The LPGA Tour heads to Las Vegas, Nev., for the fourth edition of the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards at Shadow Creek. The field is jam-packed with some of the LPGA Tour’s best players who will be duking it out for 500 Race to the CME Globe points and a share of a $2 million purse just down the road from the bright lights of Sin City. Three past champions are set to tee it up, including last year’s winner Pajaree Anannarukarn, and Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda will also compete for the third straight week as she looks to pick up a fourth 2024 title in her tournament debut.
Take a look at just a few of the featured groups this week at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards using KPMG Performance Insights.
Wednesday, 8:10 a.m.* – Ayaka Furue/Pajaree Anannarukarn/Ally Ewing
Few in this week’s 96-player field want to win the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards more than Japan native Ayaka Furue. The 23-year-old has finished runner-up in this event the last two years, falling to Eun-Hee Ji 3 and 2 in the final match in 2022 and losing 3 and 1 to Pajaree Anannarukarn in 2023, and will be looking for revenge this week at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nev. She’s been in fine form so far this season, earning five top-15 finishes in her first seven starts of 2024, three of which were top fives and the best of which is a solo third that came at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China. But that form hasn’t just been limited to the 2024 season for Furue as the 2022 Women’s Scottish Open winner has recorded 54 rounds in the 60s over the last two years on the LPGA Tour, six more than her counterparts in that time frame, according to KPMG Performance Insights. Much of that success can be attributed to Furue’s putting as she gained 0.95 strokes on the field with her flatstick in 2023 to finish the season ranked ninth in the metric and is gaining 0.86 strokes with her putting so far this year, currently ranking 16th in that statistical category. Furue is also ranked third on Tour in strokes gained total, picking up 1.88 shots on the field in her seven tournament appearances this season.
Defending champion Pajaree Anannarukarn will be looking to successfully defend her title this week at Shadow Creek, something the two-time LPGA Tour winner has yet to do since becoming an LPGA Tour member in 2019. She defeated her groupmate Furue 3 and 1 in last year’s championship match to collect her second career Tour title in Las Vegas, her first win on the LPGA Tour since the 2021 ISPS Handa World Invitational. The 24-year-old Thailand native has had a ho-hum start to her 2024 season, missing two cuts and earning a season-best result of T13 at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore last month, her lone top-20 result of the year thus far. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Anannarukarn is only gaining strokes in one statistical category this season – putting. She is currently picking up 0.80 shots on the field with her putter, a vast improvement compared to the 2023 season as Anannarukarn finished the year ranked 108th in the metric, losing 0.38 shots to the field on the greens. She seems to have found some form since returning from the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing, firing a 9-under 63 in the opening round of the Ford Championship presented by KCC last week in Arizona, ultimately fading over the weekend and finishing T45 at Seville Golf and Country Club.
Ally Ewing won the inaugural edition of the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards back in 2021 and will be working to recreate that magic this week at Shadow Creek as she tries to kick things into high gear with the 2024 major season coming up quickly. After opening her ninth year on the LPGA Tour with a T4 finish at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, it’s been a mixed bag of results for the three-time LPGA Tour winner, who hasn’t finished better than T44 in her three starts since teeing it up in Orlando, Fla. But the 31-year-old is still ranked 18th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.04) through four events this season, the third consecutive year that Ewing has been ranked inside the top 20 on the LPGA Tour in that metric, according to KPMG Performance Insights. Additionally, Ewing is also currently ranked ninth on Tour in greens in regulation, hitting the green 75 percent of the time with her approach shots.
Wednesday, 12:16 p.m. – Minjee Lee/Nelly Korda/Linn Grant
It was a rare missed cut for Minjee Lee last week at the Ford Championship presented by KCC, and the 10-time LPGA Tour winner will be looking to recover from that early misstep at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. This week at Shadow Creek is Lee’s fourth tournament of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in addition to her missed cut in Arizona, she tied for 29th at the HBSC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and then earned her first top-five result of the year at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China last month. Despite the quiet start, the 27-year-old still ranks inside the top 10 in strokes gained approach – a metric that’s been Lee’s bread and butter in recent years – and is picking up 1.08 strokes on the field with her approach shots. This will be her third time playing in this event, and in her previous two appearances, she has finished in a tie for fifth and 35th in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda is arguably the hottest player in the world right now, winning her third consecutive LPGA Tour title on Sunday at the Ford Championship presented by KCC after a final-round, 7-under 65. With her 11th career victory, Korda became the first player since Yani Tseng in 2012 to win three times before April 1 and became the first American to do so since JoAnne Carner in 1980. She is also now the first American to win in three or more consecutive starts since Nancy Lopez won five straight tournaments in 1978, and Korda is the first player since Ariya Jutanugarn last did so in 2016 to win three events in a row on the LPGA Tour. The 25-year-old will look to add a fourth victory to her 2024 win total this week in her first start at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and will once again be leaning on her stellar ball striking in pursuit of another title. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Korda’s long game has been critical to her recent success as the major champion is gaining 1.02 strokes on the field with her approach shots, a vast improvement from the 0.2 shots she gained in 2023 on approach. She’s also hitting it nearly two feet closer in 2024 than she did last year and is hitting the green 63 percent of the time after a missed fairway, up from 57 percent in 2023.
Linn Grant made her tournament debut at the T-Mobile Match Play last season, ultimately finishing third in her first start in the United States since becoming an LPGA Tour member in 2022. This week’s tournament at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nev., marks the Swede’s seventh start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and the 24-year-old has been in consistent form so far this year, earning three top-25 finishes, including a pair of T13s in back-to-back starts at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship. Statistically, Grant is ranked 11th in strokes gained driving (+0.72), according to KPMG Performance Insights, 11th in average driving distance (271.68) and is 13th in birdies (86) as well as 14th in sub-par holes (87) on the LPGA Tour this season. As an Arizona State University alum with plenty of experience playing desert golf and with a good recent history at Shadow Creek, Grant will definitely be a player to keep your eye on this week in Sin City.
The @LPGA moves to a new match play format in Las Vegas. Here are the #KPMGInsights we are looking at.
— KPMG Golf (@KPMGGolf) April 2, 2024
🏆 Nelly reaching historic numbers
📊 Leona continues to be strong around the greens pic.twitter.com/64bAnEzsLf
Wednesday, 12:27 p.m. – Brooke Henderson/Alison Lee/Leona Maguire
Canadian Brooke Henderson has gotten off to a strong start in 2024 and will be hoping for more solid play this week at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. She has earned three top-10 results in six tournaments so far this season, finishing solo third in her title defense at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, tying for ninth at the Honda LPGA Thailand and then tying for third at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. This is her third time teeing it up in this event, and in her two previous starts, she tied for 55th in 2021 and 17th in 2023. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Henderson ranks in the top 20 in three strokes-gained metrics, including strokes gained total (6, +1.70), strokes gained tee to green (12, +1.24) and strokes gained driving (15, +0.61). Henderson’s accuracy off the tee has been very much improved this season as she currently is hitting the fairway 78 percent of the time in 2024, compared to 72.7 percent in 2023 and her strokes gained off the tee number has nearly doubled this season.
Las Vegas resident Alison Lee is looking forward to sleeping in her own bed this week as she continues to search for that elusive first LPGA Tour title at Shadow Creek. After an extensive offseason during which she had to rehab a hand injury caused by a dog bite, Lee has quickly returned to the form she was in late last season, carding back-to-back top-10 finishes at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship (T3) and Ford Championship presented by KCC (T8). It’s an early performance that has vaulted her to sixth in the U.S. Solheim Cup Team point standings and has her ranked second in strokes gained tee to green (+2.09) and third in strokes gained approach (+1.35) on the LPGA Tour, according to KPMG Performance Insights. This is the 29-year-old’s fourth consecutive start in the T-Mobile Match Play, and in her three previous appearances, she tied for 17th, 50th and ninth in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Irishwoman Leona Maguire will be working to pick up her first top-10 result of the year at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, having earned just two top-15 finishes in her first six starts of the 2024 season. She kicked off her fifth season on the LPGA Tour with a T12 showing at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations and then found the top 15 again in late March at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, tying for 13th after carding a four-day total of 4-under at a challenging Palos Verdes Golf Club. The two-time LPGA Tour winner has finished no worse than T45 so far this season and ranks inside the top 30 in one strokes gained category, currently sitting at 11th in strokes gained around the green (+0.51). This is Maguire’s third time teeing it up in the T-Mobile Match Play, and in her two previous starts in this event, she has finished T26 and third, in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
*Off No. 10
For a full list of tee times, please click here.
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