Two straight stellar rounds gave Nelly Korda a cushion to endure some bumps in the road.
She found those bumps on Saturday, but still shot a 2-under-par 70 to hold a five-shot advantage heading into the final round at the Chevron Championship in Houston.
Back-to-back 65s had given Korda a six-shot advantage, and the start of her third round on Saturday looked like more of the same. Two straight birdies to open got her to 16 under for the tournament, and she quickly added two more on Holes 5-6 to get to 18 under.
But that was it on the birdie front for the World No. 2. Worse still, Korda suffered bogeys on the eighth and 13th holes while battling the wind to settle for 16 under.
That represented a notable shift for Korda after she carded five of her eight birdies Friday on the back nine at Memorial Park Golf Course.
“I played really solid on the front and then just kind of — not may have lost concentration, but the wind started picking up and then I just put myself into — I mean, I put myself into great positions; didn’t kind of execute really well,” Korda said.
Korda is pursuing her third career major title, which would be her first since winning this event at a different course in 2024.
“This is why we do it, right, to be in contention on major championship Sunday?” Korda said. “I’m just going to focus on myself, kind of work on my process, really dial into that, make sure that I have tunnel vision, and not really focus on the exterior noise.”
Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit continues to lurk in second place. She crept closer to Korda with a 3-under 69, making up a shot, and she now sits at 11 under for the tournament.
Tavatanakit’s day featured four birdies on Holes 1, 6, 14 and 16, with a bogey on the par-4 13th.
She admitted an aggressive mindset could serve her well on Sunday.
“Yeah, I have nothing to lose. I have nothing to lose from day one,” Tavatanakit said. “I’m trying to be aggressive but sometimes the ball just doesn’t go there.”
China’s Ruoning Yin (66) and France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (67) put themselves in position to contend with low rounds Saturday and are now tied for third at 10 under, six shots behind Korda.
South Korea’s Ina Yoon (71) is alone in fifth at 8 under.
Amateur Farah O’Keefe, who has been the surprise of the tournament to this point, fell off the pace a little with her even-par round, moving her from a tie for third into a tie for sixth.
Yet O’Keefe, a native of nearby Austin and a member of the University of Texas golf team, is maintaining her composure.
“I’m having a great time,” O’Keefe said. “The thing that I do is just play my game. However it stacks up against everybody else is the way that it happens to finish.”
Tied with O’Keefe at 7 under are Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (66), Yealimi Noh (69) and China’s Yan Liu (71).
