Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Ariya Jutanugarn defeated world number one and defending champion Nelly Korda 1-up on Friday to send the American packing at the LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas, Nevada. After trailing most of the front nine, Korda had battled back to take a 1-up lead through 14 holes of a match she had to win, but she gave up the 15th hole with a bogey, and Ariya won the 16th with a par to take the lead for good.
“Overall it’s just so much fun to have the chance to play with Nelly,” said Ariya, who emerged from round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 record and will face South Korea’s An Narin in the round of 16 on Saturday. The quarter-finals will follow on Saturday afternoon.
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Korda tied her opening match against Brittany Altomare before beating Jennifer Kupcho in her second match, but she couldn’t come up with another win to make the knockout round. She is still searching for a first victory of 2025, after bagging seven in a spectacular 2024 campaign. It wasn’t a scenario Ariya envisioned when she saw her draw.
“I would say I had a pretty bad week last week, so to be honest, I was already planning what I’m going to do on Sunday. I thought I’m not going to be able to play the weekend, so I was kind of, like, chilling, no expectation at all.”
Sweden’s Maja Stark handed Kim Hyo-joo her first defeat of the week, beating the South Korean 2&1 to advance with a perfect 3-0 record. Kim, coming off a victory at the Ford Championship last week, led much of the day and was 1-up through 10 holes. But Stark tied it at 11 with a bogey as Kim made a double-bogey, and the Swede took the lead with a birdie at the 12th and won the 13th with a par.
“I think I just kept chugging along,” Stark said after advancing to a meeting with Canadian Brooke Henderson. Henderson also emerged from round-robin play 3-0 after her ailing opponent, Ko Jin-young, conceded their match after nine holes while trailing by two.
World number two Jeeno Thitkul of Thailand also won a third straight match, beating Choi Hye-jin 5&3. Jeeno was the only one of the eight top-10 players in the field to reach the weekend. Spain’s Carlota Ciganda ended the hopes of third-ranked Lydia Ko with a 2-up victory, advancing to face Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom.
“I don’t think it’s because of the top players not playing well, but I think (it’s) because it’s not a matter of the ranking here,” Jeeno said after lining up a meeting with Nataliya Guseva.
© 2024 AFP
