After round three of the Dow Championship, Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho stand alone in first place after shooting a 3-under 67 on the second day of the foursomes format. Ewing and Kupcho have a combined total of seven starts at the unique team event since its inaugural edition in 2019, and both players are using their familiarity with Midland Country Club and experience with the tournament format to rise to the top.
Round three began at 1:27 p.m. ET on Saturday and hence began the second day of foursomes, also known as alternate shot. Teams had also played in this format in the first round on Thursday. The Ping-Pals teed off in the second to last group off No.1 and made four straight pars out of the gate. They picked up their first birdie on the par-4 5th hole and then parred the rest of the holes on the front nine. Ewing and Kupcho changed pace after the turn and recorded back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 to reach 15-under. They dropped one shot after a bogey on hole 16 and joined the pairs of In Kyung Kim and Haeji Kang, and Ruoning Yin and Atthaya Thitikul at 14-under heading into the last two holes. After Ewing hit her tee shot close on the par-3 18th hole, Kupcho sunk the resulting birdie putt to gift their team a one-shot lead headed into championship Sunday.
“It can get tough because you can hit good shots, and a good shot is a 20-footer, and that's just not a high-percentage putt,” said three-time LPGA Tour winner Ewing. “I mean, we hit good putts out there, burned edges and stuff. It's a patience game with alternate shot. We just lean on each other, trust each other's game. Try to have a good time out there because we are only hitting half the shots. So stay and engage and also give ourselves those breaks in alternate. It's kind of working out for us.”
The secret to the Ping-Pals’ success might lie in their strategy to capitalize on the alternate shot days. Ewing and Kupcho have posted scores of 64 and 67 in the first and third rounds, days when most teams are just aiming to shoot under par. The struggle with the format can be due to only hitting half the shots throughout the day, but Ewing and Kupcho have implemented a strategy to stay engaged even when they are not the player hitting the ball.
“I think you both have to mentally stay in it,” said Kupcho, who has also earned three career victories on the LPGA Tour. “I know we both do the numbers in the fairways, so we try to stay in it. Even though we're not hitting the shot, we are envisioning what we would do. I think that really helps. But I think just trusting each other, trust that she's going to put it in a good place or trust our game that we're going to make a good comeback. It's just trusting each other.”
Kupcho is making her fourth start at the Dow Championship this year alongside Ewing, having previously played with Lizette Salas, with whom she won the event in 2022; Mina Harigae, with whom Kupcho partnered in 2021; and Maria Fassi, with whom she played as sponsor invites in 2019. Kupcho is one of eight past Dow champions in the field this week and one of five past champions to make the cut alongside Ariya Jutanugarn, Moriya Jutanugarn, Cydney Clanton and Jasmine Suwannapura. The Jutanugarn sisters are the only past-champion duo that formerly won together and made the cut in this year’s championship.
Ewing is making her third start in Midland, Mich., playing with Megan Khang in 2021 and Lindy Duncan in 2019.
Eight teams sit within four shots of the leaders headed into Sunday’s four-ball round. Iced Koreano (I.K. Kim and Haeji Kang) and Jin & Ronic (Ruoning Yin and Atthaya Thitikul) sit one shot behind Ewing and Kupcho after recording rounds of 5-under and 4-under, respectively. Amanda Doherty and Caroline Inglis of Nole Ducks Given and Grace Kim and Auston Kim of Team 2K are at 13-under, while Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Nicole Broch Estrup (Team Hygge) and Wei-Ling Hsu and Ssu-Chia Cheng (Team Hot Pot) sit in a tie for sixth at 12-under. Teams return tomorrow for an exciting day as they vie for the 2024 Dow Championship title.
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