LOS ANGELES: Nelly Korda’s LPGA Match Play title defense got off to a sluggish start Wednesday as Brittany Altomare rallied from 2-down to tie the world No. 1 on the opening day at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“To end up in a tie was a win for me,” said Altomare, who is working her way back after taking time off to have a baby last year.
“Nelly is a great player. Obviously world No. 1 and a great person. It was a lot of fun out there.”
On a day when cold, gusting winds ramped up the level of difficulty, Korda opened with three bogeys as Altomare took an early 1-up lead.
Korda’s first birdie of the day at the par-three fifth put her 1-up and she was 2-up with four to play before a bogey at 15 cut her lead to one.
Altomare nabbed her first birdie of the day at the par-five 16th to level the match.
“I reached that green in two, and I think those two shots really felt good,” Altomare said.
“I was 2-down, so I felt like that was kind of a turning point for me to keep the match going.”
Korda’s Match Play victory last year was part of a spectacular seven-title campaign.
But she has yet to win this season, with two top-10 finishes in three starts.
The tie left Korda and Altomare half a point behind Ariya Jutanugarn in group one after the Thai star rallied late to beat Jennifer Kupcho 3 and 2.
This year’s tournament features 64 players drawn into 16 groups for round-robin match play, with one player from each group advancing to the knockout rounds.
If there is a tie for first in a group, the winner will be determined by a playoff.
It is a change from last year, when the top eight players after three rounds of stroke play advanced to weekend match play.
Among other day-one matches, Canada’s Brooke Henderson came up with a big victory, winning 6 and 5 over Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who was runner-up to Korda last year.
“First hole Leona stuffed it to two feet so I had to make maybe an over 20 feet birdie putt to halve the hole. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be hard.’
She holed it and never trailed, taking a 2-up lead through three after a couple of Maguire miscues and pushing it to 3-up with a birdie at the par-five fourth.
Henderson said getting off to a strong start was important not only because of the challenging conditions but also because of Maguire’s match play credentials, which include a strong Solheim Cup resume.
“Playing with Leona, I knew it was going to be really, really tough because she has such a great track record with match play and she is such a great player.
“She was playing well. It was just a really tough day out there.”
World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand led all the way in a 6 and 5 victory over American Danielle Kang.
But third-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand suffered a shock defeat, falling 6 and 4 to Australian world No. 140 Hira Naveed — who made it into the field as the first alternate.
