Steph Kyriacou remains unbeaten and on track to reach the knockout stages after notching another crushing victory at the LPGA Tour's Match Play showpiece in Nevada. Kyriacou completed a Japanese double with a 4 & 2 win over fifth seed Ayaka Furue to seize command of Group 5 at Shadow Creek Golf Club as all four other Australians suffered defeats on Friday (AEDT).
Runner-up at last year's Evian Championship but still seeking a breakthrough LPGA Tour title, Kyriacou has her fate in her own hands, needing either a tie or victory over winless American Austin Kim on Saturday to progress to the last 16.
Fellow Australians Minjee Lee, Grace Kim, Gabriela Ruffels, and Hira Naveed all lost on day two to fall to 1-1 records. Seeded 14th, Lee went down 3 & 2 to Swede Madalene Sagstrom, who now tops Group 14 with a two-from-two record. Lee faces Patty Tavatanakit (1-1) next, and even a win won't be good enough if Sagstrom beats or ties her own Thai opponent, Jasmine Suwannapura (1-1), in her final pool match.
Kim was three up with four holes to play only to lose 1 up against South Korean A Lim Kim, who went top of Group 12 with a 2-0 record. Kim can still possibly squeeze into the final 16 with victory over American Jenny Shin (1-1) if Lim Kim loses her last group match against US 12th seed Amy Yang (1-1).
Despite second-day defeats, Ruffels (1-1) and Naveed (1-1) square off in an intriguing all-Aussie clash on Saturday, both still in the mix to advance as Group 3 winners. All four players in the group are locked on 1-1 records after New Zealand's world No.3 and reigning Olympic champion Lydia Ko rebounded from a 6 & 4 loss to Naveed to put Ruffels to the sword 6 & 5.
Ko next plays Spaniard Carlota Ciganda, who remained alive with a 2 & 1 win over Naveed. "You know, I actually played decent yesterday (against Naveed), which is something you normally don't say when you lose 6 down," Ko said. "But I had a lot of good shots and obviously the characteristics of this golf course are firm greens and I was kind of in between clubs and I'd leave myself short-sighted and I wasn't really converting any birdie opportunities when I did hit it close. So I think I managed my way around the golf course a lot better today and I love match play. So I came off yesterday like I didn't feel like I really lost that bad and that I still had a chance. But, yeah, obviously it's nice to win 6 up than losing 6 down."
World No.1 and defending champion Nelly Korda will have to beat Ariya Jutanugarn to win her group. After halving her opening match, Korda had a few shaky moments in a 1-up win over fellow American Jennifer Kupcho. Korda missed a four-foot putt to go three up with three holes to play and then gave away the par-5 16th with a bogey before prevailing at the last. "Definitely don't have my best stuff right now," Korda said. "That's the greatest thing about match play. Even if you don't have your best stuff, you have to grind it out."
Charley Hull won, Nelly Korda tied, and Lydia Ko lost on the first day of the LPGA Tour's T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas. The tournament at Shadow Creek Golf Course sees the 64-player field split into 16 groups with round-robin matches played across three days. The 16 group winners then progress to the weekend's knockout ties, starting with the quarter-finals on Saturday.
England's Hull took an early lead of Group Six after a 5&3 win over American Alexa Pano. Hull was quickly two-up in the space of three holes, and while Pano was back level by the sixth, the former raced away on the back nine, winning five consecutive holes from the 11th to 15th to secure the match with three holes to spare.
But defending champion Korda was pegged back by her opponent, Brittany Altomare, in the closing holes of their match despite the world No 1 having been two-up with four to play. Altomare had taken an early lead in the encounter after Korda bogied the par-four second but the world's top player was back level by the fourth and was eventually two-up by the 14th. But back-to-back bogeys at the 15th and 16th holes proved costly, with the final two holes of the match tied. Both players trail Ariya Jutanugarn in Group One after she beat Jennifer Kupcho 3&2.
"To end up in a tie was a win for me," Altomare said, who has returned to the tour this year after maternity leave. "Nelly is a great player, obviously world No 1, and a great person. It was a lot of fun out there. I felt like I got to watch her play too, and just see where my game is and what I need to improve on."
Ko, meanwhile, also lost her opening match, the New Zealander defeated 6&4 by Australian Hira Naveed. Ireland's Leona Maguire also suffered an opening-day defeat, thrashed 6&5 by Canada's Brooke Henderson. But Wednesday's most one-sided scoreline came in Group Nine as South Korea's Kim Hyo-Joo delivered a crushing 8&7 defeat of Bailey Tardy.
And in the day's most topsy-turvy match, Albane Valenzuela was five down at the turn to Megan Khang before she stormed back to level the match through 16 holes. Khang had to get up-and-down from behind the 17th green to avoid falling behind, before taking victory on the 18th.
Watch all days of the T-Mobile Match Play from Las Vegas live on Sky Sports Golf this week.
