2 weeks Ago By Associated Press
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Nelly Korda, the world’s top-ranked player, won’t be around this weekend to defend her T-Mobile Match Play championship. She needed to defeat Ariya Jutanugarn, but lost 1-up Friday (Saturday, April 5, 2025, PH time) on the final day of round-robin play and failed to qualify for the round of 16.
Korda’s struggles typified the week for the world’s top 10 players. Eight played in this tournament at Shadow Creek, but only second-ranked Jeeno Thitikul advanced to the knockout stage. She will play Nataliya Guseva.
“I don’t think it’s because of the top players not playing well, but I think because it’s not a matter of the ranking here,” said Thitikul, who described her approach this week as “pretty chill.” “Maybe the top players are playing well, but other players just play a little better, which is like hold the win.” The winners of the 16 groups in round-robin play qualified for the beginning of elimination play Saturday morning.
The quarterfinals will be in the afternoon, which will narrow the field to four for Sunday for the semifinals and championship. Korda appeared poised to put herself in that company, taking the lead on the par-3 13th despite missing the green. She got up-and-down and Jutanugarn bogeyed.
The advantage didn’t last long. The roles reversed on the par-4 15th when Jutanugarn got up and down with a 40-foot putt to within two feet. “That putt to me is quite hard because of the slope and it’s like downhill and it’s slope left to right pretty good,” said Jutanugarn, who will face Narin An in the next round.
“I just told myself I just need to get the speed right, and that’s all I focus on.” / AP.
