A new and different format isn’t knocking Nelly Korda off track from a potential fourth win in her last four starts in 2024.
More on that in a minute.
The LPGA’s T-Mobile Match Play, contested on the famed Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, is a five-day tournament that switched it up in 2024, going to a new format in which the first two days consisted of 36 holes of stroke play with a cut to the top 65 and ties.
The cut Thursday night came in at 9 over, the highest LPGA cut in four years. Friday then saw a second cut to just the top eight players, who were then seeded in a match-play bracket with No. 1 taking on No. 8, No. 2 taking on No. 7 and so on.
Saturday will see a single-elimination bracket, with the quarterfinals in the morning and semifinals in the afternoon. Sunday’s final will then decide who takes home the $300,000 first-place prize.
Friday crunch time
Only six golfers finished under par and there was a mad dash for the last spot. As it turned out, four golfers – Moriya Jutanugarn (who had the round of the day with a 5-under 67), Hae Ran Ryu, Yuka Saso and Brooke Henderson (who overcame a double bogey on No. 15 with a birdie on No. 18) – finished tied for eighth at 2 over. That forced a 4-for-1 playoff, with Jutanugarn coming out on top.
Four in a row?
Back to Korda.
Just five days ago in the Phoenix suburbs, Korda was hoisting the trophy at the inaugural Ford Championship, a win that came one week after her victory at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship near Los Angeles. Those two wins in back-to-back weeks followed a win in her previous start in January at the LPGA Drive On Championship.
Korda, ranked No. 1 in the world, is now three match-play wins from yet another LPGA title, which would be her 12th, which would tie her with Hollis Stacy, Sei Young Kim and Ariya Jutanugarn for 28th on the all-time list.
After back-to-back 73s, Korda posted a 3-under 69 on Friday to finish 1 under overall and secure a spot in the final eight.
A win Sunday would be the second-longest winning streak on the LPGA. Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam over the 2004 and 2005 seasons won five straight tournaments.
Saturday’s quarterfinal matches
Leona Maguire earned the top spot for the match play bracket after she shot a second straight 69 to finish at 6 under.
For a three shot lead 🤩@leona_maguire is 5-under and on top with just one more to play 💯 pic.twitter.com/2aCWHZRTDV
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 5, 2024
The quarterfinal matchups look like this:
No. 1 Leona Maguire vs. No. 8 Moriya Jutanugarn
No. 2 Minami Katsu vs. No. 7 Narin An
No. 3 Angel Yin vs. No. 6 Nelly Korda
No. 4 Rose Zhang vs. No. 5 Sei Young Kim.
The semifinal matches will be Saturday afternoon.
Carlota Ciganda, meanwhile, had her worst score in 900 career LPGA rounds with an 85, 18 shots worse than her second-round 67.
