BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 28, 2021

Ally Ewing

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. What a finish to get yourself through to the round of 16 winning the last two holes, three out the last four. What was going through you minds down that stretch?

ALLY EWING: Yeah, got off to a pretty rough start. Couldn't really find the timing in my swing. Hit some really poor shots. I just kind of regrouped probably at least six or seven holes in and I just told myself to try to get myself back in it, in the match.

And I knew I needed to win the match, so just kind of turn it on and try to figure it out regardless of what I did on the first six holes.

Q. We were wondering if you knew specifically what was going on with the match behind and their dynamics, which affected you.

ALLY EWING: Yeah, I didn't really know until I walked off 18 green what the circumstances were. My husband told me and I did catch a glimpse of the board when I got to here. I saw it through 16 rather than through 17.

Yeah, a lot of things have to happen I think for you to advance. Everybody is playing great, so just thankful to give it another go tomorrow.

Q. You play the winner of Coleman or Buhai. Thoughts on that match?

ALLY EWING: Yeah, I mean, this is the best in the world. Anybody can play well out here. It's a really tough golf course. I think it's a strategic golf course, especially thinking about the firmness of the greens. You're going to hit great shots and they're going to run through. It's just figuring out where you can miss.

Yeah, I mean, whoever it is, I'll just stick with the same game plan, hopefully play some good golf.

Q. Pretty good performance with Captain Pat Hurst watching.

ALLY EWING: Yeah.

Q. Good job.

ALLY EWING: Thank you.

Q. Christina Kim a good friend of yours right now.

ALLY EWING: Yeah, that's right. I mean, I knew when I walked off 18 I knew what the circumstances were, and she was able to makeup I would guess probably a 10- to 12-footer to close out her match.

You have to think about those things to advance, so...

Q. On the way over you talked to a quick family friend, a little fist bump. I'm sure you gave them a heart attack. You made it interesting, that's for sure. 1-up today over Jennifer Kupcho. You won three of the last four holes to claim the victory and come out as Group 13 winner. You were 3-down through six, and then it was just kind of putzing along for both of you until you reached 15. Take us through the slow start on paper.

ALLY EWING: Yeah, I couldn't find the timing of my swing, which is not normally a thing for me. I feel like I rely a lot on my ball striking, how I drive the ball, so I felt very out of sorts the first six holes. Regrouped on 7 tee, par-5. Was able to make a good birdie to tie the hole, which kind of felt like it settled me down just a little bit.

From there on out I just tried to give myself good looks. Tried to apply a little bit more pressure because I had not been doing that. I had been making really poor swings. Yeah, to finish strong winning three out of the last four certainly feels great.

And Jennifer is a great competitor and I'm sure she'll be around for a while and probably potentially on the Solheim Cup.

Q. Yeah. You birdied 15, bogeyed 17, and birdied 18. Those were the holes you won down the stretch. In the middle of that -- let's just go to 18. What were you thinking standing on 18 tee?

ALLY EWING: Like I said, I knew I had to win the match. I was going to be as conservatively aggressive as I could, and fortunately for me I hit a great drive, probably the best drive of the day under the circumstances. Only had a pitching wedge in.

Certainly did what I needed to do on the drive. Hit a pretty good approach. It flew just a little bit further than I wanted, but did what I needed to do and gave myself really, really good look for birdie after -- you know, balls above the hole here are just really tough, so thankful to walk away with birdie and get the win.

Q. It's windy in here. Is it windy out there?

ALLY EWING: Actually it isn't. It was swirly a at times today, but I would say it feels windier in here right now than out there. But definitely had a down breeze on 18.

Q. Yeah. Feels good in here.

ALLY EWING: Yeah.

Q. You'll take the winner of either Coleman or Buhai. Looks like Coleman right now, but couple holes to go so anything can happen down the stretch there.

ALLY EWING: Yeah.

Q. You lost your opening match to Leona on Wednesday, and then you came back strong with a win over Christina Kim and closed out with that come-from-behind win over Kupcho. With where your game is and confidence level, how do you feel going into the round of 16?

ALLY EWING: Yeah, I'm just excited. Like I love match play format. I love competing in a Solheim Cup, Curtis Cup when I played that.

So any time we can change up the format, just kind of play some head-to-head matches, it changes up the dynamic. We're getting a great test of golf at Shadow Creek this week. Probably good prep for next week at Olympic Club.

Just going to take the same game plan whoever I play, and, yeah, hopefully take it one hole at a time and play well.

Q. Solheim Cup team captain Pat Hurst is out here. Have you talked with her at all?

ALLY EWING: Yeah, I've chatted with her a few times; my husband bums a ride off of her several times. So it's always good to see her out. Good to show some good golf while she's watching.

I definitely think through the years for Solheim Juli came around and I was freaking out, so I feel like I've eased it had up a little bit. It's good to have Pat around, and, yeah, just rooting on the Americans for sure.

Q. Obviously first things first is this event. When you have her watching and you can perform some real grit, grind-it-out victories the last couple days, I imagine she's taking notice. Do you think about that at all? Solheim cross your mind when you're walking out there?

ALLY EWING: Not necessarily, just because from the standpoint I feel like if I do what I'm supposed to do on a daily, weekly basis, I should find myself in a really good position when I finish.

So I'm not necessarily putting too much pressure. I feel like if I play well every week then I'm going to give myself a good opportunity to make the team.

So, yeah, obviously it lingers in your mind because you want to be on the team. It's not a super pressurized thing I'm putting on myself to make the team.