taking part in properly, I’ll exit and provides it 100%, work more durable, and do the identical factor. I’m actually fortunate to have the assist system I’ve, and it’s the rationale I’m nonetheless right here.”

One might argue that Korda has probably the most stunning golf swing on the planet. However her sharp psychological acumen and extremely constructive outlook are additional explanation why she is at the moment the most effective participant on the planet.

That, coupled with the truth that she arrives on the Evian well-rested, has to guide you to imagine that she shall be part of the story in France as soon as extra.

Both manner, this occasion will function an appetizer for what’s to come back on the Olympics subsequent month. Korda already has a gold medal shining proudly in her workplace. Maybe she will win one other one, too. However her focus is squarely on the Evian, appropriately.

“I have a tendency simply to attempt to deal with what’s proper in entrance of me. I’ve by no means been to Paris. I’ve flown by Paris, so I am additionally excited to see Paris and perhaps be a little bit of a vacationer if I’ve time,” Korda mentioned.

“However when the week comes, I do know I’m going to be so excited. I’m positively going to observe the blokes on the ultimate day, root for the U.S., and get to observe the blokes that I grew up idolizing and watching on daily basis on TV.”

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. You should definitely take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.