HOUSTON \u2014 Nelly Korda has a chance to win a major in wire-to-wire fashion and she\u2019s got the largest 54-hole lead of her LPGA Tour career to try to do it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to imagine a better scenario for the world\u2019s second-ranked player in the Chevron Championship at Memorial Park Golf Course. Korda has a five-shot lead over Patty Tavatanakit and six-shot margin over Ruoning Yin. Both have also won majors, and the trio will play together in the final group on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old Korda\u2014a two-time major winner\u2014shot a two-under 70 Saturday to set herself up well to take a dip in the new small pool at Memorial Park. Yin shot a six under 66, tied for low round of the day, and Tavatanakit shot a three under 69.<\/p>\n
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Ruoning Yin trades a fist bump with her caddie on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Sarah Stier<\/p>\n
Korda is the first player to lead this championship by multiple shots after the first, second and third rounds since Lorena Ochoa did it 20 years ago. Karrie Webb beat Ochoa in a playoff to win that year in 2006.<\/p>\n
Because Korda has played fantastic all year, it\u2019s hard to see her coming back to the field. She\u2019s excited for the opportunity to try to close it out on Sunday. She\u2019s already won once at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and finished second in the other four events.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love them,\u201d Korda said of even the close calls. \u201cAt the end of the day I'm learning so much about myself, too. On the back nine [on Saturday] I learned that I needed to stay in it and not to kind of focus so much on my mis-hits with my putts. I just needed to keep giving myself opportunities, which I was. I don't want it to bleed into the other parts of my game where then I start to get so frustrated that it affects my driver, affects my irons. Just didn't want that at all. I wanted to continue giving myself opportunities even if I wasn\u2019t holing them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was still trying my best, and at the end of the day that's all I can control. I want to try my best and execute at the best of my ability. I can't be frustrated with anything but that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tavatanakit was getting up-and-down all day Saturday, and really, she made a habit of scrambling all week. Korda has been ever the consistent player, tee to green. She\u2019s hit 28 of 39 fairways and 43 of 54 greens in regulation this week. Tavatanakit has found just 23 of 39 fairways and only 31 of 54 greens in regulation\u201412 fewer than Korda.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve each gotten to Sunday\u2019s final pairing in such remarkably different ways with a chance to win but it almost feels like they\u2019re playing different courses. The numbers are that striking.<\/p>\n
Korda, who was Tavatanakit\u2019s playing partner, was impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty incredible,\u201d Korda said. \u201cShe was definitely making some insane up and downs and she has this flow to her chipping and to her entire game where it looks super easy. She looks very confident around the greens.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Korda wins or ties for second, she\u2019ll snatch the World No. 1 ranking she lost last summer back from Jeeno Thitikul\u2014who missed the cut here. Korda has played in the final group on Sunday in every tournament this season. It will be the 28th final grouping of her LPGA career. That\u2019s five more than the next closest player on tour since Korda\u2019s 2017 rookie season.<\/p>\n
\u201cNelly has proven so much quality of golf the last few weeks, since she started 2026,\u201d said Gaby Lopez, who shot a bogey-free six under 66 and is nine shots back. \u201cIt's very inspiring. Actually, on the second day that I saw that Nelly was 13 or 14 under, I told myself, \u2018hey, it's out there. Sometimes we just give too much respect to the golf course. Just grip it and rip it. She's been amazing and very, very awesome to watch and inspiring. Hopefully she can slow down a little bit so we can catch her a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lead ballooned to eight during Korda\u2019s round on Saturday as she played the front nine at three under. Korda was one over on the back nine. She had one bogey on the front and three-putted for bogey on No. 13. She parred the rest of the holes on the back nine.<\/p>\n
Korda told Golf Channel she was missing all of her putts right and that she was headed to the practice putting green after her round.<\/p>\n
Tavatanakit and Korda have both taken the plunge (a tradition that started at Poppie\u2019s Pond) and raised the trophy at the Chevron Championship. The 26-year-old Tavatanakit won in 2021 when the tournament was the Kraft Nabisco at Rancho Mirage. Korda won in 2024 in Houston, but that was at The Club at Carlton Woods. The 23-year-old Yin has won the KPMG Women\u2019s PGA Championship in 2023 and last year she was in the five-woman playoff here that Mao Saigo won.<\/p>\n
What a tournament for Tavatanakit, who didn\u2019t make a bogey until the 49th hole of the Chevron Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just do what you\u2019ve got to do. It's a major championship. It's playing tough,\u201d Tavatanakit said. \u201cYou're not going to always have your best, but you\u2019ve just got figure out what's in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Korda was confident with her putter the first two rounds when she shot a pair of 65s, and she still made plenty of putts Friday. She tapped in for par at No. 18 to finish her round.<\/p>\n
Players played through sweltering heat\u2014as temperatures reached 88 with sauna-like humidity. Yin thought the heat helped her game, and she\u2019s going to need go low and have some help on Sunday. She wore a short-sleeved sweater over a Dri Fit long-sleeve shirt and she chuckled about that choice in the grueling Texas weather. It wasn\u2019t difficult to have a laugh after her round and position for Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis course is long, like really long for me because I'm not a long hitter,\u201d Yin said. \u201cA lot of shots, like all the par 3s I got to use like 6-iron, 5-iron, even 4-iron to hit a shot. You just need to play smart and just don't try to go for the pin every hole and just maybe middle of the green and two-putt and move on. You can make birdies when you have the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question is will anyone have the chance to catch Korda.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm just trying to have another day like today,\u201d Yin said. \u201cThere is nothing we can control other than the effort and the attitude. I think if I can do those two things well, the result? I don't really care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Tavatanakit: \u201cI feel like it's been fun so far, and there is nothing to look back to. If anything, I have so much to look forward to. Not necessarily like trying to win tomorrow or anything. I feel like I'm really happy with where I am with myself, with my relationship with golf, with everything. I feel like my life is falling into place. I\u2019m very centered internally.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood golf, bad golf, doesn't really do much for me. It's just a day. I'm just really grateful to get to wake up every morning and figure this game out. It's been fun.\u201d<\/p>\n