Brooke Henderson wanted solely 27 holes to win two matches. The Canadian must win another to be assured of reaching the weekend on the T-Cellular Match Play.
In the future after a 6-and-5 win within the opening spherical, Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., pulled away late by successful 5 of the final seven holes Thursday in a 5-and-4 win over Peiyun Chien of Taiwan.
Yet another day of round-robins matches stay at Shadow Creek earlier than the winner of every of the 16 teams advance to the knockout stage on the weekend. Whereas nobody clinched her group, at the least 18 gamers have been eradicated on one other day of this fickle format.
Nelly Korda, the defending champion and No. 1 participant, should beat Ariya Jutanugarn to win her group. Korda halved her opening match and she or he had a number of shaky moments in a 1-up win over Jennifer Kupcho.
Korda had a 4-foot putt to go 3 up with three holes to play, missed the putt, after which gave away the the par-5 sixteenth with a bogey. It got here right down to the 18th, and Kupcho pulled her drive to the left aspect of the hazard. Her subsequent shot clipped a tree and she or he stopped watching, solely to find the ball was on the inexperienced.
Korda’s strategy was 40 ft lengthy, and she or he did nicely to lag it to a foot. Kupcho missed her 30-foot birdie try and Korda moved on to a decisive match in opposition to Jutanugarn. The Thai is 2-0 and would solely want a halve in opposition to Korda.
“Very questionable by me,” Korda stated of her play. “Positively don’t have my finest stuff proper now.. That’s the best factor about match play, is even for those who don’t have your finest stuff you need to grind it out.”
Lydia Ko joined Henderson as the one gamers who’ve but to play the fifteenth gap in both of the 2 rounds. The distinction is Ko misplaced her first match (6 and 4) earlier than a 6-and-5 victory Thursday over Gabriela Ruffels. Everybody in Ko’s group is 1-1.
If any group ends in a tie, the winner is determined by a sudden-death playoff.
Hyo Joo Kim, coming off a playoff victory final week in Arizona, gained the final 4 holes to rally in opposition to Nanna Koertz Madsen for her second win this week. Kim and Maja Stark are 2-0 and can play Friday to see who advances.
Rose Zhang conceded her match in opposition to Albane Valenzuela after three holes. Zhang had complained a few neck damage within the opening spherical. That units up an odd state of affairs.
If Zhang can’t play in opposition to Meghan Khang, Valenzuela could be eradicated. If Zhang can play and beats Khang, Valenzuela might win the group by beating Nataliya Guseva.
Amongst these eradicated are Jin Younger Ko and Leona Maguire in one other weird state of affairs.
Ko wanted to win the match to have any shot on the weekend. The match was dormie after 16, which means Ko was eradicated. However the South Korean gained the following two holes to halve the match, and that eradicated Maguire.
