Nelly Korda feeling 'cold' in Scotland as she hails Scottie Scheffler as 'one of a kind'

“As a Florida girl, I’m not used to it,” added the star attraction at this week’s ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, smiling. “But I always pack warm for these couple of weeks. My suitcases are heavy, so, yeah, I’m definitely going to go for some more layers.”

Korda is making her debut in the LET and LPGA co-sanctioned event, which is being staged at Dundonald Links for the fourth year in a row and also features Hannah Darling and Lottie Woad, two of the top UK amateurs in recent years, making their professional debuts on this occasion.

“I've never played links-style golf heading into The Open,” said Korda, referring, of course, to next week’s AIG Women’s Open, which is being held at Royal Porthcawl in South Wales for the first time. “So we'll see how it goes.”

Comparisons have been made between Korda, the dominant force in the women’s game over the past couple of years, and Scottie Scheffler, who cemented his position at the top of the men’s world rankings by landing his fourth major in total and second this season in The 153rd Open on Sunday.

“He's amazing,” said Korda of her compatriot. “Obviously hats off to him. Not only is he a great golfer, but just also a great role model, as well, for kids to look up to. I think he's one-of-a-kind. He's just really succeeding at what he's doing. He's enjoying it. He has his values and it's just very exciting to see.”

As was Korda going on a tear last year, winning six times before mid-May before adding a seventh title triumph later in the season. In comparison, this year is winless to this point. “Yeah, obviously I would love to lift a couple trophies by now,” she admitted. “But it's golf. You never know what's going to happen. As long as I'm sticking to my process and controlling what I can control, I'm just doing my best.”

Korda has been paired with Woad, who signed off her amateur career in style by winning the KPMG Irish Women’s Open then coming close to adding The Evian Championship, and Charley Hull in one of the marquee groups for the opening two rounds.

“Yeah, scheduling,” said Korda in reply to being asked if there had been a particular reason why she hadn’t teed up in this event before. “Honestly, it depends when Evian (one of the women’s majors). In July, all the courses in my hometown in Florida are shut for the entire month. So there's really no point going home. So I really wanted to play this event this year, and it just kind of worked out perfectly. Everything for me is always kind of scheduling.”

Some of her fellow players used the gap in between between France and here to do things away from golf. Lauren Coughlin, this week’s defending champion, went to Sweden with Maja Stark, the US Women’s Open winner this year. Former AIG Women’s Open winner Georgia Hall, meanwhile, got engaged to former DP World Tour player Paul Dunne, the pair making the announcement in a post on social media from Gleneagles.

“I went to Prague,” said Korda of what she’d done on her week off. “Yeah, obviously the longer you are on tour, I mean, the girls are getting to the age where they are getting married, they are getting engaged, having babies. So it's very exciting to see that and see people enter a new part of their life.”

This is Korda’s tenth year as a pro. “I see some girls that were born in 2004, 2003 and I'm like, ‘oh, my gosh’,” she said, laughing. “Definitely feel a bit of a veteran out here, but I'm still enjoying it as much as I was my rookie year.”

It’s no surprise to hear that pre-ticket sales for this week’s $2 million event are up in comparison to previous editions here, even though fans had turned up in decent numbers to watch Lydia Ko, in particular, but also the likes of Hall and Charley Hull.

Korda’s presence is a huge boost while knowledgeable Scottish golf fans will be keen to get a glimpse of Woad, who, before her recent exploits, won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year, when she was also the leading amateur in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

“Yeah, obviously very excited,” said the 21-year-old English player. “I’ve been thinking about making my professional debut for a long time and I’m excited to do it on home soil as well. It's going to be really fun. Being (at college) in America, I haven't played links golf that much this year, but I’ve played it a little bit since I've been back. I felt the transition to it is not too bad since I grew up playing amateur stuff on links golf and kind of know how to flight the ball down and stuff like that, which always really helps playing in the wind.”

On her pairing with Korda and Hull, she admitted: “It’s going to be a fun couple of days. Growing up, I watched a lot of the English pros, so being paired with Charley is going to be really cool.”

In addition to Darling, the Saltire is being flown by Gemma Dryburgh, Kelsey MacDonald, Kylie Henry and Lorna McClymont, who, after being on the same Curtis Cup-winning side at Sunningdale last year, has made a promising start to her professional career on a mix of the LET, LET Access and Sunshine Ladies’ Tour.