We are through two rounds at the 2026 Chevron Championship, these are some of the biggest storylines from the first two days in Houston:
- Nelly Korda is just running circles around the field, jumping out to a six-stroke lead. According to Elias Sports and Justin Ray, since 1980 there has never been an LPGA major where a player had the low round of the day by at least two strokes in both rounds 1 and 2. Her 65-65 is the lowest 36-hole major championship score outside of the Evian Championship. It would take something incredible to top her over the weekend.
- Korda’s ball striking has been typically great this week, but it really is her putting making the big difference. She isn’t giving up strokes as she tends to do sometimes on the greens. She has only had 51 putts through two days. Even though her proximity has been great, she is executing those opportunities so well.
- Patty Tavatanakit had another strong day coming off a great week in Los Angeles. Her putting has been great and she has escaped trouble well. She has only hit 21 greens in regulation though this week, which doesn’t seem sustainable over the weekend. She will need better iron play if she wants any chance to challenge Korda.
- Ryan O’Toole had a wild Friday round, shooting -4 to get herself into a tie for third. She made eight birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey. The last par of her round was on hole 12. O’Toole has played in 58 major championships in her career and has just two top-10 finishes and none in the top five. She should be playing with house money this week on a course that fits her gameplay style well.
- While some of the finesse players performed well in the first round, the second round was more what everyone was expecting, a ball strikers paradise.
- The amateurs continue to show well, with Farah O’Keefe leading the way after a really impressive second round. Also notable is Asterisk Talley, who has made three LPGA Tour cuts already this season, she sits at -3 in the top 20.
- The cut was brutal, with so many of the biggest stars not making it to the weekend. Jeeno Thitikul, Lydia Ko, Rose Zhang, Nasa Hataoka, Sei Young Kim, Linn Grant and Chizzy Iwai were some of the big stars who had their weeks cut short.
- There’s really just one way Nelly Korda doesn’t win this week, and that is playing poor golf over the weekend. Korda can cruise to a couple -2 rounds and probably win somewhat comfortably. I anticipate her to get off to a fast start on Saturday with the early par 5s giving her great early scoring chances. I would predict her to extend her lead heading into the final round.
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