Nelly Korda won for the third straight week on the LPGA Tour and for her fourth consecutive start by defeating Ireland’s Leona Maguire 4 and 3 in the championship match of the T-Mobile Match Play on Sunday in Las Vegas.
In her past three victories, Korda said, “going down the stretch, there is a different type of adrenaline. But I feel like with match play you have that from the first hole so it was a great day playing against Leona. Always such a great competitor. But happy to get my fourth.”
Korda sped ahead to a 4-up lead through seven by winning the second hole, then birdieing three straight at Nos. 5-7 at Shadow Creek. Maguire’s par at the par-4 ninth was enough to get her on the board as Korda bogeyed the hole.
But Korda responded right away by winning the 10th, and a birdie at the par-4 12th put her 5 up with six to play.
Maguire stayed afloat by winning the next two holes with birdies, just her second and third birdies all day, to close her gap to 3 down with four to play. Korda proceeded to make the winning par putt at the par-4 15th.
“This golf course is so tough that pars are going to go a long way,” Korda said. “Stay in your own bubble, hit fairways, hit greens, and try not to make mistakes, and I did that today.”
Maguire earned the top seed in the match-play bracket by going 6 under through 54 holes of stroke play. She then defeated Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn 4 and 3 and South Korea’s Sei Young Kim 3 and 2 in Saturday’s quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
“Obviously right now it’s pretty disappointing to finish the way I finished, but it almost felt like two separate tournaments this week, the stroke play event and the match play event,” Maguire said. “To lead the stroke play around this golf course by three at the end of the three days was something I can take a lot of positives from and be very proud of.
“Yeah, Nelly is the best player in the world for a reason. She brought her ‘A’ game today and mine wasn’t good enough. Fair play to her for winning again this week.”
Korda was the No. 6 seed after shooting 1 under over her three rounds of stroke play. She then defeated Angel Yin 3 and 2 in the quarters and bested South Korea’s Narin An 4 and 3 in the semis.
Korda won the LPGA Drive On Championship in late January in her hometown of Bradenton, Fla. After skipping the tour’s Asian swing, she won the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship and the Ford Championship over the past two weeks.
A winner of just one major, the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, Korda figures to be heavily favored at the first women’s major of the year in two weeks, the Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.
–Field Level Media