Latest news with #LPGAMatchPlay
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Yan and Buhai share lead at LA Championship
Liu Yan of China shared the lead after the first round of the LA Championship (Katelyn Mulcahy) China's Liu Yan and South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai both shot 9-under par rounds of 63 to share the lead after the first round of the LA Championship on Thursday. But on a day of low scoring at El Caballero Country Club, Sweden's Frida Kinhult was just a shot off the leading pair and a chasing pack of five were just a further stroke behind. Advertisement Liu made a shaky start with a bogey on her opening hold, the par-4 10th, but she was electric from then on making birdies on three of her next four holes before an eagle on the par-5 16th. She finished her round with three birdies in a row and carded her lowest score on the LPGA Tour. "I think on my first hole I was a little nervous. I had high expectations for myself and I was nervous," said the 29-year-old, searching for her first win on the LPGA Tour which she joined in 2018. "I got bogey and before the next hole I told myself, 'You have to be calm and you have to be confident and be brave. You can do it.' I just talked with myself," she said. Advertisement Buhai, the 2022 British Open winner, was blemish free through her round, starting with a birdie on the tenth. "Obviously any day you have a bogey-free round, that's a good day. I was very patient; hit a lot of good shots. I mean, you have to hole a lot of good putts as well. But I felt the pins were in locations we could access them today as long as you use the slopes correctly," she said. "I feel that's kind of what this course is like. If you hit it into the right bowls you'll get good results; otherwise you can short side yourself very easily and it can't be fun," added the 35-year old. Kinhult was also bogey-free and finished her round off in style with birdies on each of the last three holes although she accepted she had relied on her putter. Advertisement "I guess it was a smooth ride. Saved maybe two or three pars from, I don't know, six, nine footers. Other than that... golf felt easy for once, so hopefully we'll enjoy that ride the next few days as well," she said. The chasing pack on 7-under includes South Korean trio Jenny Shin, Chun In-gee and Lee Jeong-eun along with China's Miranda Wang and Sweeden's Madelene Sagstrom. Sagstrom, who tasted victory in the LPGA Match Play event in Las Vegas earlier this month, ended her round with a hole-in-one on the par-3 ninth her first ever ace on the tour. But with a tight leaderboard, American Nelly Korda, last year's Tour Player of the Year, who racked up seven victories in 2024, was tied for 15th but was just four shots off the lead. Korda made three bogeys on her round but all of them were three putts after she shit 18 out of 18 greens. Her round was saved by a streak of four straight birdies on her back nine. sev/bfm
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sagstrom digs deep to win LPGA Match Play
Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom overcame a mid-round slump to win the LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas (David Becker) Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom overcame a mid-round slump to score a 1-up victory over the USA's Lauren Coughlin and win the LPGA Match Play tournament in Las Vegas on Sunday. The 32-year-old world number 67 dug deep with a gritty display at the Shadow Creek Golf Course to clinch only the second LPGA title of her career. Advertisement Sagstrom had looked to be poised to claim an emphatic victory early in Sunday's final, quickly racing into to a 4-up lead after the opening six holes. But her smooth early form disintegrated over the next four holes, and a disastrous performance on the 11th, when she twice mis-hit attempted chips onto the green, allowed Coughlin to make it all square. Coughlin, the 13th seed who had edged Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn in the semi-finals, then sneaked into a 1-up lead on the 12th when Sagstrom's par-putt lipped out. Sagstrom though hit back on the par-three 13th when Coughlin could only make a bogey to put it back to all-square. Advertisement The next two holes were squared before Sagstrom won what would turn out to be the decisive hole on the 16th, when Coughlin made a double-bogey seven. A superb chip helped Sagstrom save par on the 17th, and Coughlin missed a birdie putt that would have tied it again before the two players parred the 18th. Sagstrom, who had beaten Angel Yin in Sunday's semi-finals, blamed tiredness on her mid-round wobble. "I'm exhausted and I bet Lauren is exhausted," she said after her win. "I'm so tired and I think it really kind of hit my swing there in the middle. "I said to (caddie) Shane (Codd), I can do this. I just need to find some sort of feeling to hit some good golf shots again. "I just kind of dug deep and was like, oh, well, hopefully it's not too many holes left. It's just amazing." rcw/sev
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Weary Boutier still alive in LPGA Match Play after 45-hole day
Celine Boutier played 45 holes at the LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas on Saturday before darkness halted her quarter-final (David Becker) France's Celine Boutier produced a jaw-dropping show of stamina to keep her LPGA Match Play hopes alive on Saturday, grinding through a staggering 45 holes before darkness halted her quarter-final duel with Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom. Advertisement The 31-year-old 11th seed's exhausting day began in the last 16, when her match against South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai finished all-square after 18 holes at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. That sent both players into a marathon session of dramatic sudden death, which Boutier won on the 28th hole -- the longest match in tournament history. "It was definitely tough, definitely a grind," Boutier said. "I feel like we both played pretty steady and went back and forth a lot. I had a few chances, and she had a few chances, so it was just all the way until the end, but I'm glad it's over." Advertisement After that energy-sapping victory, Boutier had just 30 minutes before she was back out on the course for her quarter-final against Sagstrom. Another tense tussle unfolded, with the players level after 17 holes when darkness halted play. Boutier and Sagstrom will return early on Sunday to play the 18th, with a possibility of even more playoff holes. "It was a very long day," Boutier said after play was suspended. "I feel kind of tired, but I feel like it was a good match again this afternoon, very tight and going back and forth with Madelene. So just got to keep pushing tomorrow." Advertisement Boutier or Sagstrom will face a semi-final against Angel Yin of the United States, who beat Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul 4&2. Fellow Thai Ariya Jutanugarn reached the semi-finals by defeating Sweden's Maja Stark 4&2 Ariya will face Lauren Coughlin of the United States after Coughlin had a one-up win over Australia's Stephanie Kyriacou. rcw/dh
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ariya downs defending champ Korda to advance at LPGA Match Play
Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand plays a shot at the ninth hole on the way to a round-robin victory over world number one Nelly Korda in the LPGA Match Play (David Becker) 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. Afer trailing most of the front nine, Korda had battled back to ake 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. Advertisement "Overall it's just so much fun to have 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. Korda, tied her opening match against Brittany Altomare before beating Jennifer Kupcho in her second, 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. Advertisement "I would say I had 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. Advertisement "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. bb/rcw
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Korda downs Kupcho to stay alive at LPGA Match Play
World number one Nelly Kim plays a shot on the way to a 1-up victory over Jennifer Kupcho in round-robin play at the LPGA Match Play (David Becker) World number one and defending champion Nelly Korda beat Jennifer Kupcho 1-up on Thursday to keep alive her hopes of advancing to the knockout stage of the LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas, Nevada. Korda survived what she called "very questionable" play coming down the stretch against Kupcho. Advertisement She went 2-up with a par at the 12th hole and remained 2-up despite a bogey at 15. But Korda's bogey at the par-five 16th saw Kupcho claw back a hole before Korda closed out the win as they tied each of the last two holes with pars. "Definitely don't have my best stuff right now," said Korda, whose victory at Shadow Creek golf course last year was one of her seven LPGA titles in 2024. "That's the greatest thing about match play is even if you don't have your best stuff you have to grind it out." Korda, who tied her opening match against Brittany Altomare on Wednesday, faces a must-win match on Friday against Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, who beat Altomare 2&1 on Thursday to improve to 2-0. Advertisement The winner of each of the 16 four-woman groups advances to the knockout round. The format is a change from last year, when the top eight players after three rounds of stroke play advanced to weekend match play. If there is a tie for first in a group, a playoff will determine the group winner. South Korea's Kim Hyo-joo and Sweden's Maja Stark were tied with two wins each atop their group. Kim won the last four holes to beat Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen 2-up. Stark beat Bailey Tardy 3&2 and will meet Kim on Friday to decide who advances. Stark said going head-to-head to win the group wouldn't affect her strategy against Kim, who won the Ford Championship in a playoff on Sunday. Advertisement "I don't know how Hyo-joo has been playing, but since she won last week I'm guessing she's been playing really well," Stark said. "But I'm just going to try to focus on my game and take one shot at a time." World number two Jeeno Thitikul improved to 2-0 with a 2&1 victory over Gaby Lopez. Other players emerging from the first two round-robin days with 2-0 records and in prime position to advance were Canadian Brooke Henderson, France's Celine Boutier, South Koreans Kim A-lim, Kim Sei-young and An Narin, Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom, Japan's Mao Saigo and Australian Stephanie Kyriacou. World number three Lydia Ko of New Zealand kept herself alive in a tight group with a 6&5 victory over Australian Gabriela Ruffels. Advertisement While Ko said she thought a "cut-throat" single elimination format, with the loser of each match eliminated, was more in keeping with the match play vibe, she was delighted to still have a shot at the weekend. "Yesterday I came off the day not feeling, like, defeated, she said. "You still get two more chances, so I'm excited for tomorrow." bb/rcw
