English amateur Lottie Woad impressed again during round two of the Chevron Championship in Texas as Nelly Korda continued her push for a fifth straight victory and second major of her career.
Woad – the winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur earlier this month – followed a one-under opening round with a three-under Friday to sit on four-under for the tournament, just three strokes behind Korda and four off the lead shared by Jin Hee Im and Atthaya Thitikul.
The 20-year-old has comfortably made the cut and will have even grander goals for the weekend as the field look to prevent Korda from equalling LPGA Tour history.
Korda will match Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2005) if she claims her fifth straight tournament win and is well-placed at Carlton Woods after a three-under 69 lifted her to seven under.
Woad’s local golf club celebrated her Augusta triumph in style!
“It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” said Woad. “I didn’t really have a chance to let Augusta sink in, coming here straightaway.
“I obviously took a lot of confidence from Augusta, so I am just trying to use that for this week.
“My aim was to make the weekend. I’m in a good position now so I am just going to keep trying to move up. I’m just going to use that experience I had playing in front of people on the big stages.
“I’m going to see how close I can get and keep trying to contend. I just want to continue how I’m playing and if I can be around the lead on Sunday, that would be pretty cool.”
Woad says the last few weeks have been crazy after winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and competing at her first LPGA Tour event
World No 1 Korda began her round awfully with a double bogey but then proceeded to birdie two of her next three holes before following a bogey at seven with back-to-back gains at eight and nine.
Korda went on to secure two more birdies on her back nine to temporarily move top of the leaderboard, as she looks to add the Chevron title to her triumph at the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship.
The best of Nelly Korda’s second round in Texas
She said afterwards: “Making sure I don’t get too down on myself is really important during a major. It takes a lot of patience to win.
“The person that makes the least amount of mistakes or recovers the best from their mistakes usually ends up winning.”
Joint leaders Im and Thitikul both carded matching rounds of five-under 67, with South Korea’s Im having a bogey free round.
Thitikul recorded six birdies and one bogey, and the pair are tied at eight under going into the third round.
On a packed leaderboard – albeit one shorn of defending champion and world No 2 Lilia Vu after she withdrew due to a back injury ahead of the first round – England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff is in the mix on four under after a two-under 70 on Friday, with compatriot Georgia Hall at one under.
Hall shot a one-over 73 on the day during an eventful round as she mixed five birdies with four bogeys and a double bogey.
Charley Hull, at one over for the tournament, is also set to make the weekend after improving her score by a stroke following a one-under 71 on Friday, with the highlight an eagle at the par-five eighth.
Watch the Chevron Championship live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW this weekend. Coverage of round three begins at 7pm on Saturday on Sky Sports Mix.
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