LPGA Tour star Nelly Korda keeps hopes alive of winning three straight majors

Nelly Korda has kept alive hopes of winning three straight majors after producing a gutsy performance on moving day at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. 

The American world number one went round Hazeltine National in one-under 71 to reach a 54-hole total of seven-under. 

She trails South Korea's Hae-Ran Ryu by four strokes with 18 holes remaining at the third women's major of the year.

Korda won the Chevron Championship for the second time in April and added a first U.S. Women's Open title to her resume at the beginning of the month. 

A win on Sunday will make her one of three women to capture the first three majors of a season, after Inbee Park in 2013 and Babe Zaharias in 1950. 

Stepping into the winner's circle would also push her to the 27 points required to enter the LPGA hall of fame. 

In all four of her major victories, though, Korda has never overturned such a deficit in the final round. 

Korda and Ryu will also have to deal with challenges from Canada's Brooke Henderson and 36-hole leader Ina Yoon. 

Yoon had a five-shot lead to begin the day but carded a nightmarish 75. 

The 23-year-old is currently playing in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour and previously served a suspension for cheating. 

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England's Charley Hull - second to Korda at the U.S. Open earlier this month - missed the cut at two-over par after back-to-back rounds of 73. 

Her compatriots Lottie Woad and Mimi Rhodes also exited at the halfway stage, as did Ireland's Leona Maguire and Sweden's Linn Grant. 

The purse of $13m (£9.8m) this week is the largest in women's golf history, with $1.95m (£1.48m) awarded to the winner.

Asked how aggressive Korda will be tomorrow, she said: "It just depends on the weather. The greens are pretty slick.

"They don't have too much grass on them. The short putts are pretty difficult.

"Putting in general, when it gets this windy, you have to calculate in the wind, too, and a gust here and there. 

"Sometimes you just aren't as confident with your lines."

Korda said she hasn't felt as though her U.S. Women's Open title has freed her up. 

"It feels the same," she said. "I'm always wanting to be in the hunt, so I feel honestly the exact same."