Lydia Ko expresses 'love' for T-Mobile Match Play despite disappointing finish

Lydia Ko was in the field this week for the T-Mobile Match Play at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. This is one of the few LPGA Tour events that features a match-play format and boasts plenty of prominent golfers in the field.

On Friday, April 4, Ko shared a post on Instagram and expressed her love for the event despite missing out on the Round of 16. The Kiwi golfer shared a few pictures from the T-Mobile Match Play and reflected on her time at the tournament, captioning the post:

"Always love a good matchplay! Thank you, Shadow Creek, for a fun week ✌️"

Lydia Ko was in group 3, along with Carlota Ciganda, Gabriela Ruffels, and Hira Naveed. However, as only one golfer from each group could progress to the Round of 16, Ko missed out on making progress as she won just one game and finished last, while Carlota Ciganda proceeded ahead with two wins.

To have a chance of making it to the Round of 16, Lydia Ko had to win against Carlota Ciganda. The Spanish golfer went past the Olympic gold medalist and won the event by 2 Up after 18 holes.

Ciganda dominated the match from the first hole and did not give Ko any chance of making a comeback, and eventually won the match to proceed ahead.

Lydia Ko gives her take on the T-Mobile Match Play format: "It's cutthroat"

Lydia Ko talked about the new format of the T-Mobile Match Play during the post-round press conference after round two.

"Yeah, this is my first time where I think it's called round robin, where you have three rounds banked," Ko said. "Obviously, if you lose the first two, you know you're not going to extend to the round of 16, but you still get to have some rounds in the under your belt."

"I like both sides of how we used to play at Lorena's event. 64 gets in. You lose, you go home the next day. It's cutthroat. I think that's how match play really is," the Kiwi golfer said.

"Dictates to the person that's really on and feeling good and hitting good quality golf shots that day, that person is probably going to have the advantage over the other," she added.

Along with Lydia Ko, other prominent golfers such as Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, and others also failed to progress.

Here are the golfers competing in the round of 16 of the T-Mobile Match Play.