Jessica Korda has two goals for her return visit to Canberra - defend her Australian Open title and enjoy the final two weeks of teenage life.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The popular 19-year-old, daughter of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr, can tick both off the bucket list when she tees off at Royal Canberra on Thursday.
Korda's stunning victory at last year's tournament was at Royal Melbourne, but she's no stranger to the course having played the Royal Canberra Classic.
She's hoping to use that change of scenery to her advantage and fly under the radar in a star-studded field containing world No.1 Yani Tseng and Australian veteran Karrie Webb.
''It's a lot of fun to experience the whole defending champion thing,'' Korda said. ''I've never done it before and I'm enjoying it. If it was Royal Melbourne it would probably be a different story, but it's Royal Canberra and I feel like it's a tournament I hopefully can contend in.''
Korda took a week off after the Ladies Masters on the Gold Coast for a trip to Melbourne, which included rounds at Metropolitan, Victoria and Royal Melbourne.
Handling pressure won't be a worry, even though she's well aware of the extra attention due to her father's exploits. Petr Korda won the 1998 Australian Open.
''There's always eyes on me in Australia regardless, just the last name and what my dad's accomplished,'' said Jessica Korda, who is ranked No. 72.
''He played tennis, I play golf, so there's not the comparisons to win what he did.
''The only comparison you can make is my dad was world No. 2, and I would like to beat that.''
While her father is the leader on the tennis court, Korda made it clear who has more talent with a golf club.
''I think I was 10, we played a golf course in the Czech Republic and I beat my dad by a couple of strokes and I was really proud of myself. It's been all downhill for him since then.''