HUGGAN: Nelly lives according to Korda

Nelly Korda provides media at The Grange Golf Club.

It is difficult to imagine a sportier family than the Kordas, a fact that is even more true when a member of the five-member clan competes in Australia. Father and tennis star Petr won the men's singles at the 1998 Australian Open. Older daughter Jessica has the title at the Australian Open in 2012 at Royal Melbourne. And son Sebastian, who mimics his father, won the singles championships for boys at the Australian Open in 2018.

That leaves Mama, Regina – good enough on the tennis court to represent her native Czech Republic in singles at the 1988 Olympic Games – and, more immediately, the younger daughter Nelly, one of the favorites to the ISPS Handa Women & # 39; s Australian Open to win here in The Grange this week. The 20-year-old, a winner on the LPGA Tour as recently as last October at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship, is one of the most exciting and talented young players in the women's game.

"I still have to figure out how to play in Australia," she says with a smile. "Last year I think I was in every bunker, the courses are different here, so I'm going to take some time this week to prepare myself."

Which only underlines how the baby of the Korda family still has a lot to learn about life on tour. Speaking to the gathered press just before she took her first look at the front nine on the western track, where Jin Young Ko claimed the first place last year, Nelly was quick to "increase consistency & # 39; to identify as its main goal in the weeks and months to come.

"I've always struggled to do that in the middle of the year, when the tournaments are getting big and fast," she says. "It's easy to get a bit tired, so my dad and I have been looking at my schedule for the coming months, and I'm not going to play more than four in a row this year, that's my maximum. I find it hard to stay mentally strong after three weeks of that kind of schedule, it's hard to feel 100 percent when you're tired and that can lead to more injuries I know when I'm tired My shots have the tendency to go all over again.

"Play too much is both mental and physical Take this week I fly to Thailand on Sunday evening Then a week later I do the same with Singapore Both are long flights and both are at night So it's easy to I get Monday to recover, then I play Tuesday, then there's a pro-am on Wednesday, then I'm in the tournament, and that's how it goes. "

Nevertheless, this inexperience has not influenced Korda too often or too often over the last 12 months. Last year, the world number 16 missed just four cuts in 22 starts, grabbed more than $ 1m in prize money, won that first victory and established itself as a strong contender for the American Solheim Cup side that will defend the trophy against Europeans in September in Gleneagles in Scotland. However, by making the team, Nelly would only become the second Korda to appear in the biennial match. Sister Jessica was part of the first American side she had lost on home soil in 2013 and re-qualified in 2017 before the injury forced her to retreat.

"It would be very cool to represent my country," says Nelly.

As we said, quite the family.