Nelly Korda carries a dominant five-shot lead into the final round of the 2026 Chevron Championship. Korda still faces some competition from Patty Tavatanakit, who has stayed in close second to the American. Korda recently weighed in on her competition's game.

Sitting at 11-under, Tavatanakit stayed in range through three rounds and gave Korda the only chase that held through the week. That was enough for Korda to weigh in on the challenge Tavatanakit brought into the final day.

“Yeah, it was pretty incredible. She is definitely making some insane up and downs, and she has this flow to her chipping and to her entire game, where it looks super easy. She looks very confident around the greens,” said the two-time major winner on Saturday at Memorial Park Golf Course, shared via TenGolf on YouTube.

Tavatanakit opened with a 67, followed it with back-to-back 69s, and stayed in the final group through each round in Houston. 

The 26-year-old’s week began with 48 holes without a bogey, finally making one on the 49th hole of the week. That was where Tavatanakit held her ground. She relied on her short game through the third round, converted a majority of her up-and-down chances, and stayed close to Korda heading into Sunday.

She had handled such positions before, having won the Chevron Championship in 2021 and followed it with a T4 finish in 2022 at Mission Hills, the previous venue for the Chevron.

With Tavatanakit still close and the final group set for Sunday, Korda’s focus shifted from who was behind her to how she planned to close.

Nelly Korda turned her focus to Sunday

Korda’s dominance at Memorial Park has been historic, and three rounds later, she still holds the lead. Korda's attention now turns to what it would take to take home the win.

“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,” Korda, a sixteen-time LPGA Tour winner, revealed.

The 2026 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament winner opened with back-to-back 65s, matched the tournament’s 54-hole scoring mark by Saturday, and reached 16-under heading into Sunday at Memorial Park. 

Even with the lead shifting through the third round, Korda stayed in front, took a five-shot cushion into Sunday, and kept herself in control heading into the final day.

Can Patty Tavatanakit close the gap, or has Nelly Korda already done enough to take control of Sunday? Let us know in the comments!

Read more at Club Golf!

Written by

Aditi Singh