While she battled as hard as she could against the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 on Sunday at Shadow Creek, Leona Maguire ultimately fell 4 and 3 to Nelly Korda in the championship match at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, finishing solo second after a solid performance in Las Vegas, Nev.
Maguire advanced to the single-elimination match play portion of the event after recording a three-day total of 6-under in the stroke-play competition, earning the No. 1 seed as she led by three strokes after 54 holes. The Irishwoman trounced Moriya Jutanugarn 4 and 3 in the quarterfinal matches and handily defeated Sei Young Kim 3 and 2 in the semis, ultimately facing off with No. 6 seed Korda in the championship match on Sunday.
Korda routed Maguire early, winning four of the pair’s first seven holes, three of which saw her make three straight birdies on holes five, six and seven to go 4 up with 11 holes to play. The Duke University alum landed a shot on No. 9, taking the hole with a par to get back to 3 down, but Korda hit back with a win on 10, once again sitting 4 up on Maguire.
A birdie on 12 extended Korda’s lead to five, a margin that Maguire did her best to cut into with back-to-back wins on holes 13 and 14. But ultimately, she just couldn’t get anything to stick, becoming the latest victim of the Korda buzzsaw with a loss on the 15th hole, falling 4 and 3 to the superstar American.
“It's pretty disappointing to finish the way I finished, but it almost felt like two separate tournaments this week, the stroke-play event and the match-play event,” said Maguire. “To lead stroke play around this golf course by three at the end of the three days was something I can take a lot of positives from and be very proud of.
“Nelly is the best player in the world for a reason. She brought her A-game today, and mine wasn't good enough. Fair play to her for winning again this week.”
But Maguire can’t be too disappointed in herself as her runner-up showing is her first top-five finish on the LPGA Tour since she picked up her second career victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give last June. It’s also her best finish of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, a year that’s seen her capture two other top-15 results after she tied for 12th at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tied for 13th at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship.
Her play at Shadow Creek seems to indicate that the two-time LPGA Tour winner is rounding in form, perfect timing as the year’s first major, The Chevron Championship is just a week away. Maguire’s best finish in the event is a tie for 18th that came in 2020, and in the second edition of the tournament to be held at The Club at Carlton Woods, she’ll be looking to improve upon her T23 2023 result as Maguire works to track down her first career major title.
Who knows if Maguire’s star will be the one left burning brightest next Sunday afternoon in The Woodlands, Texas. But her performance in Vegas could be a good indication of the form we’ll see from her at The Chevron Championship, golf Maguire will try to bottle up and reapply to the arduous challenge that awaits her and 131 other players at the season’s first major.
“I feel like my game is really close,” said Maguire. “Obviously, I played some great golf this week. Hit some really nice shots. Just needed to putt a little bit better today. So, (I’ll) work on that. I hear the greens at Chevron have been changed a little bit. Major championships ultimately come down to putting. A little bit of extra work on my putting, and we should be in good shape.”
Not to be in @LPGAMatchPlay final but lots of positives to take from leading the stroke play heading to @Chevron_Golf
— Leona Maguire (@leona_maguire) April 8, 2024
Thanks to everyone for all the support 💚 https://t.co/h6w0yv7QIE
)
)
)
)
