Shadow Creek – Syndication Server

Four in a row: Nelly Korda tops Leona Maguire in 2024 T-Mobile Match Play final

Korda has won for a third week in a row and for a fourth straight start in 2024.

Nelly Korda has won for a third week in a row but more importantly for a fourth straight start on the LPGA. A record-tying fifth would have to come in a major championship, but that’s a concern for a later date.

For now, Korda is shipping home yet another trophy after her 12th career LPGA win, defeating Leona Maguire, 4 and 3, in the final of the 2024 T-Mobile Match Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course.

It’s Korda’s second straight 4-and-3 victory after opening the match-play bracket, 3 and 2.

The five-day event in Las Vegas came on the heels of wins near Phoenix and before that, Los Angeles. Her first win in 2024 was back in January. She’s the first to win four in a row since Lorena Ochoa in 2008.

“It’s just been a whirlwind,” she said of her 2024 season so far. “It’s been an amazing time, and to do it here as well in match play has been so much fun.”

Only Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam over the 2004 and 2005 seasons have won five LPGA tournaments in a row.

The match-play event started last Wednesday and the new format this year called for 54 holes of stroke play before three rounds of match play.

She hits the pin and gets the point 📍@NellyKorda is 5Up thru 12! pic.twitter.com/kdLbrskwuW

— LPGA (@LPGA) April 7, 2024

Korda won $300,000 for the victory and became the 25th LPGA golfer to surpass $10 million in career earnings. She also joins Ariya Juntanugan, Sei Young Kim and Hollis Stacy with 12 career victories.

“Playing the first two events, going down the stretch, there is a different type of adrenaline,” Korda said of her first two wins this year coming in a playoff. “But I feel like with match play you have that from the first hole so it was a great day playing against Leona. Always such a great competitor. Happy to get my fourth.”

The LPGA is off next week and then it’s the first women’s major of 2024 at the Chevron Championship, starting on Thursday, April 18, in The Woodlands, Texas, on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods.

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Nelly Korda, aiming for a fourth straight LPGA win, faces Leona Maguire in final at T-Mobile Match Play

Korda is one match-play victory away from a fourth straight win on the LPGA.

Can Nelly Korda make it four in a row?

On Sunday, she won’t need to fend off an entire field to claim another LPGA title. This time, she’ll need to outduel Leona Maguire in the championship at the T-Mobile Match Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.

Maguire has been the best golfer this week. After 54 holes of stroke play, she was at 6 under, three better than the field. When the format flipped to match play Saturday, Maguire beat Sei Young Kim 3 and 2 in the semifinals after knocking out Moriya Jutanugarn 4 and 3 earlier in the day.

Korda, meamwhile, was 1 under after the first three days but then topped Angel Yin 3 and 2 in the quarterfinals and Narin An 4 and 3 in the semis.

Leona Maguire plays a shot on the seventh hole in her semifinal match against Sei Young Kim at the 2024 T-Mobile Match Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

The match play event stretched over five days and had a new format in 2024, with the first two days consisting of 36 holes of stroke play with a cut to the top 65 and ties. After the third round Friday, there was a second cut to the top eight players, who were then seeded in a match-play bracket with No. 1 taking on No. 8, No. 2 taking on No. 7 and so on.

If Korda can win Sunday, she’ll make it four wins in four straight starts, including three in the last three weeks after winning the Ford Championship in Arizona and the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship near Los Angeles. She also won in January at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

The longest winning streak on the LPGA is five, with Nancy Lopez first doing it in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam over the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

The LPGA is off next week and then it’s the first women’s major of 2024 at the Chevron Championship.

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Nelly Korda’s win streak is alive as she advances to T-Mobile Match Play final eight

A new format isn’t knocking Korda off track from a potential fourth win in her last four starts.

A new and different format isn’t knocking Nelly Korda off track from a potential fourth win in her last four starts in 2024.

Friday crunch time

Only six golfers finished under par and there was a mad dash for the last spot. As it turned out, four golfers – Moriya Jutanugarn (who had the round of the day with a 5-under 67), Hae Ran Ryu, Yuka Saso and Brooke Henderson (who overcame a double bogey on No. 15 with a birdie on No. 18) – finished tied for eighth at 2 over. That forced a 4-for-1 playoff, with Jutanugarn coming out on top.

Four in a row?

Back to Korda.

Just five days ago in the Phoenix suburbs, Korda was hoisting the trophy at the inaugural Ford Championship, a win that came one week after her victory at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship near Los Angeles. Those two wins in back-to-back weeks followed a win in her previous start in January at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

Korda, ranked No. 1 in the world, is now three match-play wins from yet another LPGA title, which would be her 12th, which would tie her with Hollis Stacy, Sei Young Kim and Ariya Jutanugarn for 28th on the all-time list.

After back-to-back 73s, Korda posted a 3-under 69 on Friday to finish 1 under overall and secure a spot in the final eight.

A win Sunday would be the second-longest winning streak on the LPGA. Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam over the 2004 and 2005 seasons won five straight tournaments.

Saturday’s quarterfinal matches

Leona Maguire earned the top spot for the match play bracket after she shot a second straight 69 to finish at 6 under.

For a three shot lead 🤩@leona_maguire is 5-under and on top with just one more to play 💯 pic.twitter.com/2aCWHZRTDV

— LPGA (@LPGA) April 5, 2024

The quarterfinal matchups look like this:

No. 1 Leona Maguire vs. No. 8 Moriya Jutanugarn

No. 2 Minami Katsu vs. No. 7 Narin An

No. 3 Angel Yin vs. No. 6 Nelly Korda

No. 4 Rose Zhang vs. No. 5 Sei Young Kim.

The semifinal matches will be Saturday afternoon.

Carlota Ciganda, meanwhile, had her worst score in 900 career LPGA rounds with an 85, 18 shots worse than her second-round 67.

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Where to play golf around Las Vegas: Golfweek’s Best 2023 public-access courses

Thanks to Golfweek’s Best rankings, we break out the top courses around Las Vegas.

Ready to make a break from the casinos or hectic pace of the Las Vegas Strip? If you’re looking for the top golf courses around Sin City, Golfweek’s Best has you covered.

If you’re willing to drive a bit, there are several courses in this region that appear on the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top public-access layouts in Nevada. All the courses listed below are within an hour’s drive of Harry Reid International Airport, which sits adjacent to the Strip. But it’s not as easy as pulling up our state-by-state rankings, which list Nevada courses that might be a considerable drive away.

For this exercise, we used Google Maps and punched in each course as of a regular Saturday morning to determine drive times. Keep in mind that traffic near Las Vegas, especially around the Strip, can be slow – take all these times with a grain of salt.

Included with this list is a general map of where to find all these courses. Each one on the list below is represented with a number on the map – keep scrolling to see the numbers.

Included with each course is its position in Nevada on the Golfweek’s Best public-access list. For any course that appears on our other popular rankings lists, those positions are included as well.

More: Where to play public golf around Orlando and Central Florida, Chicago, New York City, South Florida and the Phoenix/Scottsdale area

A little background: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or casino, or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.

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Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 casino golf courses in the U.S.

Up for a great mix of casino fun and golf?

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 Casino Courses in the United States. This list focuses on courses owned and/or operated by or in conjunction with casinos, with data pulled from Golfweek‘s massive database of course rankings.

The hundreds of members of Golfweek‘s course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each that is then used to compile the Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

Listed with each course below is its average rating, location, designer(s) and whether the course is modern (m, built in or after 1960) or classic (c, built before 1960).

* New or returning to the list

Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 200 Modern Courses in the U.S.

Golfweek’s experts have ranked the Top 200 courses built since 1960, such as Bandon Dunes, Whistling Straits and more.

Want to play the great modern golf courses in the U.S.? From Hawaii to Boston, we have you covered. So welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of the Top 200 Modern Courses built in or after 1960 in the United States.

Each year we publish many lists, with this Top 200 Modern Courses list among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Classic Courses 2023, the public-access Best Courses You Can Play in each state and Best Private Courses in each state.

The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.

To ensure these lists are up-to-date, Golfweek’s Best in recent years has altered how the individual ratings are compiled into the rankings. Only ratings from rounds played in the past 10 years are included in the compilations. This helps ensure that any course in the rankings still measures up.

Courses also must have a minimum of 25 votes to qualify for the Top 200 Modern or the Top 200 Classic. Other Golfweek’s Best lists, such as Best Courses You Can Play or Best Private, do not require as many votes. This makes it possible that a course can show up on other lists but not on the premium Top 200 lists.

There’s one course of particular note this year. Landmand Golf Club in Homer, Nebraska, debuts the highest of the courses new to this list, climbing into a tie for 26th. Designed by Tad King and Rob Collins, Landmand opened in 2022. It and the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes are the only courses to have opened since 2020 to rank among the top 200.

Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, then the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2022.

After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:

p: private
d: daily fee
r: resort course
t: tour course
u: university
m: municipal
re: real estate
c: casino

* Indicates new to or returning to this list.

More Golfweek’s Best for 2023:

2023 Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play prize money payouts for each LPGA player

Check out the prize money payouts at the 2023 Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play.

Pajaree Anannarukarn poured in 12 birdies in 34 holes Sunday to survive a grueling stretch at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event at Shadow Creek. Anannarukarn defeated Ayaka Furue in the championship match and Linn Grant in the semifinals.

The Thai player claimed her second LPGA title just two days before her 24th birthday. She earned $225,000 for the victory, brining her 2023 earnings to $330,385. She has amassed $1,966,317 in her LPGA career.

A total of 64 players were divided into 16 groups of four at the start of the week. After three days of round-robin matches, competition moved to a 16-player, single-elimination bracket.

There was no consolation match this year. Instead, NFL players Davante Adams, Mark Ingram, Terry McLaurin and Austin Ekeler played in a nine-hole, two-man scramble concurrently with the championship match for charity. A check for $40,000 was presented to the Play Like a Girl organization.

Here’s a full purse breakdown for the week:

Pos	Player	Money
1	Pajaree Anannarukarn	$225,000
2	Ayaka Furue	$141,906
T-3	Leona Maguire	$91,288
T-3	Linn Grant	$91,288
T-5	Celine Boutier	$49,723
T-5	Carlota Ciganda	$49,723
T-5	Albane Valenzuela	$49,723
T-5	Lindsey Weaver-Wright	$49,723
T-9	Maja Stark	$26,949
T-9	Cheyenne Knight	$26,949
T-9	Anna Nordqvist	$26,949
T-9	Alison Lee	$26,949
T-9	Sophia Schubert	$26,949
T-9	Daniela Darquea	$26,949
T-9	Angel Yin	$26,949
T-9	Perrine Delacour	$26,949
T-17	Brooke Henderson	$17,023
T-17	Ally Ewing	$17,023
T-17	Marina Alex	$17,023
T-17	Lilia Vu	$17,023
T-17	Jenny Shin	$17,023
T-17	Hae Ran Ryu	$17,023
T-17	Pei-Yun Chien	$17,023
T-17	Yu Liu	$17,023
T-17	Lauren Coughlin	$17,023
T-17	Karis Davidson	$17,023
T-27	Min Lee	$10,705
T-27	Muni He	$10,705
T-27	Maddie Szeryk	$10,705
T-27	Esther Henseleit	$10,705
T-27	Jennifer Kupcho	$10,705
T-27	Paula Reto	$10,705
T-27	Andrea Lee	$10,705
T-27	Allisen Corpuz	$10,705
T-27	Sei Young Kim	$10,705
T-27	Amanda Doherty	$10,705
T-27	Jeongeun Lee	$10,705
T-27	Mina Harigae	$10,705
T-27	Maria Fassi	$10,705
T-27	Aditi Ashok	$10,705
T-41	Eun-Hee Ji	$6,312
T-41	Caroline Inglis	$6,312
T-41	Celine Borge	$6,312
T-41	Gemma Dryburgh	$6,312
T-41	Danielle Kang	$6,312
T-41	Frida Kinhult	$6,312
T-41	Stacy Lewis	$6,312
T-41	Emma Talley	$6,312
T-41	Nanna Koerstz Madsen	$6,312
T-41	Pornanong Phatlum	$6,312
T-41	Na Rin An	$6,312
T-41	Matilda Castren	$6,312
T-53	Gaby Lopez	$4,817
T-53	Xiyu Lin	$4,817
T-53	A Lim Kim	$4,817
T-56	Jodi Ewart Shadoff	$3,971
T-56	Yae Eun Hong	$3,971
T-56	Sarah Schmelzel	$3,971
T-56	Linnea Strom	$3,971
T-56	Sarah Kemp	$3,971
T-56	Lauren Hartlage	$3,971
T-56	Lucy Li	$3,971
T-56	Elizabeth Szokol	$3,971
T-56	Jaravee Boonchant	$3,971

Pajaree Anannarukarn claims second career LPGA title at Bank of Hope Match Play after 116 holes

With the victory, Anannarukarn earned a spot in the field at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.

Pajaree Anannarukarn outlasted Ayaka Furue to claim her second LPGA title at the Bank of Hope Match Play. The Thai player thrived in a marathon week of golf at picturesque Shadow Creek, pouring in eight birdies in a semifinal match against Linn Grant and then hanging tough to defeat Furue, 3 and 1, on a hot and windy day in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Anannarukarn, 23, claimed her first LPGA title two years ago at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in a playoff against Emma Talley in Northern Ireland. When it was over in Vegas, Anannarukarn talked about the grind it took to get back to the winner’s circle.

“Golf is just, sometimes it’s hard to come back up,” she told Golf Channel after the round. “I tried in every possible way to improve on my game and keep believing.”

After 116 holes over five days, your @LPGAMatchPlay Champion is @MeawPajaree!🏆 pic.twitter.com/zQ7KSiqFLt

— LPGA (@LPGA) May 29, 2023

With the victory, Anannarukarn earned $225,000 and a spot in the field at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. She notched 12 birdies in 34 holes on Sunday.

Anannarukarn has worked with Claude Harmon III since November 2019. Because Harmon is on a different travel schedule, mostly working on the men’s tours, the pair only see each other a couple times a year. She noted that she’s mostly focused now on her swing rotation.

It was an early birthday present for Anannarukarn, who played a total of 116 holes over the course of the week, beating the likes of Carlota Ciganda, Cheyenne Knight and Karis Davidson in a playoff just to advance out of the round-robin portion of the event. She turns 24 in two days.

Now in her fifth season on tour, Anannarukarn joins Atthaya Thitikul (2), Moriya Jutanugarn (2), Jasmine Suwannapura (2) and Ariya Jutanugarn (12) as Thai players with at least two LPGA titles in their career.

Japan’s Furue played her way into the championship match for a second consecutive year and nearly pulled off some late-round heroics when her final shot from the bunker flirted with the hole.

Because there was no consolation match this year, Leona Maguire and Grant split third-place points and prize money. This was Grant’s first start in the U.S. as an LPGA member.

The former Arizona State player has competed around the world – quite successfully – since turning professional nearly two years ago, but could not compete in the U.S. due to COVID-19 restrictions that require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus

Linn Grant makes deep run at Bank of Hope Match Play in first LPGA start in U.S. after vaccine restrictions were lifted

Grant, who is currently No. 22 in the world, missed the first major of 2023.

Linn Grant made the most of her first start in the U.S. as an LPGA member. The former Arizona State player has competed around the world – quite successfully – since turning professional nearly two years ago, but could not compete in the U.S. due to COVID-19 restrictions that require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus.

With the national public health emergency expiring earlier this month, Grant was permitted to compete in the Ladies European Tour event in West Palm Beach, Florida, last week. This weekend, she advanced to the semifinals of the Bank of Hope Match-Play at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Grant ultimately fell to Pajaree Anannarukarn on Sunday morning. The Thai player will face Japan’s Ayaka Furue in the final Sunday afternoon.

Grant, who is currently No. 22 in the world, missed the first major of the year in Texas as well as the chance to represent Sweden at the Hanwha International Crown.

In her LPGA rookie year last season, Grant spent much of 2022 competing around the world on the LET. She won four times on the LET last year, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.

In six LPGA starts last season held outside the U.S., Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.

Earlier this month, she won the Jabra Ladies Open in Evian, France. Grant will soon return home to Sweden to defend her title at the Scandinavian Mixed.

When Grant qualified for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship last November, which boasted a record-setting $2 million first-place prize and $7 million purse, but still wasn’t in the field, she provided a statement to Golfweek that read in part:

“I understand some people want to know why I am not playing in the U.S. I respect that. The simple reason is that I am not vaccinated. Regarding why, I ask the same respect back. It is something I want to keep internally with my family and team.”

Earlier this week in Las Vegas, Grant was asked during a pre-tournament new conference what it felt like to miss so many events as a rookie due to vaccine restrictions.

“I think actually looking back at it now, I really appreciate not coming here earlier,” she said. “I think I wouldn’t have had the experience I’ve had with the LET and all the confidence that I’ve gained through the that year.

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“I think that was a great year for me to kind of get into professional golf and learn about my game and traveling and getting used to all the stuff you have to get used to.

“So I feel like I’m more prepared now coming here than I would’ve been a year ago. I think everything happens for a reason. I think there was a reason for that.”

Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in Nevada

Shadow Creek, the top public-access golf course in Nevada, requires a hefty green fee, but there are other options.

Shadow Creek, the top-rated public-access golf course in Nevada, is famed for being unlike just about any other daily-fee or casino-operated layout anywhere. It’s a Tom Fazio-created oasis hidden out of reach for most golfers.

In general, players must stay at an MGM Resorts International property to obtain access, and a round at Shadow Creek includes a limousine ride to the course. The layout, recently made even more famous with several made-for-tv and PGA Tour competitions, isn’t really looking to boost rounds played and boasts a green fee that can reach as high as a reported $1,000. Golfweek’s Best raters have ranked it as the No. 10 course built in the U.S. since 1960.

But there are plenty of other public-access options around Las Vegas and across Nevada. Keep scrolling to see the best of them.

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for Nevada’s private offerings is likewise included below.

MORE: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort | Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960

Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses.