In the T-Mobile Match Play finals, Ireland’s Leona Maguire has earned her spot with an impressive display, both in the quarter-finals and semi-finals held in Las Vegas on Saturday. Nevertheless, her final challenge is to compete against the current number one in the world, Nelly Korda, who is aiming to win her fourth consecutive tournament.
During one of the semi-finals, Korda skillfully overcame South Korea’s Narin An with a 4&3 victory. Meanwhile, at Shadow Creek Golf Course, Maguire clinched her place in the finals by triumphing over Sei Young Kim of South Korea with a 3&2 win.
Korda expresses her admiration for Maguire’s performance, acknowledging her consistent play and resilience on the field. She anticipates a tough grind in their upcoming encounter and predicts it won’t be a simple feat. However, she maintains that the competition will be enjoyable nonetheless.
Maguire also recognises the talent of her opponent, characterising Korda as the currently unrivalled best in world golf. She praises Korda’s recent performance as incredibly impressive. Even though she expects a serious contest in the final, Maguire looks forward to the challenge, validating it as the reason why professional players rehearse their skills: to compete against the world’s greatest, of whom Korda certainly is.
During her semi-final, Korda established a formidable lead at the outset by finishing even on the first three holes, all of which were par-4s, while An faltered with bogeys. Korda then progressed by gaining another five holes with birdies at Nos. 6 and 7.
An managed to respond with a birdie of her own while Korda encountered a bogey at the par-4 No. 10. However, Korda swiftly returned to form with a par at No. 11 as An required an additional stroke. An eventually parred the par-3 No. 13 to claw back a hole, but Korda ensured victory in the semi-final by matching An’s score at No. 14 and No. 15, where both players registered a bogey and a par respectively.
Korda performed well from the outset, recording a 2-under in the initial nine holes. Predominantly making par but also capitalising on two excellent birdie opportunities, she noted some mistakes creeping in as fatigue set in during the tougher back nine. Despite this, she expressed satisfaction with her victory.
In the meantime, Maguire established a two-point lead over Kim with a par at the first hole and a birdie at the third. Although Kim managed a birdie on the par-5 fourth, falling back again as Maguire made par on the par-5 seventh and the tenth. Kim secured another birdie only at the fourteenth, while Maguire finished the match with pars at the fifteenth and sixteenth.
In the quarter-final round, Maguire triumphed 4&3 over Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who had qualified for the weekend after exiting a four-way playoff on Friday.
The quarter-final match ended with Korda outpacing her fellow American competitor, Angel Yin, by 3&2.
In another quarter-final game, Kim outshone America’s Rose Zhang 6&5, and An narrowly beat Minami Katsu of Japan 1Up.
Meanwhile, on the PGA Tour, Akshay Bhatia maintained his significant lead, aiming for a start-to-finish win at the Valero Texas Open. Rory McIlroy maintained his consistent performance, ranking seventh at five-under-par after three rounds. Despite his respectable standing, he stands ten strokes behind the formidable Bhatia and is unlikely to catch up on the final day’s play.