Tag: Ally Ewing

Ally Ewing holds off Sophia Popov to win Bank of Hope Match Play, her second career LPGA title

Match play can set the stage for a marathon, and Ally Ewing lived it this week in Las Vegas.

Match play can set the stage for a marathon, and Ally Ewing lived it this week in Las Vegas. At the end of five days, Ewing had played seven matches and 122 holes, but she walked away from the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play with the second title of her LPGA career.

Ewing had to take on two major champions in the final two rounds to claim her trophy. She advanced past Ariya Jutanugarn, the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open champion, in the semifinals at Shadow Creek Golf Club on Sunday morning and then met Sophia Popov, the reigning AIG Women’s British Open champion, in the final match.

Ewing had the advantage the whole way in the final after going 1 up on the second hole when Popov made bogey. Perhaps the biggest moment of the day came when Ewing made a gagger for birdie from off the green at the 14th to go 2 up. She closed it out on No. 17.

The match could be something of a Solheim Cup preview. Ewing already represented the U.S. in the 2019 matches, where she posted a 1-3-0 record.

With her win, Ewing earned $225,000. She also won the LPGA’s 2020 Drive On Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee for her first career victory last fall.

After winning her match against Popov, Ewing’s husband Charlie Ewing met her on the green. To make things even sweeter, Sunday happened to be the couple’s first wedding anniversary. Charlie Ewing is the head women’s golf coach at their alma mater Mississippi State and Ally serves as a volunteer assistant coach, traveling with the team when she can.

Coincidentally, Jutanugarn and Shanshan Feng were scheduled to meet in a consolation match on Sunday afternoon opposite Popov and Ewing’s final. Feng conceded that match to Jutanugarn, citing the need to rest for next week’s U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

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Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play: Semis set as Ariya Jutanugarn eeks past Minjee Lee, Sophia Popov wins major battle

Ariya Jutanugarn is looking for another LPGA, this time in a head-to-head format, as the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play is down to four.

Ariya Jutanugarn nearly ran out of gas Saturday in her quarterfinal match against Minjee Lee at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. But Jutanugarn, 4 up by the turn, managed to ride it out, and with a spot in the Sunday’s semifinal, would need to make it through another 36-hole day to earn a second win on the LPGA in the past three starts (she won the Honda LPGA Thailand at the start of the month).

The eight-woman quarterfinal bracket at Shadow Creek was dominated by twentysomethings not very far removed, really, from head-to-head play in summer U.S. Golf Association championships. In fact, in 2012, Jutanugarn and Lee met in the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Lee won that one, and went on to win the title at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, California.

On Sunday morning, Jutanugarn draws Ally Ewing, a first-time winner on the LPGA last season at the Drive On Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee who also drew on some memories in her quarterfinal match against Danielle Kang on Saturday afternoon.

Ewing and Kang, both members of the 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup team, went head-to-head down the stretch at the Drive On with Ewing coming out on top by a shot.

At Shadow Creek, Ewing trailed much of the match, but went 1 up at No. 14 and held on to that advantage to close out Kang on the 18th green.

In a battle of major champions, Sophia Popov defeated Patty Tavatanakit, 3 and 2, on Saturday evening to advance to the final match. Popov went up early with a birdie on No. 2 and slowly increased that advantage to eventually take down Tavatanakit on the 16th hole.

Popov will meet Shanshan Feng in the semifinals after Feng defeated Eun-Hee Ji in 19 holes in the last quarterfinal match of the day.

The Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play started with a field of 64 players, divided into 16 groups of four. After after three days of round-robin matches, only 16 players advanced to the weekend to compete on a single-elimination bracket. The semifinal and final matches will take place on Sunday.

American Ally Ewing finds ‘positive energy’ to make major move Saturday at ANA Inspiration

RANCHO MIRAGE, California – A round of golf can mean different things to different people. It can be a place to have fun with friends, a way to get fresh air and exercise and sometimes the golf course can be a place of refuge from the negativity …

RANCHO MIRAGE, California — A round of golf can mean different things to different people. It can be a place to have fun with friends, a way to get fresh air and exercise and sometimes the golf course can be a place of refuge from the negativity that can inhabit our daily lives.

That was the case Saturday for Ally Ewing.

Ewing told The Golf Channel that she had “kind of a weird morning, I’ll just leave it at that” which led to a shorter warmup period. She didn’t want to go deeper into what made her morning strange, but added that she has “a lot of family that is supporting me through whatever it was.”

Because of whatever of life’s curveballs was thrown her way, Ewing didn’t have high expectations heading to the course Saturday.

“Yeah, well, like I said, the expectations were kind of not there, and I was just looking for some really positive energy on the first tee,” Ewing said.

Well, she found it.

Ewing birdied her first three holes and added three more birdies on the back nine for a bogey-free 6-under 66. It was the best round of the day and also her best round ever at this event. She jumped from 20th at the start of the day to a tie for second. She is five strokes behind leader Patty Tavatanakit, and she is the only American player inside the top 10 on the leader board.

“I just took it one hole at a time and was able to get off to a really good start with three birdies to start the day, then I just kept giving myself a lot of looks, which I think is so important on this golf course,” she said.

Ally Ewing hits out of the sand onto the 11th green during round three of the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on April 3, 2021.

Ally Ewing 11th Green

The 28-year-old from Mississippi is coming off a successful and eventful 2020.

On the golf course she made 13 of 14 cuts, finishing 11th on the money list and grabbed her first LPGA win in October at the LPGA Drive On Championship Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia, which was a new event created because of the cancellation of several Asian events due to COVID-19.

Off the course, she got married in May to Charlie Ewing. LPGA fans may recognize Ally by her maiden name of Ally McDonald. In November, Charlie was named the head coach for the Mississippi State women’s golf team.

Ewing is the No. 34-ranked player in the world. This is only her fourth time playing the ANA Inspiration, but she has had success here, finishing in a tie for sixth in 2019. She tied for 24th here in September.

That tie for sixth in 2019 marks her best finish in 21 attempts at majors. She is in position to better that Sunday. If she were to rally for the title, she would be the first American to win this event since Brittany Lincicome won it for a second time in 2015.

“I hit a lot of fairways, greens, which is crucial in a major, especially out here,” she said. “And even if I look back on my day I missed several putts inside 10 feet, but, I mean, a 66 on moving day, certainly all you can ask for to put yourself in a good position for tomorrow.”

Shad Powers is a columnist at The Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

Newlywed Ally McDonald off to strong start in first LPGA event as ‘Ally Ewing’

There’s a new name on the leaderboard at the Volunteers of America Classic. LPGA winner Ally McDonald, a newlywed, is now Ally Ewing.

There’s a new name on the leaderboard at the Volunteers of America Classic. Ally Ewing, formerly McDonald, married Charlie Ewing on May 30 in Mississippi and officially changed her name at this week’s event in Dallas.

Ewing said she surprised her in-laws and brother-in-law, who are from Dallas, Thanksgiving week with two of her old staff bags with “Ally Ewing” stitched on the panels.

“Those are going to be featured in their offices, I think,” said Ewing, who opened with a 1-under 70 at Old American Golf Club.

Ewing, who won her first LPGA title last month on her 28th birthday at the LPGA Drive On Championship-Reynolds Lake Oconee, said she was going to wait until the end of the year to change her name, but thought the tour stop in Dallas seemed an appropriate debut.

It’s been a big year for the Ewings.

Earlier this week Charlie was promoted to head coach of the Mississippi State women’s golf team, a program his wife helped put on the map. Charlie played college golf at Vanderbilt and has worked as an assistant coach for the men’s program at Mississippi State since the 2017-18 season.

Charley Hull holds the clubhouse lead at a chilly and windswept VOA after carding a 3-under 68. McDonald has gone 1-2 in her last two starts on the LPGA, finishing runner-up two weeks ago at the Pelican Women’s Championship in Florida.

“I definitely think my putter saved me a lot today,” said Ewing. “With the tougher conditions, it’s really hard to judge the wind. On top of that, these are some really difficult greens to hit and we’re hitting sometimes some longer irons into the green where we might normally hit a mid-iron in. Just kind of staying patient out there and trying to keep my hands warm.”

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