A fresh approach at Champions Academy

Jessica Korda admits the attention started getting to her after she shot Sunday's low round of 4-under par 69 at the U.S. Women's Open in June at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.

When you're 15 and about to enter your sophomore year of high school, international sporting fame can be a burden.

But the Bradenton Prep student refused to let the acclaim take her focus from her goals. Three weeks after tying for 19th place on the grandest stage in women's golf, Korda birdied the final hole of the McDonald's Betsy Rawls Girls Championship in Malvern, Pa., for another 69 and a one-stroke victory from Alison Lee of Valencia, Calif.

"It (her final round at the U.S. Open) was a big deal. It was the first LPGA event I'd ever been to," said Korda, who returned last week to Bradenton after a month's vacation in the Czech Republic.

"But I have to look to the future and concentrate on the tournaments I have coming up the rest of the year. My goal as of now is just to get better. I'd like to play on the LPGA Tour, but you never know what will happen in three years."

Korda's name should be familiar to tennis fans who recall her father Petr Korda, who won the 1998 Australian Open. Dad carried the bag for Jessica all four days of the Women's Open.

The elder Korda and fellow Czech tennis great and Bradenton resident Ivan Lendl - whose daughters Marika (18), Isabelle (17) and Daniela (15) are talented junior golfers - have enrolled their progeny at the newly formed Champions Academy at The Founders Golf Club in Sarasota. Marika, a Pendleton School graduate, left recently for her freshman season at UCF.

Ivan Lendl owns the Champions Academy. The girls' teacher is Tim Sheredy, a senior instructor for 11 years at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy at IMG Academies, where Korda and the Lendls previously trained.

Judging from her demeanor Monday, Korda could not wait to get back home to Bradenton to resume training. The 5-foot-10 Korda is an athletic, flexible sort who can drive the ball 260 yards, but understands there is more to success than sheer power.

"I have a lot to learn about course management. Before I came to Tim, I just knew I had to hit it somewhere on the fairway," Korda said. "Now I know I have to hit it in a specific area to set up the next shot.

"Tim knows when to give me more work and when to lay off a little, when to have fun and when to be serious. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm around people who know how to make it fun."

Sheredy, whose roster of students includes several touring professionals and more than 20 Division I college players, also is working at the Champions Academy with Braden River High sophomore Kristin Swindell and Kelly Shon of Port Washington, N.Y.

Sheredy emphasizes the importance of course management and the short game to scoring, setting up games, drills and exercises that allow players to chart their progress while keeping practice enjoyable.

"Tim knows exactly how to coach every student and he realizes no one is the same," said Marika Lendl, who plans to try LPGA Qualifying School later this season. "The facility at The Founders Club is really good, and you can slip around the course and practice the shots you need to work on. And there are so few students that everyone is going to get a lot of time, and it will help them improve faster."

Sheredy plans to team with Ivan Lendl, also an outstanding golfer, to impart a strong mental approach.

"He can help them with the little steps it takes to get ready - how to practice correctly and do the extra things needed to succeed," Sheredy said.

"We want to make sure our students are 100 percent prepared for every tournament they play in, and having his knowledge in that area is a big advantage. He will admit he was not the most talented tennis player, but he made up for it with hard work. What Tiger Woods has done for golf, Ivan Lendl did in terms of working out and training.

"Ivan also creates their own individualized workout regimens and conducts their physical training," Sheredy added.

Isabelle Lendl - who has a twin, Caroline, who is an aspiring equestrian - epitomizes the spirit of the Champions Academy when she says her top accomplishments in golf "are yet to come." In 2006, she won the American Junior Golf Association Thunderbird International, the MCI Junior Heritage and the Scott Robertson Memorial.

She is seeking to regain that lofty status soon and said Sheredy and the Champions Academy offer the ingredients she needs to get there.

"I think our personalities work well together. He is very knowledgeable, flexible and understanding, and he can sense if I'm kind of out of it without me telling him," Isabelle said.

"In everybody's career at certain times, you're going to slump. It's not fun at all, but I believe nothing is handed to you. You have to work for it, and (a slump) can be a gift in disguise because you'll really value it when you're hitting good shots."