Is Nelly Korda playing this week?
The previous year's champion and World No.1, Nelly Korda, is competing to defend her title at the T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas. T-Mobile Match Play is one of the unique tournaments on the LPGA Tour that kicked off on Wednesday.
The T-Mobile Match Play tournament is presented by MGM Rewards and is being played at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. A field of 64 players is split into 16 groups of four. One winner from each group will advance to the knockout round on the weekend.
As round one of the tournament came to an end, Nelly tied with her groupmate, Brittany Altomare. The defending champion had bagged a lead by the 14th hole, but consecutive bogeys in the next two holes cost Nelly Korda her lead. Brittany, however, shot a birdie on the 16th hole to tie with the World No.1, which was held until the end of the first round.
Meanwhile, two other members of Group One, Ariya Jutanugarn and Jennifer Kupcho, faced each other on Day one. Ariya defeated Jennifer to grab the first spot at the group table.
Here are some more results from Round one of T-Mobile Match Play:
World No.2 Jeeno ThitIkul claimed the top spot on the Group Two table. Her groupmate Gaby Lopez also won to score one point. While Jeeno defeated Danielle Kang, Gaby beat Hye-Jin Choi in the first round.
The English golfer Charley Hull defeated Alexa Pano to reach the table top of Group Six. Ashleigh Buhai of the same group won against Esther Henseleit to score a point.
T-Mobile Match Play 2024 runner-up Leona Maguire lost against Brooke Henderson in Group Eight, bringing Maguire to the last spot on the table.
Lydio Ko, too, was defeated by Hira Naveed and dropped to third spot on the Group 3 table.
The Australian golfer Minjee Lee beat Jasmine Suwannapura to claim the first spot on the Group 14 table.
Round two of the T-Mobile Match Play can be streamed live on LPGA Live and NBC Golf Channel.
Nelly Korda's finishes on LPGA Tour this year
The American golfer has teed up in three LPGA tournaments this year, but victory has evaded her.
Nelly Korda finished second in the HGV (Hilton Grand Vacations) Tournament of Champions. Kim A-Lim claimed the title by two strokes at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club.
At the Cognizant Founders Cup, Nelly was tied for the seventh position alongside Minami Katsu and Celine Boutier.
She scored -14 at the Arizona Championship that was played last week, to be tied at the 22nd position with Kim Sei-Young, Yoon Ina, Chisato Iwai, and Nataliya Guseva.
Nelly Korda is set to defend her T-Mobile Match Play title this week at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. She defeated Leona Maguire to win the event by 4 and 3 in 2024.