World No 1 Nelly Korda believes patience will be the key to overcoming the “funky” challenge posed by the venue for the Evian Championship.
Evian Resort Golf Club is a picturesque course in a French spa town on the shores of Lake Geneva, but features small greens, severely undulating fairways and a par-three second situated across a road from the rest of the course.
Korda’s two major victories to date have come in the Chevron Championship and KMPG Women’s PGA Championship, although she has finished eighth and ninth in her last two starts in the Evian Championship.
“I think the really big word this week is patience,” Korda said. “You can hit a really good shot and get a really bad bounce, and you can hit a bad shot and get a really good bounce. So it’s really important to be patient out here this week.
“Definitely took me a couple of years to kind of figure it out. I think the most important thing out here is not to get too ahead of yourself and not get too frustrated with the bad bounces.
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“It’s definitely a different style of golf course. Ball is above your feet, the ball is below your feet, you’re playing a lot to the breaks of the contour of the greens, playing for bounces. It’s a fun, funky style of golf, but I think it’s cool to play as well.”
Korda won six times in seven starts earlier this season but has missed the cut in her last three events, including two majors, and was forced to withdraw from last week’s Aramco Team Series event in Hemel Hempstead after being bitten by a dog.
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Highlights from the final day of the Aramco Team Series London from the Centurion Club
The 25-year-old, who had been due to defend her title at the Centurion Club, was reluctant to go into detail about the incident, which took place in a coffee shop in Seattle.
“Yeah, just I got bit in my leg. Just had to go through some medical things,” she said.
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Asked if she was 100 per cent fit, Korda added: “Yeah, getting better.”
The Evian Championship has been brought forward in the schedule to accommodate the Paris Olympics, where Korda will defend the gold medal she won in Tokyo in 2021.
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Korda shares her thoughts ahead of her Olympics debut in Paris and joked she is most excited about having a croissant!
“I’m so excited,” she said. “Any time I get to represent my country it’s just such a really big honour. To get to do that at the Olympics is going to be an amazing experience again.
“It’s going to be a little sad not getting to go with my sister (Jessica). I think that’s what was so special about 2021, getting to share that experience with Jess. But I’m just really excited to represent the USA at the Olympics again.”
Who will win the Evian Championship? Watch all four rounds live on Sky Sports! Live coverage begins on Thursday from 11am on Sky Sports Mix and – for free – on the Sky Sports Golf YouTube channel. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more with NOW.