For two straight days, Stephanie Meadow had managed to keep the big numbers off her card at the Chevron Championship at Carlton Woods and entered Saturday at one-under, hoping to get out early and make a charge up the leaderboard.
With the course again playing firm and fast, all was going according to plan as she began with three pars and then birdied the par-5 fourth, but then disaster struck and she’d go from two-under to two-over in the space of two holes with back-to-back double bogeys on the par-4 fifth and sixth holes which effectively killed any hopes of bullying her way into the mix.
Her response was impressive, however, as she carded a birdie-two at the next, and though she’d drop further shots on eight and 10, additional birdies on nine, 11 and 13 saw her claw her way back to level-par, but end the day sitting tied for 43rd, 13 places lower than she’d begun.
Meadow wasn’t long finished when the hot and humid air turned heavy and lightning moved through, forcing play to be suspended and the delay would be a lengthy one, forcing tournament officials to eventually concede two-and-a-half hours later and the 33 players who’d yet to finish will return first thing Sunday morning to resume their third rounds.
But Nelly Korda continues to dominate the headlines as she’s just one shot off the lead.
Korda, who is trying to tie an LPGA Tour record with her fifth straight victory, was three-under 41 through 11 holes in the third round and 10-under overall. She entered Saturday one shot off the lead after posting a seven-under 137 through the first two rounds.
The top-ranked Korda is seeking her second major after winning the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021. She could join Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events.
Korda was asked about the challenges of having to finish the third round Sunday before playing the final round.
“I think you just have to try to be positive about it and just tell yourself that you can’t get caught up in possibly girls being on 18 or not having that many holes left,” she said. “If you think about it positively, then I have a lot of opportunities left in the day that I can go out and maybe capitalize on a couple of them, then that’s good. But I’m going to think about it positively rather than negatively.”
Canadian Brooke Henderson, who was at two-under 142 through two rounds, rocketed up the leaderboard and into a tie with Korda for second Saturday by shooting an eight-under 59 through 17 holes.
“It was on six when I made that par save,” Henderson said. “It really kept my round alive, and then from there I was able to get things going. It was really fun to kind of get on a bit of a run. I feel like this year I’ve just played pretty solid, but I haven’t really seen that run and kind of had that excitement. That was really fun for me today, and hopefully just do something similar tomorrow.”
Henderson, who has 13 LPGA wins with two majors, had a one-putt streak of 10 with six birdies and an eagle in that stretch.
“Anytime my putter gets to working, I’m pretty happy because ball-striking is usually a strength of mine,” she said. “This week I’ve been hitting it really well, so when I’ve been able to make a few putts, it feels really good, and hopefully keep it hot tomorrow.”
Atthaya Thitikul had the lead at 11-under and was through 12 holes when play was suspended. She started the round tied with Jin Hee Im for the lead with a 136 in the first two rounds.
Thitikul, a 21-year-old from Thailand who has won twice on the LPGA Tour and missed the beginning of this season with a thumb injury, was asked about how she expects the normally firm greens to play Sunday, with rain expected to continue overnight.
“The greens are going to play a little bit easier, but the drives, other things may be harder,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like because some holes we have the wind, and it’s helped. Maybe you have a bunker on the way and then you can get over it. But if it’s soft and kind of like not dry, then maybe you couldn’t get over some holes.”
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