You possibly can be taught so much from watching Nelly Korda play golf.
Her swing is picture-perfect. Her tempo, flawless. Her skill to bounce again after a mishit, additionally spectacular.
However she struck a chord on the U.S. Girls’s Open on Tuesday, when she fielded a query about expectations and priorities.
“I don’t suppose some [expectations] annoy me. I believe, clearly, with the place I’m in, there are going to be expectations,” Korda mentioned.
“I don’t need to lose who I’m. I’m going to all the time keep true to who I’m as a result of on the finish of the day after I fall asleep, I have to be happy with who I’m.”
Korda has gained six of her final seven occasions on the LPGA Tour, with one coming on the Chevron Championship, the season’s first main. She most just lately gained on the Mizuho Americas Open, regardless of having her “C and D” sport throughout Sunday’s ultimate spherical.
So she has each purpose to really feel happy with herself and her accomplishments this yr, which solely Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez have ever completed earlier than her.
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She might even bask within the glory of all of it, particularly on the heels of her Met Gala look. No person would blame her. However that’s not who she is.
As a substitute, Korda doesn’t care what others suppose. She cares about herself, her well-being, and her household—much like how Scottie Scheffler has operated all through his profession and historic 2024 season.
“For me, I want to offer 100% of myself each single day to not simply my golf, my household, my exercises, and life exterior of golf,” Korda mentioned.
“That’s the primary factor for me.”
Korda has a life exterior of golf that she cherishes. She is shut together with her household, typically spending extended durations with them.
After her most up-to-date victory at Liberty Nationwide, instantly following her profitable press convention, Korda went straight to the airport to catch a flight dwelling—to get straight to her household.
She additionally took two months off earlier this yr.
That absence was not attributable to damage. As a substitute, she hung out together with her family members, traveled with them, and cherished each second.
“I like to get away and spend numerous time with my household,” Korda added.
“As a child, my mother and father actually instilled that household values and hanging round our household and simply disconnecting from the world has actually been vital to us.”
Within the age of social media, wherein folks evaluate one another to 1 one other on a regular basis—primarily for self-deprecating causes—everybody ought to embrace Korda’s sentiments.
She has no expectations of herself and goes at her personal pace.
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She focuses on what she believes in: having a holistic way of living that revolves round her household.
However life has its obstacles. Anybody who has ever picked up a golf membership can relate to that.
With the load of the LPGA now on her shoulders, Korda might face these quickly sufficient.
Others actually have earlier than. Earlier than Korda emerged because the LPGA’s greatest star, folks positioned a tsunami of expectations on Michelle Wie West and Lexi Thompson. Pundits dubbed each prodigies as the celebrities of the long run, however they went on to win a mixed two main championships, far lower than what anybody predicted.
That’s to not say that they failed. Each gamers had remarkably profitable careers.
Their values don’t differ enormously from Korda’s, both. Thompson even spoke concerning the significance of her family members on Tuesday when she introduced her retirement on the U.S. Girls’s Open.
However being underneath the highlight is not any straightforward activity, particularly in in the present day’s day and age.
The lights are all the time on, the cameras are always rolling, and anyone, someplace, all the time has an opinion and an expectation of another person.
Maybe that’s the reason Korda doesn’t have any herself.
“I am going into each week eager to win, however there’s a sense that generally that’s not lifelike,” Korda defined.
“I don’t suppose I’ve any expectations. I simply attempt to be very, very pure and really, very trustworthy with everybody round me, and I hope that they see that I’m happy with the person who I’m on the finish of the day, and that’s how I hope that I develop the sport.”
Listening to what Korda mentioned speaks volumes about her character and dignity.
Nevertheless it additionally sheds mild on why she has had a lot success.
Who is aware of what number of extra trophies Korda will deliver dwelling to her household, an completed set of athletes in their very own proper.
Nonetheless, one factor stays sure: her values communicate for themselves. Everybody ought to look to her not as a barometer of expectations on the course however as a beacon of morals that revolve across the those that matter most: household.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. Remember to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.