Nelly Korda took advantage of her length and her accuracy in taking an six-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. She finished 36 holes at 14 under par, a half-dozen clear of Patty Tavatanakit, who shot 69 in the afternoon wave 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. Korea’s Ina Yoon joined them in a share of third place with a 68.
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. The 39-year-old made eight birdies, two bogeys and one double in the second round.
“I could obviously nitpick the heck out of it, but definitely made some really long putts out there,” said O’Toole, who has two top-10s in 59 career major starts. “You know, I’ll wipe the bogeys off that kind of thing.”
O’Keefe, trying to become the first amateur to win a women’s major since Catherine Lacoste in the 1967 U.S. Women’s Open, only hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation in Round 2, but didn’t make a bogey.
“It just felt like I was scrambling all day,” O’Keefe said.
“I think ball striking was kind of like B- from the fairway, but then short game, putting was A++. Kind of saved me out there.”
As for chasing Korda, O’Keefe said, “I compared it to Rory [McIlroy] at the Masters. Really golf — you never know what can happen in golf. There is so much random out there that you can get a bad break and it’s just kind of that thing.”
McIlroy led by a record six shots midway through the men’s first major of the year at Augusta National. He shot 73 in the third round and was tied with Cameron Young entering the finale, where he eventually prevailed.
“My dad and I called it that golf is a staring contest and all you have to do is not blink first,” O’Keefe said. “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 has yet to blink and barely has a blip through 36 holes. She finished Friday with back-to-back birdies, hitting her approach shot to 4 feet on the par-4 18th.
“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 was up by as many as eight at one point in Round 2.
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.