NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Defending champion Nelly Korda became the latest example of anything goes in the T-Mobile Match Play when she settled for a halve Wednesday against Brittany Altomare, No. 828 in the world and still building her game after an 18-month break from having a baby.
Korda was 2 up with four holes to play at Shadow Creek when Altomare won the 15th with a par and the 16th with a birdie. She made a 4-foot bogey putt on the 18th hole to halve the match after Korda was short on her par putt from the fringe.
“It’s match play, so anything can happen,” said Altomare, whose only tournament in 2024 was on the Epson Tour. “To end up in a tie was a win for me. Nelly is a great player.”
The format has returned to round-robin play among the 16 groups of four players, so Korda still has a path to the knockout stage of the weekend.
Hyo Joo Kim, coming off a playoff win last week in Phoenix, made short work of Bailey Tardy with an 8-and-7 victory, and Brooke Henderson also had an easy time, 6 and 5, over Leona Maguire of Ireland.
But it was a typically wild day in this once-a-year format.
Albane Valenzuela was 5 down at the turn to Megan Khang before she stormed back to square the match through 16 holes. Khang had to get up-and-down from behind the 17th green to avoid falling behind, and then the closing hole flipped.
Khang was still in the fairway playing her third shot and judged it perfectly off a backstop, the ball rolling out to 4 feet for a chance at par. Valenzuela went from a bunker to the back of the green, facing a 60-foot putt with a steep ridge halfway to the hole.
Full scoring, pool records from the T-Mobile Match Play
Her putt was an inch from catching the ridge. Her par putt had no chance and rolled out 12 feet, and she missed the bogey putt and conceded the match. Khang never had to putt.
“Happy to get the win, but in stressful fashion,” Khang said.
Jenny Shin had a tough loss, and not just because she had a 3-up lead. She was 1 up until A Lim Kim won the 17th with a birdie. On the final hole, Shin had a sharp-breaking putt from about 20 feet for birdie to win the match. She ran that 5 feet by and missed the par putt to lose.
Charley Hull of England was all square with Alexa Pano until winning five straight holes on the back nine for a 5-and-3 victory. Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, the No. 2 player in the women’s world ranking, had a 6-and-5 win over Danielle Kang, who lives in Las Vegas and received a sponsor exemption.
Kang has fallen to No. 375 in the world.
Four of the top eight seeds lost their opening matches, including third-seeded Lydia Ko, 6 and 4, to Hira Naveed, who was first alternate two days ago.
“Having Lydia as the first girl to play, I knew I had the task at hand,” Naveed said. “Just went out there and played fearless golf and hit some great shots and made putts, so that was good.”
The others to lose were Haeran Ryu, Ruoning Yin and Jin Young Ko.
