The United States’ Lilia Vu and Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson, the top two seeds at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play, won their matches but still were eliminated on Friday as group action concluded in North Las Vegas.
Vu improved to 2-1-0 at Shadow Creek Country Club with a 1-up victory over Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, but Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela claimed the top spot in Group 1 at 3-0-0 after defeating United States’ Lauren Hartlage 4 and 3.
In Group 2, Henderson got past South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee6 4 and 2 to finish 2-1-0, but the United States’ Sophia Schubert advanced with a 2-0-1 mark after a 4-and-3 rout of South Korea’s Yaeeun Hong.
The highest-seeded player to reach the weekend was No. 3 Celine Boutier of France, who capped a 3-0-0 run through Group 3 by crushing South Africa’s Paula Reto 5 and 3.
The 64-player field was divided into 16 groups that competed in round-robin play. The winner of each group advances to single-elimination play.
Eight matches will be played Saturday morning, followed by four quarterfinal matches in the afternoon. The semifinals and championship match will be contested on Sunday.
Valenzuela won her first three holes when Hartlage made bogey or worse each time, and the lead never dipped below two strokes before Valenzuela sealed the match with a par at No. 15.
“It feels great,” Valenzuela said. “This is my third year playing this event, and always kind of fell a little bit short. So just happy to be playing in round of 16 (on Saturday). …
“I feel like just my game is in a better place in general. I feel really good mentally, physically. Yeah, just feel in a better place, so just really try to hang in there. Even if I miss some shots, really just doesn’t affect me. I just grind it out as much as I can.”
Schubert was 1 up against Hong until pulling away by winning Nos. 9, 10 and 11.
“I’m feeling great,” Schubert said. “I accomplished what I wanted to so far. I still have a ways to go, but I’m feeling really good about where my game is right now and just getting through that group was a great accomplishment.”
The other players who advanced out of the round-robin play included the United States’ Alison Lee (1-0-2 in Group 5), Japan’s Ayaka Furue (3-0-0 in Group 6), Ireland’s Leona Maguire (3-0-0 in Group 7), Sweden’s Linn Grant (2-0-1 in Group 8), Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea (2-0-1 in Group 9), France’s Perrine Delacour (2-1-0 in Group 10), Sweden’s Maja Stark (3-0-0 in Group 11), Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (3-0-0 in Group 12), the United States’ Cheyenne Knight (2-0-1 in Group 13), the United States’ Angel Yin (2-0-1 in Group 14), the United States’ Lindsey Weaver-Wright (2-0-1 in Group 15) and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (2-0-1 in Group 16).
–Field Level Media