Nelly Korda took advantage of her length and her accuracy in taking an seven-shot lead Friday at The Chevron Championship.
Korda, who said after an opening 65 that she loved long and difficult setups, emphasized that with a another 65 in the second round. Korda was at 14 under par when she signed her scorecard, with the afternoon wave teeing off at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas.
Ryann O’Toole had four birdies and two bogeys over her final six holes for a 4-under 68 to post 7 under. University of Texas junior Farah O’Keefe (69) was also at 7 under after a birdie at the last.
Korda, the 2024 Chevron champ quickly extended an overnight, two-shot lead with birdies on the par-5 first and par-5 third holes. Memorial Park has five par 5s and five par 3s for this championship. Korda birdied four of the longer holes in Round 1 and three of them on Friday.
“Because I know that the par-5s are gettable, so I’m just kind of taking the risks where I can and where,” Korda said.
“At the end of the day, I mean, yeah, taking advantage of your length, but still having to hit those really good shots. That’s what I love about major championships. You have to hit really good shots in to give yourself a look at birdie or eagle.”
She played the shorter ones quite well, too. After a bogey at the par-4 sixth, Korda stuffed shots on the par-3 ninth and par-3 11th, made birdie on both, and doubled-up the field. At 10 under par, she was five clear of a host of players at 5 under.
The margin only grew.
Korda birdied the par-4 12th and then laced a 3-wood from 221 yards to 12 feet at the par-5 14th. Though the eagle effort slid by the left side, the birdie got her to 12 under and six clear of O’Toole, who tried to keep pace with her fifth birdie of the day in the group behind.
But, through 36 holes, Nelly has been in a different league. She birdied the par-4 17th and then hit her approach shot on the par-4 18th to 4 feet. An eighth birdie of the day gave her a massive advantage with the afternoon wave still to tee off.
“I would say what’s challenging about playing with the lead is you have a target on your back in a sense, but also I just like enjoy it. I enjoy golf. 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, and say I’m f****d,” Korda said.
“You know, there are times where I’ve had that and now I’m like, I’ll figure it out. 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.”
The largest 36-hole lead in women’s major championship history is eight shots, last accomplished by Mickey Wright in the 1961 LPGA Championship.
Korda, a two-time major champion, is making her fifth start of the year and has yet to finish worse than second. She won the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and was runner-up at the Fortinet Founders Cup, Ford Championship and Aramco Championship.