Nelly Korda picked up where she left off and shot her second consecutive round of 65 to build a commanding six-shot lead at the Chevron Championship on Friday in Houston.
The World No. 2 is well set up to vie for her third career major title and her first since winning this event at a different course in 2024.
Korda carded five of her eight birdies Friday on the back nine at Memorial Park Golf Course, including Nos. 17 and 18, to reach 14-under 130 for the championship. Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, who shot a bogey-free 69, is a distant second at 8 under.
Amateur Farah O’Keefe also posted a bogey-free 69 to move to 7 under, tied for third with Ryann O’Toole and South Korea’s Ina Yoon, both of whom had 68.
“I just feel really good,” Korda said. “I mean, I’m just hitting it in the spots that I want to, missing it into the spots that I want to. The communication between (caddie Jason McDede) and I is really good where if there is a tucked pin and it’s kind of stupid, I would rather give myself a longer lag putt and give myself the best opportunity for par. That’s kind of the way we been playing the past two days, not taking kind of stupid risks.”
Korda is so far building on a tremendous start to her season. She won the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and logged three straight second-place finishes after that.
“It feels very good,” Korda said of her run of success, “but you know that it’s golf so you just try to enjoy it as much as possible because you’re going to get bad breaks, hit bad shots. … So you just kind of try to soak it up as much as possible.”
Tavatanakit, the winner of this major in 2021 when it was named the ANA Inspiration, went out in the afternoon and managed three birdies.
“Chasing, leading, whatever, I feel like I’m just glad I have this opportunity to be in the mix,” she said. “I don’t know. I don’t know if this is good or bad. Like I just want to go out there the next two days and just do my best and accept whatever comes and just play really freely.”
O’Keefe, a native of nearby Austin and a member of the University of Texas golf team, is making the most of her sponsor invitation into the major. While more experienced pros struggled around her, O’Keefe made all pars on the front nine before holing birdies at Nos. 11, 14 and 18.
She’s the first amateur in tournament history to open with two straight rounds in the 60s.
“I think I am going to just stay happy,” O’Keefe said. “I had a really good caddie in Scotland and he just kept saying, ‘Happy days.’ Every time we end up in a bunker, ‘Happy days. We’re good.’ I think that positivity — if you beat down on yourself, really if you’re negative in any way it hurts you. So I’m just grateful to be here and happy to be representing what I get to represent. I get to represent Texas, the University of Texas, my family.”
O’Toole is a surprise name to see near the top of the leaderboard, as a 39-year-old ranked 219th in the world with one career LPGA victory. She has never had a top-10 finish in 11 prior starts at this event.
O’Toole has her mind on her brother, who was in an offroad vehicle accident in January and spent a month in the ICU.
“I was up at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. working out and to the hospital by 7:30, 8 a.m., at the hospital all day, and would be relieved in the afternoon to go practice kind of thing,” O’Toole said.
“… I don’t know, like you never know when your last event is going to be or whatever. I’m just happy to be here. On top of going to Q-School last year, that was kind of a kick in the butt. I went just saying, ‘Look, if I make it, great. Then I have control of my future. If I don’t, I’m going to start the next chapter.'”
Yan Liu of China (70) is alone in sixth at 6 under and Megan Khang (67), Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura (67), Sweden’s Maja Stark (70) and France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (71) are tied at 5 under.
The cut line landed at 2 over par, and the most notable name to miss the weekend was World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand. She bogeyed two of her last five holes with one birdie and missed the weekend by one stroke as she continues to seek her first career major.
Rose Zhang, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and South Korea’s Jin Young Ko also wound up at 3 over.
Two-time major champ Stacy Lewis, 41, posted 79-77 (12 over) in the final event of her LPGA career.
“I was around some older players when they retired and I saw this just happiness in them,” Lewis said. “They weren’t sad anymore. They didn’t miss it.
“I got to that point early last year where I was just — didn’t want to practice as much and I was just thinking about the end. It made me excited instead of sad.”
