Korda chases Chevron leaders

MANILA, Philippines —  Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and South Korea’s Im Jinhee shared the second round lead at the LPGA’s Chevron Championship, the first women’s major of the season, but record-hunting American Nelly Korda sits just one shot behind.

Korda is looking to become the first woman to win five consecutive tournament wins and she left the course on top of the leaderboard after carding a three-under round of 69 at Carlton Woods, in The Woodlands, Texas.

But late in the day, Im and Thitikul both finished strongly to grab the top spot heading into the weekend.

Korda had a nightmare start making a double bogey on the opening par-four hole where it took her two shots to get out of a fairway bunker after a poor tee shot.

But she bounced back immediately, draining a birdie putt on the second and then claiming another on the par-five fourth.

She ended her round with a three under-par 69 with her resilience ensuring she is in contention for what would be a remarkable fifth straight win.

“Kind of all over the place on the front nine, but pretty clean scorecard on the back with two birdies,” she said, noting that the early double hadn’t knocked her off her game.

“I actually didn’t feel bad at all. Sometimes when you start to make mistakes you just don’t really feel confident or you don’t feel that great.”