Nelly Korda with another 65 leaves
the field behind at Chevron Championship
[April 25, 2026]
By DOUG FERGUSON
HOUSTON (AP) — Nelly Korda is playing with so much control even her
misses are right where she's aiming. She birdied her last two holes
Friday with exquisite irons shots for another 7-under 65, giving her
a daunting six-shot lead going into the weekend at The Chevron
Championship.
Korda has made only one bogey through 36 holes at Memorial Park,
missing a 3-foot putt on the sixth hole after a nifty chip from
below the green.
Otherwise, the two-time major champion has been practically flawless
in reaching 14-under 130 that makes her appear to be playing a
different course.
“I'm comfortable with my game," Korda said. "I think where I’m the
most comfortable is definitely with my mindset of knowing when I
mess up I’ll figure it out. Sometimes I think you get stuck in
wanting to play well and wanting to be at the top always that you
have this tension of not wanting to make a mistake.
“I think there is a power in knowing it’s OK to make a mistake and
just bounce back.”
Patty Tavatanakit had another bogey-free round with a 69. Another
shot behind were Ina Yoon (68), Ryan O'Toole (68) and Texas junior
Farah O'Keefe (69), one of five amateurs to make the cut.
O'Keefe didn't get her invitation to The Chevron until after the
Augusta National Women's Amateur three weeks ago, and she's making
the most of it. She played bogey-free in the second round, though
she only managed one birdie on the par 5s.
But her scrambling saved her, and the 20-year-old didn't seem all
that fazed by Korda on the verge of running away with this major.
“I compared it to Rory (McIlroy) at the Masters. You never know what
can happen in golf,” O'Keefe said, referring to McIlroy losing a
six-shot lead on the weekend at the Masters before going on to win
for the second straight time.
“There is so much random out there that you can get a bad break and
it’s just kind of that thing,” she said. “My dad and I called it
that golf is a staring contest and all you have to do is not blink
first. So I’m just trying not to blink. Just trying to keep playing
my game, and whatever that ends up at the end of the week is where
it ends up.”
Korda, however, has hit her stride again. She won the season opener
in a weather-shortened event, and has played in the final group in
all four of her tournaments.
She looks calm and poised, and there is power.
Korda began her great closing stretch with a 3-wood into the wind
from 221 yards that landed in the perfect spot to roll out 15 feet
beyond the hole, leaving an eagle putt that grazed the right edge of
the cup.
[to top of second column] |
Charley Hull, of England, lines up a putt on the 18th hole during
the second round of the Chevron Championship LPGA golf tournament
Friday, April 24, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
She missed an 8-foot birdie chance on the par-5
16th, and then finished with a flourish — a 7-iron that danced
around the cup and settle 10 feet away for birdie, and then a 9-iron
that again scared the hole and left her 4 feet for her 15 birdie in
36 holes.
It was the lowest 36-hole score in her career in the majors, and the
third-best 36-hole score in LPGA majors behind Jeongeun Lee6 (127),
Brooke Henderson (128) and In Gee Chun (129), all at the Evian
Championship, the tournament in France the LPGA chose to designate
as a major in 2013.
For for all the birdies, some of the pars were the best example of
Korda showing great patience and smarts in taking on some
deceptively tough pins on the heavily contoured greens.
One example was the par-3 15th, a left pin with a steep slope
falling off to the left. Lilia Vu went over the edge, her pitch over
the slope was too strong and it rolled 45 feet away. Korda went for
the fat of the green, leaving a 30-foot putt she lagged to tap-in
range.
“I’m just hitting it in the spots that I want to, missing it into
the spots that I want to,” Korda said. “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.”
She also played away from the pin on the 13th, tucked to the right
with another massive slope. Korda watched defending champion Mao
Saigo roll a 45-foot past the cup and down off the green. She lagged
hers to 2 feet for a simple par.
“We’re going to go after the ones we can and where we have to play
back and miss in the right spots, that’s kind of what I’m doing,”
she said. “I think overall everything is really flowing.”
Her shot into the 17th might be an indication of where Korda is
going as she tries to reclaim her spot atop the world ranking.
She was waiting in the fairway as Jeeno Thitikul in the group ahead
ran a long birdie putt some 12 feet by the hole and missed that
coming back for a bogey that led to a 73, meaning the No. 1 player
in women's golf missed the cut.
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