Ewing reels off 5 birdies for LPGA win
CINCINNATI – Ally Ewing ran off five straight on the back nine Sunday and closed with a 7-under 65 to hold off Xiyu Lin and win the Kroger Queen City Championship in the LPGA Tour’s return to Cincinnati.
Ewing now has three career wins, one in each of the last three years, though she came into this tournament without a top-10 finish all year.
The 29-year-old American played bogey-free on a rain-softened course and was pushed to the very end by Lin, who birdied two of her last three holes for a 65.
Maria Fassi of Mexico had a 71 and finished alone in third, her best LPGA finish.
Lin started the final round two shots behind and made up ground quickly with a pair of birdies. Ewing had to make a 7-footer to match birdies with Lin on the par-5 12th and stay tied, and then the American kept going.
Ewing took the lead with an 8-foot birdie on the par-4 13th, made a 10-foot birdie on the next hole, hit wedge to 8 feet for birdie on the par-5 15th and then made her fifth in a row on the 16th after Lin also had birdied.
Lin made an 18-foot birdie on the 456-yard closing hole into a breeze – only the 20th birdie all week on No. 18 – to create a little extra pressure. Ewing had come up short of the green and elected to use putter through about 5 feet of wet fairway grass.
She gave it a good pop and the putt rolled out to 3 feet left of the hole. After Lin made her birdie, Ewing calmly rapped in the par to finish at 22-under 266.
The victory came at a good time for Ewing, who last month decided to shorten her putting stroke in an effort to find something.
“The key for me is knowing it’s in there,” Ewing said after getting soaked by sparkling wine on the 18th green.
BMW PGA Championship
VIRGINIA WATER, England – Shane Lowry tapped in for birdie at the 18th hole and then had to wait and see if Rory McIlroy could produce something special to force a playoff at Wentworth.
McIlroy gave himself a chance and the crowd cheered as his long eagle putt on the final hole crept slowly toward the cup, only to stop less than an inch short.
McIlroy crouched down, staring at the ball in disbelief, while Lowry hugged his caddie in the scorer’s tent.
PGA Tour Champions
ST. LOUIS – Padraig Harrington built a comfortable lead and even a few mistakes at the end couldn’t keep him from winning the Ascension Charity Classic on Sunday for his third title this year on the PGA Tour Champions.
Harrington had seven birdies in a closing round of 3-under 68 for a oneshot victory over Y.E. Yang (66) at Norwood Hill Golf Club.