World No. 1 Nelly Korda avoided a second straight collapse, but Ariya Jutanugarn maintained her advantage in Group 1 play Thursday at the T-Mobile Match Play in North Las Vegas, Nev.
Korda built a lead and held on to finish 1 up on Jennifer Kupcho, who fell to 0-2 in the event. That marked an improvement from Wednesday for Korda, when the defending champion settled for halving her match after losing a late lead to Brittany Altomare.
“Golf doesn’t necessarily bring out (head-to-head competitiveness) unless you’re in a playoff or whatnot,” Korda said. “(It) just makes you a little bit more aggressive of a player.”
Jutanugarn, of Thailand, won 2 and 1 against Altomare to continue to lead Group 1, though she will face Korda in the final leg of the round robin Friday. A win there would give either player the group.
The 64-player field is divided into 16 four-player groups competing in three days of round-robin matches. A win earns one point, a tie earns a half-point and a loss is zero points. The winner of each group moves on to a 16-player, single-elimination bracket beginning Saturday. In the event of a tie for first place in a group, a playoff will determine which player advances. The quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, with the semifinals and final on Sunday.
Overall, 12 golfers are 2-0 through two days of play at Shadow Creek Golf Course, putting each in a strong position to win her group and advance to the 16-person field Saturday.
Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul defeated Mexico’s Gaby Lopes 2 and 1 to get to 2-0 in Group 2. South Korea’s Sei Young Kim upended Japan’s Yuna Nishimura 4 and 2 to advance to 2-0 in Group 4.
Group 5 features Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou leading the way at 2-0 after her 4-and-2 victory over Japan’s Ayaka Furue.
The only group with a pair of 2-0 golfers is Group 9, as South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim and Sweden’s Maja Stark are still perfect and face off Friday.
Other 2-0 golfers after two days include Japan’s Mao Saigo in Group 7 (the only debut golfer at 2-0), Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson in Group 8 (having played only playing 27 holes — the fewest in the field), France’s Celine Boutier in Group 11, South Korea’s A Lim Kim in Group 12, Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom in Group 14 and South Korea’s Narin An in Group 16.
Group 3 and 13 each have a four-way tie for first place at 1-1-0, while England’s Charley Hull and South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai co-lead in Group 6 at 1-0-1.
“I love this format and it’s been a lot of fun,” New Zealand’s Lydia Ko said after winning her Thursday match 6 and 5 over Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels to get into that four-way tie in Group 3. “Yesterday I came off the day not feeling like defeated. I still had a great time.”
Angel Yin (1-0-1) leads Group 10, and Russia’s Nataliya Guseva (1-0-1) is on top in Group 15.
–Field Level Media
