Three-time LPGA Tour winner Ally Ewing attacked Blythefield Country Club on Friday at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, blitzing the field with a bogey-free, 9-under 63 in the second round, the lowest score of the week so far in Michigan.
The Mississippi native shot out of the gate, quickly collecting a pair of birdies on holes one and two to move to 4-under total for the tournament. She birdied again on the par-3 5th hole to get to 5-under and then eagled the par-5 eighth hole for the second consecutive day, having also made an eagle on eight on Thursday.
Now sitting at 7-under overall, Ewing parred nine to turn in 31 and grabbed another birdie on 11 to climb to 8-under, picking up a birdie on the par-5 14th hole to get to 9-under total with four holes to play. After parring 15 and 16, Ewing threw a one-two punch at 17 and 18, recording back-to-back birdies on the closing holes at Blythefield to tie her lowest career round on the LPGA Tour and surge to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes in the Great Lake State.
“That was just pretty steady golf,” said Ewing, who is currently tied for the lead with Grace Kim at 11-under overall. “I feel like I'm striking the ball really well, just up to rolling some putts in. Honestly, at one point, I wasn't sure what I was, so I was just focusing on each shot, each hole. Gets to the end of the day, and it was 9-under, so really happy with it, obviously.”
This is the third time in Ewing’s LPGA Tour career that she has held the lead or co-lead through 36 holes. The previous two instances saw her become a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2020 LPGA Drive On Championship - Reynolds Lake Oconee and finish in a tie for sixth at the 2023 AIG Women’s Open.
This week’s Meijer LPGA Classic marks Ewing’s 10th start of the 2024 season, and in her nine previous events, she has missed no cuts and earned three top-15 finishes, including a tie for fourth at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, a tie for 12th at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and a tie for third at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.
That top-three result was a result of a bogey-free, 4-under 66 in the final round, an impressive feat considering how difficult the course played throughout the week in Pennsylvania. And while she has been a picture of consistency so far this year, it was that performance in particular that has boosted Ewing’s confidence as the page has turned to the latter half of the 2024 season.
“That was a great major for me,” said Ewing. “I didn't think I had a chance to win the golf tournament, so (I was) just trying to go out and play the best round I could. It was playing so hard that I knew an 8- or 7-under wasn't out there. But I didn't really know how good my round was until I got to 16 and was able to hit a really good shot.
“I think any time you get a good finish in any tournament, much less a major, you see good golf for four days, it definitely helps your confidence when you carry it over. The golf ball doesn't know what I did last week, but it's still important to attack it but also have confidence with it.”
With two more rounds to go at Blythefield Country Club, Ewing will be bottling up the magic she found on Friday and working to apply that confidence to a weekend in contention at the Meijer LPGA Classic, an event at which she has finished in the top 10 twice in her three previous appearances.
And even though there’s plenty to be thinking about with the qualification periods for both the Paris Olympics and Solheim Cup winding down – two events a win would give her a chance to qualify for – Ewing isn’t getting ahead of herself. She’s instead locked in on what’s right in front of her: Moving Day in Michigan.
“I think I feel confident,” Ewing said. “This golf course, it's good. I've had a couple of really good finishes here. But at the same time, every day is completely different, so I know tomorrow will be a completely different test. It certainly feels good to be shooting 9-under and be in a good position for the first two rounds.
“I think so much of it is staying in the present. You try to build confidence, and you learn through being in this position before. I've had days where I have been able to stay in the present, and I've not played my best golf. Tomorrow, I'll have a game plan that I'll try to execute and take it one shot and one hole at a time. At the end of the day, that's all you can do. Your score will be your score at the end of the day. If I stay within myself and my caddie and I do a really good job sticking to our game plan, I like what we have potential to do.”
