The Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play takes place at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.
Just weeks after the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, another match play event comes to the LPGA Tour. Players will be divided into 16 groups of four for three days of round-robin action. A point is on offer for a win and half a point for a tie, with the winner of each group heading to the round of 16.
Four more rounds of match play follow, with the round of 16 taking place on Saturday morning, and the final eight played in the afternoon. Then, on Sunday morning, the semi-finals will see two more players knocked out before the final on Sunday afternoon.
One of the most notable names in the field is Swede Linn Grant, who will appear in her first LPGA Tour event in the US following the lifting of restrictions to foreign travellers. Grant had previously been barred from entering the country due to her vaccination status.
The LET’s 2022 Race To Costa Del Sol winner has already made a good impression on the LPGA Tour, albeit in non-US events, including finishing third in November’s Toto Japan Classic. Despite her limited opportunities, she is in the highly respectable position of World No.21 and will be eager to show exactly what she can do this week.
The player Grant beat to that season-long LET finale last year was compatriot Maja Stark and she also plays along with another high-profile Swede, three-time Major winner Anna Nordqvist.
Elsewhere, 2022 champion Eun Hee Ji also participates. She beat Ayaka Furue 3&2 in last year’s final. Furue also returns. The player who won the tournament in its inaugural year in 2021, Ally Ewing, appears too.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Other players expected to perform well include World No.4 Lilia Vu, who claimed her maiden Major title in the Chevron Championship in April. She has followed that performance up with two missed cuts, though, so will be keen to address that mini slump here.
World No.8 Brooke Henderson also appears. She is another player hoping to get back on track following a poor run of form that has seen her fail to finish in the top 10 of a tournament since she won January’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. That run has also included two missed cuts. World No.11 Celine Boutier also plays, hoping to claim her second win in 2023 after her LPGA Drive On Championship victory in March.
Another notable name is World No.13 Xiyu Linn, who finished tied for second in the JM Eagle LA Championship at the start of the month….
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