Heads or tails. It couldn’t be any other way in the gambling city of the United States. A coin toss. Pure chance. Carlota Ciganda could have won, but she lost. That’s match play. Madelene Sagstrom came out on top on the 19th hole, the first playoff hole, after a sensational head-to-head duel in the round of 16 of the T Mobile Match Play of the LPGA Tour.
The battle between the Spaniard and the Swede was epic. It’s understandable that the overall balance in the Solheim Cup in recent years has been so favourable to Europe in light of today’s match. Two warriors. Two tough golfers who don’t easily give in. The match was full of twists and turns. Sagstrom took the lead, Carlota came back, Sagstrom went ahead again, the Spaniard held on, and when it seemed the victory was going to be Nordic, with the bell ringing, the Navarrese won the 18th hole with a great par to force the playoff. Going down fighting.
Already on the 19th hole, the coin that fell to the ground bore the blue and yellow colours of Sweden. There’s not much to criticise Carlota for. Of course, she could have taken advantage of a few more opportunities she had earlier, but that’s wishful thinking. The reality is she fought to exhaustion, brought out the best of her repertoire when it was most difficult, and never raised the white flag. Sagstrom won as Carlota could have.
We are left without Spanish representation in the quarter-finals of this entertaining match play tournament being played at the Shadow Creek course in Las Vegas. A shame because Carlota was looking like she was going to cause quite a stir this week. It wasn’t to be.
The quarter-finals, which are being played this very Sunday, are set as follows:
Kyriacou Vs. Coughlin
Stark Vs. Ariya Jutanugarn
Sagstrom Vs. Boutier
Yin Vs. Thitikul
The big favourite is Thitikul, although it won’t be easy to overcome Angel Yin, one of the most in-form players on the LPGA Tour at the moment. From the round of 16, beyond Carlota, we must highlight Thitikul’s huge victory over Guseva by 8&7, Stark’s win over Henderson by 5&4, and the endless match between Boutier and Buhai. It was resolved on the 28th hole in favour of the Frenchwoman. Incredible.
