LAS VEGAS – World No. 1 Nelly Korda and Ireland’s Leona Maguire advanced to the final of the LPGA Matchplay with dominant efforts on April 6 in Las Vegas.
Korda dispatched South Korea’s An Na-rin 4&3 in their semi-final, while Maguire ousted South Korea’s Kim Sei-young 3&2 at Shadow Creek Golf Course.
“(Maguire is) just so consistent,” American Korda said. “Such a tough competitor. Really grinds out there.
“We’ve had a couple battles in Solheim Cups, for sure. But I think it’s just going to be a grind tomorrow. I think it’ll be a lot of fun and nothing is going to be easy.”
Korda is attempting to win her fourth consecutive LPGA Tour event.
“Nelly is the best in the world right now,” Maguire said. “She’s on a really hot streak. It’s been incredibly impressive what she’s been doing in the past few weeks.
“It’s going to be a really tough battle tomorrow. I’ve got a big challenge ahead of me.
“I’m excited. I mean, that’s why you practise. You want to play the best players in the world and that’s what Nelly is.”
Korda built an imposing early lead by playing even on the first three holes – all par-fours – while An struggled with bogeys. Korda birdied the sixth and seventh to go up five holes.
An responded with a birdie at the par-four 10th hole, which Korda bogeyed. But Korda came right back with a par at No. 11 while An needed an extra stroke. An parred the par-three No. 13 to gain a hole, but Korda clinched the semi-final by matching her at No. 14 (both bogeyed) and No. 15 (both parred).
“I played really solid at the start,” Korda said. “I think I shot two under on the front nine. Was just making a lot of pars and then gave myself two good looks at birdie, so I capitalised on that.
“Obviously, the back nine is a little tougher, so (I) started to make a little bit more mistakes. Fatigue started setting in just a little. Happy with the win.”
Maguire was up two on Kim with a par at the first hole and a birdie at the third. Kim birdied the par-five fourth hole to cut her deficit, only to fall further behind when her opponent made pars at the par-five seventh and at the par-four 10th hole. Kim’s only other birdie came at No. 14 before Maguire parred Nos. 15 and 16 to close out the match.
In the quarter-finals, Maguire won by 4&3 over Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn, who had emerged from a four-player play-off on April 5 to get to the weekend.
Korda topped compatriot Angel Yin 3&2 in their last-eight encounter.
Kim had cruised past American Rose Zhang 6&5, and An edged Japan’s Minami Katsu 1-up in the other quarter-finals. REUTERS
