Field at T-Mobile Match Play was cut to top eight after round of stroke play on Friday; Switched to single-elimination match play format over weekend; Ireland's Leona Maguire will face Nelly Korda in final on Sunday; watch live on Sky Sports Golf on Sunday at 11pm
Sunday 7 April 2024 17:01, UK
Ireland's Leona Maguire has set up a T-Mobile Match Play final against world No 1 Nelly Korda, after the pair produced dominant efforts on Saturday in the quarter-finals and semi-finals at Las Vegas.
Korda dispatched South Korea's Narin An 4&3 in one semi-final, while Maguire ousted South Korea's Sei Young Kim 3&2 at Shadow Creek Golf Course.
"Nelly is the best in the world right now," Maguire said. "She's on a really hot streak. It's been incredibly impressive what she's been doing in the past few weeks.
"It's going to be a really tough battle tomorrow," she added. "I've got a big challenge ahead of me. I'm excited. I mean, that's why you practice. You want to play the best players in the world and that's what Nelly is."
Korda is attempting to win her fourth consecutive LPGA Tour event.
"(Maguire is) just so consistent," Korda said. "Such a tough competitor. Really grinds out there. We've had a couple battles in Solheim Cups for sure.
"But I think it's just going to be a grind tomorrow. I think it'll be a lot of fun and nothing is going to be easy."
Korda built an imposing early lead by playing even on the first three holes - all par-fours - while An struggled with bogeys. Korda birdied holes six and seven to go up five holes.
An responded with a birdie while Korda bogeyed the par-four 10, but Korda came right back with a par at hole 11 while An needed an extra stroke. An parred the par-three 13 to gain a hole, but Korda clinched the semi-final by matching her at No 14 (both bogeyed) and No 15 (both parred).
Maguire was up two on Kim on a par at the first hole and a birdie at hole three.
Kim birdied the par-five fourth to cut her deficit, only to fall further behind when her opponent made pars at the par-five seventh and at No 10. Kim's only other birdie came at No 14, then Maguire parred Nos 15 and 16 to close out the match.
In the quarter-finals, Maguire won by 4&3 over Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn, who had emerged from a four-player play-off on Friday to get to the weekend.
Korda topped fellow American Angel Yin 3&2 in their quarter-final match.
Kim had cruised past American Rose Zhang 6&5, and An edged Japan's Minami Katsu 1Up in the other quarter-finals.
The field was cut to the top 65 players and ties after 36 holes of stroke play on Wednesday and Thursday, then trimmed to the top eight after stroke play on Friday. Saturday morning was single-elimination match-play brackets, with the championship match set for Sunday.
Watch the final of the LPGA's T-Mobile Match Play between Leona Maguire and Nelly Korda, live on Sky Sports Golf and Main Event from 11pm, Sunday. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW
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