HOUSTON — World No. 2 Nelly Korda has put herself in position to run away with the Chevron Championship.
Korda, playing in the morning wave of the LPGA’s first major of the year, shot a second straight seven-under-par 65 on Friday and led the field by seven shots when she finished at Memorial Park Golf Course. At one point, she led by eight shots, and at 14- under 130, she opened up a huge gap with the lowest 36-hole score ever in a women’s major outside of the Amundi Evian Championship.
Korda has played impressive golf all season, and she’s continued that here, but there’s still 36 holes to play.
“I would say what's challenging about playing with the lead is you have a target on your back in a sense, but also enjoy it. I enjoy golf,” Korda said. “I think this year I just wanted to have a different mindset change of, if I get into trouble, I'll figure it out. Not like you look at something and—excuse my French—say I'm [screwed].
“… So that's my biggest takeaway from last year and the years before. I don't want to have that mindset. I want to be like, ‘OK, I'll figure it out and not stress myself out too much.’”
She hasn’t been in much trouble. On Friday, she hit 11 of 13 fairways and 14 of 18 greens. She needed 27 putts, a day after just 24.
“Overall, really happy with today. Started a little bit slower, two under on the front. But it was nice to make a birdie on nine to kind of get it going into the back nine,” Korda said. “Back nine is definitely a little tougher overall than the front nine, so I was hitting it really well and I'm just capitalizing on really good shots.”
Korda is capitalizing on the par 5s, as well, shooting seven under for two rounds on them. That has her on pace to eclipse her performances on the longest holes in her other two major wins. She scored 11 under on the par 5s in capturing the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and 10 under in the 2024 Chevron. She'll have 10 more tries on the course's five par 5s over the weekend.
Memorial Park is rewarding long, accurate hitters and anyone who is going to come from behind is going to have to take advantage of the par 5s as well.
Korda’s lead is so big that her performance is being compared to Rory McIlroy’s in the recent Masters. He had a record six-shot lead after 36 holes, but a third-round 73 left him in a tie at the top with Cameron Young, who shot 65, heading into the final round. McIlroy would lose his lead on Sunday, but rallied on the back nine to win his second straight Masters.
The point is, nothing is guaranteed, though Memorial Park doesn’t have the kind of pitfalls of Augusta National. There are few bunkers or water hazards, and the rough is manageable.
Amateur Farah O’Keefe, a University of Texas golfer who was tied for second after her morning round of 69, talked to her caddie about trying to find a way.
“I told Bentley [Cotton], I compared it to Rory at the Masters,” O’Keefe said. “Really, you never know what can happen in golf. There is so much that’s random out there that you can get a bad break and it's just kind of that thing. My dad and I say that golf is a staring contest and all you have to do is not blink first. So I'm just trying not to blink.”
O’Keefe was tied for second, seven shots back, after the morning with veteran Ryann O’Toole (68). The largest 36-hole lead in a major history is eight shots, which was done three times—the last being Mickey Wright in the 1961 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Korda won the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, which was shortened by the LPGA Tour to 54 holes due to weather. Korda finished second her next three events, and now she has this big lead. This feels very similar to her 2024 season when she won seven tournaments and a record-tying five consecutive.
“I just feel really good,” Korda said. “I'm just hitting it in the spots that I want to, missing it into the spots that I want to. The communication between [Jason] 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 any kind of stupid risks. 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. I think overall everything is really flowing.”