Nelly Korda had a smile on the 15th tee with a major title on the line, which caught everyone’s attention on Saturday, and Korda had a simple reason for it.

During a tough back nine at Memorial Park, Korda was seen smiling after her tee shot on the 15th hole while her caddie, Jason McDede, appeared to be talking to her.

When asked about it after the round, Korda gave a short answer. "Just trying to stay in it," she said. "Just have more golf left to play. That's about it."

It showed how Korda deals with pressure, and she held a five-shot lead after Saturday’s third round of The Chevron Championship in Houston, but the back nine was tough for her.

A series of missed short putts saw her eight-shot lead shrink to five.

"On the back nine, I learned that I needed to stay in it and not focus so much on my mis-hits with my putts," Korda said. "I don't want it to bleed into the other parts of my game."

Korda also closely monitored her nearest competitor throughout the round.

Nelly Korda on Thailand Golfer Patty Tavatanakit

Sunday's biggest competition is Thailand's Patty Tavatanakit, who sits five shots back. Korda watched her closely all day and came away impressed.

"She was definitely making some insane up-and-downs," Korda said. "She has this flow to her chipping and to her entire game where it looks super easy. She looks very confident around the greens."

As for her own approach to Sunday, Korda wasn't overthinking it.

"This is why we do it, right, to be in contention on major championship Sunday?" she said. "I'm just going to focus on myself, really dial into that, make sure that I have tunnel vision."

She summed up her mindset in one line. "It's 18 holes," Korda said. "I'm starting the day at zero."

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav