NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Anna Nordqvist was among 11 players to win for the second day in a row, with only the three-time major champion from Sweden working the longest at a Bank of Hope LPGA Match.
Nordqvist had her second game go all the way 18 holes on Thursday before she took a 1-up win over Lauren Coughlin. Nordqvist has never been behind, but she has seen her 4-point lead after 8 holes shrink to 1 point after the 13th hole.
They lost the last half of their five holes, leaving Nordqvist in a good — but still unsafe — position to win her group and advance to the weekend’s knockout at Shadow Creek.
Day two of the one-legged round-robin competition was for survival and 16 players from field 64 were mathematically eliminated. Xiyu “Janet” Lin was the only top seed in her group to be eliminated, losing another match, this time to Pajaree Anannarukarn.
The tournament drew only two of the top 10 players in the women’s world rankings, and both were defeated in the second round.
Albane Valenzuela, the US Women’s Amateur runner-up 4 years ago, won 4 holes out of 5 in the first leg to take out Lilia Vu, the top seed and LPGA’s first major winner this year at the Chevron Championship.
Valenzuela (2-0) meets Lauren Hartlage on Friday for a chance to progress. Hartlage is the lowest ranked player in the tournament having lost both matches before reaching the 17th hole.
Valenzuela said: “Very happy to leave with a win. “I knew it was going to be a very difficult match. Lilia is definitely one of the best players in the world and makes me work hard to earn points. She definitely left some putts there, and so did I, so we fought to the last minute.”
Brooke Henderson won three consecutive holes to lead by 1 point in the first leg, only to allow the Canadian to suffer 5 bogeys for the rest of the way and lose to Sophia Schubert, 1 point. Henderson had an 8-foot birdie shot on the 18th to halve the game, and the shot missed a few inches to the right of the hole.
The top player of each of the 16 groups advances to the weekend.
Sweden’s Maja Stark took the lead for the second straight match and then had to beat Yu Liu to take her record to 2-0. Another young Swedish star, Linn Grant, hit 18 holes for the second day in a row. She halved her match on Wednesday, and then had a wild match against Matilda Castren.
Grant is down 3 points after four holes. She rallied to win three consecutive holes before the first leg. None of the last six holes were halved and Grant did enough to win 2.
“I just think it’s a tough course, so anything can happen on any hole,” Grant said. “You just keep hitting the rolling lines and try to hit those green areas. A lot of times you win an even hole because it’s so hard.”
Angel Yin has won an unbelievable victory. She was 1 point behind by Germany’s Esther Henseleit of the 17th par-3. Yin hits the green on a rough shore, about 10 feet from the putting surface. Henseleit has 12 feet for birdie. Yin used her putter to punch the ball along the thick grass, about 5 feet above the grass. Henseleit slips the birdie and Yin stays in the match.
On the 18th, Yin made a solid fairway drive and hit a wedge at 10 feet, causing the birdie to tie. She’ll be up against Ally Ewing, who won two games without playing the 17th hole in two days.
