Nelly has Chevron Championship control after another 65
HOUSTON—Nelly Korda is playing with so much control that even her misses are right where she’s aiming. She birdied her last two holes on Friday with exquisite iron shots for another seven-under-par 65 for a daunting seven-shot lead going into the weekend of The Chevron Championship.
Korda has made only one bogey through 36 holes at Memorial Park, missing a three-foot putt on the sixth hole after a nifty chip from below the green. Otherwise, the two-time major champion has been practically flawless in reaching 14-under 130, which makes her appear to be playing a different course.
“I’m comfortable with my game,” Korda said. “I think where I’m the most comfortable is definitely with my mindset of knowing when I mess up, I’ll figure it out. Sometimes I think you get stuck in wanting to play well and wanting to be at the top always, that you have this tension of not wanting to make a mistake.
“I think there is a power in knowing it’s OK to make a mistake and just bounce back.”
She had a seven-shot lead over Ryan O’Toole (68) and Texas junior Farah O’Keefe (69), one of eight amateurs in the field. Among those still on the course, only Patty Tavatanakit had a chance to get closer to Korda.
O’Keefe didn’t get her invitation to The Chevron until after the Augusta National Women’s Amateur three weeks ago and she’s making the most of it. She played bogey-free in the second round, though she only managed one birdie on the par 5s.
But her scrambling saved her, and the 20-year-old didn’t seem all that fazed by Korda on the verge of running away with this major.
