LPGA: Ally Ewing holds on down the stretch to win Kroger Queen City Championship

Ally Ewing reacts after making birdie on the 12th green during the final round of the Kroger Queen City Championship.. Dylan Buell
By Keely Levins

The LPGA Tour’s inaugural Kroger Queen City Championship saw a pro who has struggled this season breakthrough for her third LPGA Tour victory. Ally Ewing played the last seven holes in five-under to hold off a charging Xiyu Lin at Kenwood Country Club in Cincinnati. Ewing’s four-round total of 22-under was good for a one-shot victory over Lin. Ewing, 29, is the fifth American to win on the LPGA in 2022.

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Ewing first made herself known on the international professional golf stage when she was a late sub for an injured Stacy Lewis at the 2019 Solheim Cup. Then playing under her maiden name, McDonald, the All-American at Mississippi State went 1-3-0 in Scotland. Though she didn’t score many points for Team USA, it was her arrival on the big stage.

The next season, Ewing won the LPGA Drive on Championship by a shot over Danielle Kang. In 2021, she won again. This time, at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play over Sophia Popov. In the span of a few seasons, Ewing has gone from a relatively unknown pro to a three-season winner on tour. With the $262,500 winner’s cheque at Kroger, she breaks the $3 million mark in career earnings.

She’s only had one top-20 finish in a stroke-play event in 2022, and that was back in January. As Ewing’s worked through this difficult season, she says her husband, coaches and family have been her support system.

“They just keep drilling in me, It’s there. I promise it’s there. Just keep working at it. It’s there. And I just really trusted it and knew that if I kept working at it, it was going to be there,” Ewing said.

A bit of a breakthrough came in Canada when a change in her putting started to take hold. She shortened her backstroke a few weeks before the CP Women’s Open, and the change yielded a T-36 result. That was two weeks before the Kroger. Her game wasn’t exactly where she wanted it, but she could feel it was close.

“This week, I saw putts go in. Once I saw them go, I had that confidence,” Ewing said.

As Ewing celebrated in Cincinnati and hoisted the trophy, she felt the release of what was a tense day on the course.

“I struggled with nerves all day because I just haven’t been able to put this together for a full tournament this year,” Ewing said. “So, to see it and all the results finally come into place, it’s really exciting.”