Ewing outlasts Popov to win LPGA Match-Play final

Ally Ewing

LOS ANGELES (AFP): American Ally Ewing earned her second LPGA Tour win at the LPGA Match-Play championship on Sunday, outlasting former Major Winner Sophia Popov to take the final 2&1 at the Shadow Creek course in Las Vegas.

The 28-year-old Ewing won Sunday afternoon’s showdown after a marathon day of golf in which she also beat Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn 3&2 in the semis.

Ewing won despite needing two tee shots on 17 after her first shot landed short of the green in the water. She took a penalty, and the second tee shot was also short into the front bunker, but the American managed to regroup from there and win after Popov had an even bigger collapse on the hole.

Former Women’s British Open Winner Popov also found the front bunker off the tee on 17. She hit the ball over the green on her second shot, then chipped it 20 feet past the cup on her third to doom her chances of winning the hole and going into 18 all-tied. She blamed her collapse on being fatigued from so much golf.

Ewing, ranked 30th, defeated 23rd-ranked Ariya, while Popov, ranked 21st, edged China’s 28th-ranked Feng Shanshan one-up in the other.

Feng was scheduled to play her consolation match later on Sunday but decided to concede, citing a need to rest for next week’s US Open, giving up more than $23,000 in the process.