NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Lilia Vu and Brooke Henderson, the only top-10 players in women’s golf to enter the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play, posted victories Wednesday at Shadow Creek in the opening session of the group game. .
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Lilia Vu and Brooke Henderson, the only top-10 players in women’s golf to enter the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play, posted victories Wednesday at Shadow Creek in the opening session of the group game. .
Vu never trailed in a 4 and 3 victory over Lauren Hartlage, winning two holes early and closing it out by winning four straight holes late on.
Henderson took the lead for good with a birdie on the par-5 ninth hole and built on Yaeeun Hong’s mistakes to win, 3 and 2.
Vu reached the semifinals a year ago during her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, a tournament that gave her confidence the rest of the season. She returns as the No. 1 seed with two wins this year and became a Grand Slam champion last month at the Chevron Championships.
“I think deep down I believed that I could get to this point, but I always tend to get in my own way,” Vu said. “I did that at the end of last season, which was a big lesson for me, which is really good now. Because if I fall for that and I feel like I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself, I know, like, ‘Hey, you’re not going to play good golf if you keep doing this.
“I can flip a switch and go back to golf for free.”
Danielle Kang is a member of Shadow Creek with a lot of experience in Solheim Cup matches and the recent International Crown. That didn’t help her on Wednesday, falling to Muni He on 17 holes.
He birdied the ninth hole and never lost again in a 2-and-1 victory.
“Going up against Danielle, a great friend of mine, a great player, and also this being her home course, it was kind of like, ‘Well, you know, get out there, play your best golf and just see what happens.’ ”
Her next match in the group game is against Alison Lee, another member of Shadow Creek.
Lee was in control of her match against Maria Fassi of Mexico when she birdied the 12th to go up 3 with six holes to play. Lee was still up 2 through 15 holes until she bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes to split the match in half.
Henderson made just two birdies, both at par 5s, and his score was the equivalent of 4 over. That was not unusual in a difficult course in hot weather.
“This is a really tough golf course,” Henderson said. “Sometimes the pair is good and you are going to win with the pair. Sometimes you have to remind yourself, because sometimes the holes really do sneak up and bite you if you’re not paying attention.”
Janet Lin, another top seed in her group, was 2 up on Australia’s Karis Davidson until she bogeyed six of her next 10 holes. Davidson won, 5 and 4.
Jennifer Kupcho, who won the final version of the Chevron Championship last year in the California desert, lost 4 and 3 to Carolina Inglis.
There are three days of round-robin play until the winner of each of the 16 groups advances to the knockout phase on the weekend.
Among the top seeds to win the first few matches was Sweden’s Maja Stark, who was up 4 through 10 holes only to lose the next four holes against Emma Talley. Stark moved ahead with a pair to win the 15 and held for a 2-up victory.
Celine Boutier, the No.3 seed, was taken to 18 holes and won when Min Lee hit a double bogey on the 18th. It was one of 13 of 32 matches ending on the 18th hole.
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The Associated Press
