Tag: Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play Hosted by Shadow Creek

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.

Michelle Wie West receives sponsor invite to LPGA match play event at Shadow Creek

Michelle Wie West will compete in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play on a sponsor invite, which adds a little more intrigue to the event.

Before one shot is even struck, the new Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event has already generated buzz. Fans have been hungry for this format. The women’s tour hasn’t had a match-play event on its schedule since 2017 when Lorena Ochoa hosted a tournament in Mexico City that wasn’t even televised.

This one will be televised – live for five days on Golf Channel starting next Wednesday – and the venue, Shadow Creek, certainly draws some interest. The Tom Fazio design hosted The Match: Tiger vs. Phil in 2018 and the PGA Tour’s CJ CUP, won by Jason Kokrak last October.

Now add sponsor invites to the intrigue. Michelle Wie West and Alison Lee, both part of MGM’s Golf Ambassador program, have been offered spots in the 64-player field.

This will give Wie West another opportunity to get tournament-ready before her hometown U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club. Wie West has made three starts on the LPGA since returning to the tour after maternity leave, her last coming in late April at the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open. She has missed the cut in all three tournaments.

Other marquee names in the field include World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, Inbee Park, Patty Tavatanakit, Ariya Jutanugarn, Danielle Kang, Sei Young Kim, Stacy Lewis, Sophia Popov and Brooke Henderson.

Notables who didn’t sign up include: Nelly and Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko.

There’s a spot left open for the winner of this week’s Pure Silk Championship. Should that player already be in the field, the first alternate is Ayako Uehara.

The field will be divided into 16 groups of four players with three days of round-robin matches deciding the final 16-player bracket. From there, a series of single-elimination matches will determine Sunday’s championship match.

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Match play returns to the LPGA schedule in May at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas

The Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play will be hosted by Shadow Creek on May 26-30. A 64-player field will compete for a $1.5 million purse.

The details are out on the LPGA’s upcoming match-play event in Las Vegas. The LPGA has announced that the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play will be hosted by Shadow Creek, a Tom Fazio design owned by MGM Resorts International. The event, to be played May 26-30, will feature a 64-player field and a $1.5 million purse.

Bank of Hope previously sponsored the Founders Cup from 2017 to 2019. Shadow Creek played hosted to the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup last October and The Match: Tiger vs. Phil in 2018.

MGM has supported several LPGA players over the years as part of its Golf Ambassador program including Natalie Gulbis, Danielle Kang, Cristie Kerr, Alison Lee, Anna Nordqvist and Michelle Wie West.

Tiger Woods hits his fairway shot on the seventh hole during The Match: Tiger vs Phil at Shadow Creek Golf Course. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

This marks the first match-play event on the LPGA’s schedule since the 2017 Lorena Ochoa Match Play in Mexico, won by Sei Young Kim. That event was not televised.

The field at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play Hosted by Shadow Creek will be divided into 16 groups of four players, with three days of round-robin matches deciding the final 16-player bracket. From there, the tournament will proceed in single-elimination matches to determine the two players who will face off in Sunday’s championship match. The LPGA will release full qualification and tiebreaker information in the coming weeks.

The Shadow Creek event will be held the week before the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club and will be televised live on Golf Channel all five days (Wednesday through Sunday).

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