Nelly Korda on New Wave Young Golfers: "I feel like a grandma out here"

Despite being just 26 years old, Nelly Korda is playing her ninth season on the LPGA Tour, and is considered a bit of a vet in that regard. She's far from being a grandma, but in the world of women's golf—the future is already the present, and seven amateurs will be teeing it up this week.

"You walk on the range every year at the start of the year and you're like, I don't recognize half of these girls. And I feel like a grandma out here," said Korda during her pre-tournament presser on Wednesday.

"But, yeah, that's the best thing about sports in general, is that you can never stay comfortable where you are because there is a new generation, new talent coming, and they're going to be better and have more knowledge."

Some of these up and comers we're already familiar with. Lottie Woad (21), Gianna Clemente (17), Carla Bernat Escuder (21)—these young women are the next one's up in the women's game and they're already competing in major championships before they even walk across their graduation stages.

Lydia Ko also chimed in on what it means to have these youngsters out and about during major weeks. "I feel like this is the third generation that I have been part of on Tour. When I first came on you're welcome Karrie Webb, Seri Pak were all still playing. Hadn't been long since Lorena [Ochoa] or Annika [Sorenstam] had retired. And then the middle, Inbee [Park], Stacy [Lewis], that was our prime," explained Ko.

"And then you were kind of the Jeeno [Thitikul], I guess Nelly fits in between the two as well. I think it's much more difficult to win. Not saying that it wasn't difficult to win then, but I think there is more diversity on the leaderboard; more players from Japan than I've ever seen, from Thailand and from the U.S. where I think it was a little bit more saturated when I first came on Tour.

So it just makes winning more difficult, but at the same time more fulfilling when you do accomplish it."

Ultimately, Korda said that she likes to stick to her game, focusing on her own process, especially on the bigger stages, but Korda plays a role in women's junior golf development with her namesake AJGA event, The Nelly Invitational.

In partnership with Chevron, the winner of The Nelly gets a special invite into the Chevron Championship for the following year.

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