NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Sixteen-time LPGA Tour winner Nelly Korda battled her way to a 3-under 69 on Moving Day at the Aramco Championship, a third-round performance that has her alone in second with 18 holes to go in North Las Vegas, Nev.

Korda made one bogey on the par-4 15th hole and three birdies to card her second sub-70 round of the week on Saturday at Shadow Creek. The score saw her finish at 5-under overall, leaving Korda trailing Lauren Coughlin by two strokes heading into Sunday’s final round.

Posting any sort of number in the red is something to be pleased with at this challenging venue, and Korda appeared to have to fight as hard as she has all season to keep the train on the tracks, a war she ultimately won late on day three just outside of Sin City.

The Olympian kicked off her third round with a pair of pars before picking up back-to-back birdies on the par-4 third and par-5 fourth holes to move to 4-under for the tournament, the latter of which saw Korda chip in for birdie after flubbing her third shot. She then hit her next six greens in regulation and made pars to remain at 2-under for the round and 4-under overall, holding steady and getting up and down from the bunker when she failed to hit the green on the par-4 11th hole.

Korda missed an eight-foot birdie try on 12 and got up and down for par on the tricky par-3 13th hole after hitting her tee shot over the green. She parred 14 despite finding the fairway bunker off the tee and then dropped her only shot of the round on 15, a mistake that caused her to slip back to 3-under total.

The two-time major champion made another par on 16 before she nearly jarred her tee shot on the 136-yard, par-3 17th hole, tapping in for birdie to get back to 4-under for the tournament, what was certainly the highlight of her third round. Korda then knocked her second shot on the green on the par-5 18th hole and almost holed her eagle putt, cleaning up her birdie to ultimately post at 5-under total.

“Shadow (Creek) definitely showed its colors today, or the last couple of days,” said Korda, who is leading the field in driving distance with a 298-yard average. “It's been playing brutally hard, especially the back nine, too. There was a four-group white on a par 3. It was hard to stop golf balls for us. So just kind of praying it was going to go long, or you were actually going for a miss of the green there. Very happy with my round. These rounds are kind of sometimes even mentally the hardest, so stayed in it quite well.”

Korda won at Shadow Creek back in 2024, beating Leona Maguire in the final match of the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards to claim her 12th career LPGA Tour victory, what was her fourth triumph in a row at that point in the season. But this venue poses an entirely different challenge when there’s a stroke-play format involved, a song that has been sung by every athlete in the field this week in Vegas, including Korda.

“It's very different. Match play, you can be aggressive, and, okay, well, if this doesn't work out, you lose the hole. Now, you're playing stroke play, and bogey, double, triple, they all come into play,” Korda explained on Saturday. “You're trying to minimize those mistakes, and you can't be as aggressive as you would be in that match-play tournament. So it's very different. It's a very hard golf course, and I think with the wind the past couple of days, it hasn't really helped us.

“In fact, it's so firm, too, so it's very hard to stop golf balls. You're almost just playing for a run-up.”

Despite the difficulties she has faced through 54 holes, Korda has still managed to put herself in contention for the third consecutive week with one round remaining in the Aramco Championship. Korda came to Shadow Creek in fine form, having collected her 16th career title in her first start of the year at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, and then finished runner-up in back-to-back weeks at the Fortinet Founders Cup and Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass.

Particularly considering how well the former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 has been playing as of late and the fact that she has captured six of her 16 total victories from a chasing position, the two strokes that separate Korda and Coughlin heading into the final round don’t feel like all that many.

And with plenty of positivity on her side derived from those two late birdies on 17 and 18, the momentum just might now be swinging in Nelly’s favor as she works to go four-in-four in top-two finishes on the LPGA Tour at the Aramco Championship.

“(A birdie-birdie finish is) good momentum, but tomorrow is going to be another beast of a day. You just kind of have to roll with the punches from Shadow,” said Korda, later continuing when asked if she feels like she’s due for another title, “Golf is a funny game. Last week, it was a birdie-fest, right? This week, you're struggling to make par, grinding out here. So, it's definitely encouraging and great momentum, but what I've learned with the game is you have to be really humble and happy for where you are right now.”

Nelly Korda Cards Two Late Birdies to Hold Second Position on Leaderboard at Aramco Championship

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