NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Anna Nordqvist was amongst 11 gamers who received matches for the second straight day, solely the three-time main champion from Sweden needed to work the longest on the Financial institution of Hope LPGA Match Play.
Nordqvist had her second match go all 18 holes Thursday earlier than she held on for a 1-up victory over Lauren Coughlin. Nordqvist by no means trailed, however she watched a 4-up lead after eight holes shrink to 1 up after the thirteenth.
They halved the final 5 holes, leaving Nordqvist in good place — however nonetheless not protected — to win her group and advance to the knockout stage on the weekend at Shadow Creek.
The second day of round-robin group play was all about staying alive, and 16 gamers from the sector of 64 already are mathematically eradicated. Xiyu “Janet” Lin was the one prime seed in her group to get eradicated, dropping one other match, this time to Pajaree Anannarukarn.
The event attracted solely two of the highest 10 gamers within the girls’s world rating, and each suffered setbacks within the second spherical.
Albane Valenzuela, a runner-up within the U.S. Girls’s Novice 4 years in the past, received 4 holes in a five-hole stretch across the flip to knock off Lilia Vu, the highest seed and winner of the LPGA’s first main this 12 months on the Chevron Championship.
Valenzuela (2-0) faces Lauren Hartlage on Friday for an opportunity to advance. Hartlage is the lowest-ranked participant within the event who has misplaced each matches earlier than they reached the seventeenth gap.
“Very completely happy to stroll away with a win,” Valenzuela mentioned. “I knew this was going to be a really powerful match. Lilia is undoubtedly top-of-the-line gamers on the earth and made me work for the factors. She undoubtedly left some putts on the market, and I did as properly, so we type of fought ’til the tip.”
Brooke Henderson received three straight holes to construct a 1-up lead on the flip, just for the Canadian to make 5 bogeys the remainder of the best way and lose, 1 up, to Sophia Schubert. Henderson had an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th to halve the match, and the putt missed proper of the opening by a number of inches.
The highest participant from every of the 16 teams advance to the weekend.
Maja Stark of Sweden constructed a giant lead for the second straight match after which needed to grasp on to beat Yu Liu to lift her file to 2-0. One other younger Swedish star, Linn Grant, went 18 holes for the second straight day. She halved her match on Wednesday, after which had a wild match in opposition to Matilda Castren.
Grant was 3 down after 4 holes. She rallied to win three straight holes earlier than the flip. Not one of the remaining six holes was halved, and Grant did sufficient to win 2 up.
“I simply had a mindset that it’s a powerful golf course, so something can occur on any gap,” Grant mentioned. “You simply need to hold hitting fairways and attempting to hit these greens. Lots of instances you win a gap on par as a result of it’s powerful.”
Angel Yin pulled off an unlikely win. She was 1 right down to Esther Henseleit of Germany taking part in the par-3 seventeenth. Yin hit over the inexperienced on a rough-filled financial institution, about 10 toes past the placing floor. Henseleit had 12 toes for birdie. Yin used her putter to punch the ball alongside the thick grass, onto the inexperienced to about 5 toes. Henseleit missed her birdie and Yin stayed within the match.
On the 18th, Yin hammered a drive alongside the agency fairway and hit a wedge to 10 toes, making the birdie putt to earn a tie. She is going to play Ally Ewing, who has received two matches with out having to play the seventeenth gap both day.
