THE WOODLANDS, Texas — “Have faith” was Nelly Korda’s motto for the second round of The Chevron Championship, and it was one that worked well for the Rolex Women’s World Rankings No. 1 coming down the stretch at The Club at Carlton Woods, as she carded a 4-under 68 to eke her way inside the projected cut line.

Thursday saw the defending champion open with a 5-over 77, carding six bogeys and one birdie to post her highest first-round score on the LPGA Tour since she recorded an 80 on day one of last year’s U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club.

Many wondered how Korda would recover from such a frustrating start to the year’s first major championship. But unsurprisingly, the 26-year-old rose to the occasion.

Korda began her second round on 10, and the hole she had already herself dug got deeper after she made a pair of bogeys on 11 and 12 to climb to 7-over. She steadied herself by recording four consecutive pars on her next four holes, and Korda then started to chip away at her over-par deficit with a birdie on the par-3 17th hole. She made another on 18 and picked up another on one to get back to just 4-over, and all of a sudden, a weekend tee time began to come into view for the world No. 1.

Korda grabbed a birdie on the par-5 4th hole to move to 3-over for the tournament and then picked up another on the par-4 6th hole to sit at 2-over with just three holes to play. And it was then that time and daylight were starting to run out.

But Korda kept her cool and parred seven before making a pivotal birdie on the par-5 8th hole at The Club at Carlton Woods, one that put her into made-cut territory if only she could par the last hole of her round as darkness quickly approached.

She hit her tee shot on the par-4 ninth hole a bit left, and her second shot then found the left fringe pin-high. Instead of putting it, Korda bumped a chip shot within five feet and then confidently cleaned up her resulting par try, one that saw her give a quiet little fist pump, a good indication of how relieved Korda was that she made the cut in her title defense at The Chevron Championship.

“At one point, I was 7 over, so…,” said Korda when asked how proud she was of her bounce back. “I grinded a lot on the two birdies on my eighth and ninth hole really helped kind of boost it. Then knew that there were some gettable par-5s on the back nine, front nine.

So, just a crazy day. Feel like you win a tournament to just make the cut.”

After a lackluster putting performance on day one, Korda made an overnight switch to a different flat stick for the second round, a change that saw her improve by three putts on Friday in The Woodlands, Texas. She also hit three more greens in round two than she did on Thursday, but it seems to be a mindset shift that helped the 15-time LPGA Tour winner the most as she battled to make the cut, and it was her ability to “have faith” that Korda says kept her in it when things looked rough.

“(The emotions were) very up and down,” Korda said. “My word today was have faith. That was my motto. I didn't really have much, though, when I made two bogeys, but I just kept repeating it to myself.”

The second round of The Chevron Championship was suspended due to darkness at 8:04 p.m. local time, so Korda will have to wait a bit to see what her third-round grouping will be on Saturday in The Woodlands, Texas.

But no matter who she plays with or what happens over the next couple of days, Korda can take solace in the fact that she fought tooth and nail on Friday evening to earn that weekend tee time, that she never gave up and kept on having faith.

“Having Faith” Helped Nelly Korda Make Cut in Title Defense at The Chevron Championship

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