World No. 1 and defending champion Nelly Korda blew a late lead and had to settle for halving her Wednesday match against Brittany Altomare as the T-Mobile Match Play got underway in North Las Vegas, Nev.
The result leaves Korda and Altomare trailing Ariya Jutanugarn in Group 1 after the Thai player beat Jennifer Kupcho 3 and 2 at Shadow Creek Golf Course.
The 64-player field is divided into 16 four-player groups competing in three days of round-robin matches. A win earns one point, a tie earns a half-point and a loss is zero points. The winner of each group moves on to a 16-player, single-elimination bracket beginning Saturday. In the event of a tie for first place in a group, a playoff will determine which player advances. The quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, with the semifinals and final on Sunday.
Altomare is back on tour this year after taking a maternity leave for most of the 2024 season. She trailed Korda by two holes before winning Nos. 14 and 15 with a par and a birdie, respectively.
After each player made par on the par-3 17th hole, Korda had a chance for the win at No. 18, but she missed a par putt before Altomare rolled in a bogey putt to halve the hole and the match.
“To end up in a tie was a win for me,” Altomare said. “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.”
Altomare added about the level of her game, “I don’t really feel 100 percent golf-wise, but strength-wise, I worked really hard this past year trying to get my strength back, my speed back. Golf-wise, I think I just need rounds and reps to get into a rhythm again.”
The most one-sided match of the day saw No. 9 Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea crush Bailey Tardy 8 and 7. Also in Group 9, Sweden’s Maja Stark defeated Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen 3 and 2.
Two other matches ended up even, with No. 10 Angel Yin drawing against Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn and No. 15 Rose Zhang halving with Russia’s Nataliya Guseva.
Other winners were Yealimi Noh, Lauren Coughlin, Megan Khang, Sarah Schmelzel, Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien, Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson, Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn and Jeeno Thitikul, Sweden’s Linnea Strom and Madelene Sagstrom, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, France’s Celine Boutier, England’s Charley Hull, and South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai.
Also prevailing were Australia’s Grace Kim, Stephanie Kyriacou, Minjee Lee, Hira Naveed and Gabriela Ruffels; Japan’s Ayaka Furue, Yuna Nishimura and Mao Saigo; and South Korea’s Narin An, A Lim Kim, Ina Yoon and Sei Young Kim.
