Ally Ewing shot a scorching, 9–under 63 to move into a tie with Australia’s Grace Kim for the 36-hole lead at the Meijer LPGA Classic on Friday in Belmont, Mich.
Ewing and Kim stand at 11–under 133 after two trips around Blythefield Country Club after Kim posted a 65 Friday. They are two shots ahead of Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (64 Friday) and South Korea’s Narin An (68).
Ewing’s bogey-free round began with three birdies over her first five holes, and she chipped in for eagle at the par-5 eighth hole. She sank four more birdies coming home, including a short putt at the par-3 11th after an excellent tee shot.
“I think you can make a lot of birdies out here,” Ewing said. “At the same time, I approach a golf course with what it gives me, so I try to play smart but aggressive golf.”
The 31-year-old, who has three LPGA wins to her name, found her form again after tying for third at the U.S. Women’s Open two weeks ago.
“Yeah, I think any time you get a good finish in any tournament, much less a major, you just see good golf for four days, definitely helps your confidence when you carry it over,” Ewing said. “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.”
Kim started her round on the back nine and also piled up three birdies over her first five. After bogeying No. 17, she bounced back with an eagle at the par-5 18th. She added a final bang with three straight birdies at Nos. 6–8.
Kim said the conditions changed drastically for her after playing Thursday’s round in heavy wind.
“I think I was the second-lowest scorer of the day (Thursday) in the afternoon, and, yeah that says a lot of how tough the conditions were,” Kim said. “But to be able to pull through and make a few more birdies, back-to-back birdies to finish my round, yeah, very much topped it off.”
Brooke M. Henderson of Canada, a two-time winner of this event, shot 69 Friday and is part of a tie for fifth at 8 under with Lauren Hartlage (69), Allison Corpuz (68), South Korea’s Jin Hee Im (65) and China’s Jing Yan (68).
World No. 1 Nelly Korda couldn’t recover from an opening-round 76. She shot a 5–under 67 on Friday but missed the cut line of 2 under by a single stroke.
“I’m very pleased with the way that I struck the ball today off the tee, something I’ve been struggling with this year,” Korda said. “This was by far the best I’ve hit it off the tee, so a little bit of positivity going into (the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship).”
