Key events
None of the final group – Korda, Henderson and Ryu – are able to hold the rock-hard 10th green. Some big up-and-downs coming up. Meanwhile Atthaya Thitikul’s Sunday nightmare continues: she drops another shot, at 10, and is currently four over for her final round. Factor in the completion of her third round, and she’s made eight bogeys in 16 holes today.
Maja Stark finished tied for ninth at last year’s US Open, the 24-year-old Swede’s best performance in a major so far. She’s threatening another top-ten finish this week … but not threatening to make a run for the title. Ten holes today, ten pars, and she’s been stuck at -8 since the get-go. Meanwhile another dropped shot for Carlota Ciganda, at 10, and she’s -7.
Trouble for Im Jin-hee at 10. Her second threatens to topple into a greenside bunker but stays on its lip. Inhibited by an awkward stance, she elects to use the leading edge of her wedge to belly the chip onto the green. She seriously underhits it, and leaves herself a ten-footer for par. She can’t make it, coming up and out of it the nanosecond she putts. She’ll slip back to -9.
Brooke Henderson leaves her long birdie putt five feet short. But she strokes the par saver in calmly, and remains three off the lead, Nelly Korda having made a much less stressful two-putt par. It’s a big if, but if Korda stumbles coming home, she’ll bring quite a few players into title contention.
-13: Korda (9)
-10: Im (9), Ryu (9), Henderson (9)
-9: Coughlin (10)
-8: Henseleit (10), Ciganda (9), Stark (9)
[adopts Hank Kingsley voice] Hae now! Ryu Hae-ran most certainly isn’t finished yet! She rakes in a 50-footer from the fringe at the back of 9, and that’s a birdie-birdie finish to a front nine that started bogey-bogey. She’s turning in 37 strokes and joins Im Jin-hee and Brooke Henderson in a share of second at -9.
Henderson’s OK. A couple of yards further back, and she’d have been slap bang behind a tree, but she’s got a route in. She manages to find the green with her second but will face a long putt over a ridge. Korda meanwhile swings smoothly, holds her pose, and watches quietly as her ball drops 12 feet from the flag. A danger this could turn into a Scottie Scheffler-style procession. Like someone chasing a record-equalling five Tour wins in a row, plus her second major, will care one jot about theatre right now.
Morgan Pressel, who won this title in 2007, assesses Nelly Korda’s play on NBC: “She is playing exceptionally boring golf.” It’s meant as the highest of compliments. Fairways and greens found, putts made. No fuss. Korda’s in the zone all right, and on 9 she cracks her drive into practically perfect position, just down the left of the fairway, while Henderson’s leaks further left, taking a 90-degree kick off the shoulder of a bunker and heading towards some trees. She might be blocked out, she might not. We’ve yet to see.
Now then, this could be decisive. Henderson’s birdie putt at 8 is always staying high on the left side. Over to Korda, who tramlines one from similar distance. She walks it in, and suddenly the gap at the top is significant as she heads closer to the turn. Ryu Hae-ran nearly makes an eagle putt, meanwhile; the kick-in birdie means she’s not out of this yet despite that awful start.
-13: Korda (8)
-10: Im (8), Henderson (8)
-9: Ryu (8), Coughlin (9)
-8: Henseleit (9), Ciganda (9), Stark (8)
A dropped shot for Carlota Ciganda at 9. A decent chip from the back to four feet, but she pulls the par putt. She turns in 34 and slips to -8.
Korda’s chip, from a bank to the side of the 8th, is uncharacteristically timid. She leaves it a good 12 feet short. Henderson, with one duffed bunker shot already today, isn’t minded to leave this one in the sand as well, and gives it a good old clack … but it’s gone 15 feet past. Here come a couple of important putts.
Im Jin-hee takes two putts for par on the 8th and clears the green. Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson, coming behind, try to repopulate it from distance with their balls. Neither manages to find the dancefloor. Korda’s approach to the par-five drifts off to the left; Henderson’s stalls in a bunker on the right. Big attempts to get up and down for birdie coming up. This isn’t quite a matchplay situation – not at all, with Im, Coughlin, Ciganda et al hovering – but it doesn’t half feel like it.
Esther Henseleit doesn’t have much of a record in the majors. The 25-year-old German’s best finish is a tie for 14th at last year’s Evian; her best finish in this one is a tie for 51st in 2020. But she’s on course to better that by some distance this week. Along with Lauren Coughlin and Carlota Ciganda, she’s the hottest player out there today at three under for her round; she’s hit the turn in 33 after birdies at 3 and 8 plus eagle at 4, and she’s tied for sixth at -8.
Lauren Coughlin’s husband John recently gave up his job to caddie for her full time. This is their fourth tournament working this new arrangement, and the early signs that it’s going pretty well. Two missed cuts, but a top-ten finish at the Ford Championship, and now the 31-year-old American is in the hunt for her first major! Birdie at 9, her third in four holes, and she’s turning in 33. It moves her into a tie for fourth with Carlota Ciganda, who has just made her fourth birdie in six holes at the 8th. Meanwhile Henderson dead-eyes her par saver on 7 to remain a couple back.
-12: Korda (7)
-10: Im (7), Henderson (7)
-9: Coughlin (9), Ciganda (8)
Henderson’s tee shot into the par-three 7th lands a couple of feet short and snags in greenside rough. Korda makes it on, but having pulled her shot she’s a long way from the flag. Korda putts first, and lags up to three feet; Henderson then gets a bit of a flyer out of the rough and her chip trundles six feet past. You’d think she’s not got much wriggle room in terms of dropping any more shots; big putts coming up.
Another no-nonsense par for Im Jin-hee, still sitting just a couple off the lead on her major-championship debut. Real Ludvig-Åberg-at-the-Masters energy here. But Atthaya Thitikul isn’t bringing her Sunday best at all. Having completed her third round this morning with three bogeys, she’s made another three over the opening stretch of round four. Dropped strokes at 2, 3 and 5, with birdie at 4, and the young Thai sensation – who already has six top-ten finishes at the majors at the age of 21 – currently looks unlikely to better her tie for fourth here last year. Having started the day in the lead, she’s now back in the pack at -6.
Henderson was dialling in her wedges yesterday, taking advantage of the softer conditions to set up all those scoring opportunities. Rolling in some monsters too. She made six birdies and an eagle. She’s at it again here, sending her second at 6 to 12 feet. The 26-year-old Canadian already has two majors on her CV – the 2016 PGA, which she won as an 18-year-old, and the 2022 Evian – so knows how to get things done on Sunday. She’s clearly shaken off that double-bogey fiasco in short order, because she walks in the putt with absurd confidence. If that flat stick stays hot, watch out field. She’s now just two back, with Korda only able to make par.
-12: Korda (6)
-10: Im (6), Henderson (6)
-8: Henseleit (8), Ciganda (7), Stark (6), Ryu (6)
The closing trio of Henderson, Korda and Ryu take turns to belt their drives down the 6th fairway. Up on the green, a careful two-putt par from the fringe for Im, who at -10 remains a couple back from the leader Korda.
Bounce-back birdie for Brooke Henderson! Her putter was super-hot during yesterday’s 64 – she had ten one-putts in a row at one point, taking just 23 putts in the entire round – and she’ll need something similar now after that disaster on 4. She rattles in a 25-footer and takes a step back up the leader board.
-12: Korda (5)
-10: Im (5)
-9: Henderson (5)
-8: Ciganda (6), Stark (5), Ryu (5)
Im Jin-hee is now Korda’s closest challenger at -10 after birdie at 5. This is the 25-year-old South Korean’s first full season on the LPGA Tour, on which she’s only made five starts previously. So this is very much uncharted territory for her. Meanwhile Ryu Hae-ran continues to head in the wrong direction, an overly aggressive bunker shot on 5 costing her a third bogey of the round.
A mini-meltdown for Brooke Henderson at 4. From the side of the par-five green, she thins what appears a simple chip through the green and into a bunker. Short-sided, she takes two splashes to get out, and two putts later walks off with a double-bogey seven. Watching on, Nelly Korda, who calmly clips her chip close, then makes the birdie putt. A huge three-shot swing in the blink of an eye, and this tournament is firmly in Korda’s control.
-12: Korda (4)
-9: Im (4), Ryu (4)
-8: Ciganda (5), Stark (5), Henderson (4)
Just behind those leaders: Carlota Ciganda. The 33-year-old Spaniard already has a couple of tied-fourth finishes in this competition, in 2013 and 2019, and ended last year’s edition just outside the top ten. She’s making a late run for glory this week: having opened her final round with a bogey, Ciganda has just birdied 3, 4 and 5 to haul herself up to -8, just three off the pace. How she’ll be ruing her opening round of 75, and specifically the first 12 holes, which she played on Thursday in five over par. Since then she’s been as good as anyone out there: 67, 68 and now today’s fast start. Ciganda in the hunt for her maiden major.
Here we go, then … and the early play has seen some significant movement at the top of the leader board. The third-round leader Ryu Hae-ran suffered the coldest of starts: a bogey-bogey opening that toppled the 23-year-old South Korean from the top. She’s been replaced there by the world number one Nelly Korda, moving in the right direction after birdie at 3. Brooke Henderson meanwhile has repaired the damage of bogey at 2 with a bounceback birdie at 3. So as the tale of the final round begins to unfold, here’s what the very top of the leader board looks like now …
-11: Korda (3)
-10: Henderson (3)
-9: Im (4), Ryu (3)
Preamble
If Nelly Korda wins the Chevron Championship today, she’ll become just the third player in history to win five consecutive titles on the LPGA Tour. She’d be in elite company if she does so, alongside two genuine legends of the sport in Nancy Lopez (who first completed the feat in 1978) and Annika Sörenstam (who matched it in 2005). History – plus the small matter of a second major on her resumé after the 2022 PGA – beckons for the current world number one.
She’s got a fair bit of competition in the first women’s major of the year, though, not least from Brooke Henderson, who carded a best-of-week 64 in the third round to shoot herself into serious contention. Korda and Henderson are both on the shoulder of Ryu Hae-ran, who is chasing her major breakthrough. Meanwhile Atthaya Thitikul – who led overnight after yesterday’s third round was suspended by lightning – made three consecutive bogeys when completing her round this morning to slip back into the pack. But all is not yet lost for the up-and-coming Thai star. Here’s what the top of leader board looked like after the completion of the third round …
-11: Ryu Hae-ran
-10: Brooke Henderson, Nelly Korda
-8: Maja Stark, Im Jin-hee, Atthaya Thitikul
-7: Minami Katsu
-6: Carlota Ciganda, Nasa Hataoka, Lauren Coughlin
-5: Jiyai Shin, Esther Henseleit, Yealimi Noh, Lydia Ko, Weiwei Zhang
… and we’ll catch up on events when the fourth-round coverage from The Woodlands in Texas begins at 7pm BST. It’s on!
