Ally Ewing attacks Blythefield CC Cards on Friday 63 | LPGA

Three-time LPGA Tour winner Ally Ewing attacked the Blythefield Country Club at the Meijer LPGA Classic on Friday for Just giveand outperformed the field with a bogey-free 9-under-par second-round 63, the lowest score of the week in Michigan so far.

The Mississippi native hit the bullseye, quickly making two birdies on holes one and two to move her total to 4 under par for the tournament. She made another birdie on the par-3 5th to move to 5 under par, and then made an eagle on the par-5 8th for the second straight day, following an eagle on the 8th hole on Thursday.

Now at 7 under par overall, Ewing shot par for nine holes and finished 31 strokes, picked up another birdie on the 11th hole to climb to 8 under par. A birdie on the par-5 14th hole moved her to 9 under par overall with four holes to play. After pars on the 15th and 16th holes, Ewing hit a one-two on the 17th and 18th holes and made back-to-back birdies on the final holes at Blythefield, matching her lowest career round on the LPGA Tour and storming to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes in the Great Lake State.

“It was just pretty consistent golf,” said Ewing, who is currently tied for the lead with Grace Kim at 11 under par. “I feel like I’m hitting the ball really well, down to a couple of putts. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was doing at one point, so I just focused on each shot, each hole. At the end of the day, I was 9 under par, so obviously I’m really happy with that.”

This is the third time in Ewing’s LPGA Tour career that she has held the lead or co-lead for 36 holes. On the two previous occasions, she became a first-time Rolex winner at the 2020 LPGA Drive On Championship – Reynolds Lake Oconee and tied for sixth at the 2023 AIG Women’s Open.

This week’s Meijer LPGA Classic marks Ewing’s 10th start of the 2024 season. She has made no cuts in her nine events to date and has three top-15 finishes, including a tied for fourth at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, a tied for 12th at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and a tied for third at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.

That top-three finish came on the back of a bogey-free 4-under 66 in the final round, an impressive feat considering how difficult the Pennsylvania course has been all week. And while she’s been a model of consistency so far this year, it’s that performance in particular that has boosted Ewing’s confidence heading into the second half of the 2024 season.

“This was a great major for me,” Ewing said. “I didn’t think I had a chance to win the golf tournament, so I just tried to go out and play the best round I could. It was so hard to play that I knew 8 or 7 under par wasn’t possible. 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 when you get a good score in a tournament, especially a major, and play good golf for four days, it definitely builds your confidence if you follow through. The golf ball doesn’t know what I did last week, but it’s still important to attack it, but also have confidence.”

With two rounds remaining at Blythefield Country Club, Ewing will bottle the magic she discovered Friday and work to apply that confidence to a weekend of competing at the Meijer LPGA Classic, an event where she has finished in the top 10 twice in her three previous appearances.

And while there’s still a lot to think about with qualifying periods looming for the Paris Olympics and the Solheim Cup – a win in either event would give her a chance to qualify – Ewing isn’t jumping to the future. Instead, she’s focused on what’s right in front of her: moving day in Michigan.

“I think I’m confident,” Ewing said. “This golf course is good. I’ve had some really good scores here. But at the same time, every day is completely different, so I know tomorrow will be a completely different challenge. It definitely feels good to shoot 9 under par and be in a good position for the first two rounds.”

“I think it’s all about staying in the here and now. You try to build confidence and learn by being in this situation before. I’ve had days where I’ve been able to stay in the here and now and I haven’t played my best golf. Tomorrow I’ll have a game plan that I’ll try to execute, shot by shot and hole by hole. At the end of the day, that’s all you can do. Your result is your result at the end of the day. If I don’t let myself and my caddie get rattled and stick to our game plan really well, I like what we can accomplish.”