"Tough waking up this morning"- Nelly Korda ready to 'stay in bed all day' after hectic start to Kroger Queen City Championship

Nelly Korda completed her first round at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati yesterday. Ashleigh Buhai is in the lead after the first round, but Korda, Lydia Ko, Angel Yin, and Gaby Lopez are all within two strokes of her. Speaking to reporters after the round, Korda joked that she was ready to rest after shooting five under.

During the post-round press conference, when asked by reporters if she'd been able to get any good sleep recently, the World No. 1 said (via ASAP Sports):

"I'm looking forward to the stay-in-bed-all-day vibe today. It was definitely tough kind of waking up this morning, but I do love competing and I love being out here," she said.

Korda added that seeing all the fans that have come out to watch her play is motivating as well, continuing:

"So overall, you know, everyone that played last week is going to be tired. I'm just trying to take it one step at a time, know that my energy levels aren't the greatest, but I'm still motivated and 100%," she added.

Korda is currently tied for eighth in the competition and will tee off at 1:20 PM EST alongside Minjee Lee and Jeeno Thitikul.

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Nelly Korda discusses her start in Queen City Championship

Nelly Korda discussed her start to the tournament (Imagn)

Despite the overall exhaustion she's experiencing now, Nelly Korda has played well. In her post-round presser, she was asked if the good play provided enough impetus to continue pushing amidst the physical demands:

She replied (via ASAP Sports):

"Any single time you get to play a bogey-free round I feel like, one, it's super encouraging and a little bit motivating because there is just no greater feeling than minimizing your mistakes or making no mistakes," Nelly Korda said.

Talking about what she found 'fun' when it came to golf, she said:

"That's what's so fun about golf. Golf is the game of misses, right? You're always going to make mistakes. Whenever you get to play a bogey-free round I feel like it motivates you, and hopefully I can take that energy into the next three days," she added.

While she has started well, Korda has three more rounds against good golfers to keep that pace up and try to earn her seventh win of 2024.

Acknowledging the challenging conditions of the course, Korda said:

"Yeah, it's funky. Some parts of the fairways are really soft. If you hit into some parts you won't get any roll, but you'll get a springboard all of a sudden. Just depends on the bounce and where you hit it," she said.

She tees off for the second round today at 1:20 pm EST and is in a good position to make the cut and play the weekend.