U.S. Solheim Cup Captain Stacy Lewis certainly learned a few things about Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho this week at the Dow Championship. The most important lesson though was that the pair make great team-play partners.
Team Ping-Pals, as Ewing and Kupcho dubbed themselves for their partnership debut in this event, nearly captured the Dow Championship title on Sunday in Midland, Mich., ultimately falling just one shot short of Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin.
The pair went bogey-free in the final round, making six total birdies on day four in the Great Lakes State, and needed just one more on the final hole to force a playoff with Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin of Team Jin & Ronic, who had posted the clubhouse lead at 22-under. But after Ewing and Kupcho parred the closing par-3 18th hole at Midland Country Club, their hopes of victory were dashed and the team ultimately finished as runners-up at the Dow Championship after playing as teammates for the very first time.
“We got off to a slow start, but we hung in there. It wasn't easy,” said Ewing in a solo post-round press conference as Kupcho had a flight to catch. “I think in these tournaments, if you get to hole 18, you have a chance to win the golf tournament or force a playoff. That's all you ask for. It was a fun week with Jen, and it's hopefully something we can do again at the Solheim Cup.”
But there was more to take away from the week than just a trophy, even though it would have been nice for the Ping-Pals to hoist some hardware on Sunday in Midland, Mich.
The pair’s on-course chemistry was undeniable at the Dow Championship across both formats, providing some positive indications that the two could make great partners for the Solheim Cup in September.
The Ping-Pals were a combined 9-under in the two foursomes rounds at Midland Country Club and were 12-under in the two four-ball rounds, posting a four-day total of 21-under par and recording all four rounds in the 60s, a tall order considering how difficult alternate shot can be for two players using vastly different equipment.
But despite those challenges, Ewing felt like she and Kupcho jibed all week at the Dow Championship and is hoping the pair will get the opportunity to tee it up together again as Solheim Cup teammates at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., later this season.
“It was nice to team up with someone whose game you can trust,” Ewing said of Kupcho. “Alternate shot, I think we're by far a really, really, really good alternate shot team, and it just comes down to making a lot of birdies on best-ball day. We just needed one more to get in a playoff, but it was a really fun week with her.”
Ewing is sitting at third in the U.S. Solheim Cup team point standings and likely won’t need a captain’s pick to make the team like she did last year at Finca Cortesin, as she has already all but clinched a spot after recording back-to-back top-five finishes in the last two major championships.
Kupcho, on the other hand, is currently on the outside looking in at the top seven players in the point standings, ranking 12th overall, ground she will need to make up in the coming weeks in order to earn an automatic qualifying spot.
And if both get to represent the Red, White and Blue later this year on home soil, you can be certain that Captain Lewis will remember what the Ping-Pals did at the Dow Championship when she is deciding who to partner up in the foursomes and four-ball matches at the Solheim Cup.
But the qualifying period for the biennial team event doesn’t wrap up until late August, and with two more major championships on deck at The Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open, both Ewing and Kupcho will be looking to ride the momentum generated from their solid showing at the Dow Championship into the last two majors of the season, the first of which is set to kick off in 11 days in Evian-les-Bains, France.
“I think just as we get closer to September, the more great finishes that you can rack up, the better feeling that you have, and confidence leading into (the Solheim Cup),” said Ewing. “These three weeks (in a row) have been a grind. When you find yourself in contention, it's a mental and physical battle, so I'd definitely say I'm looking forward to a couple of days of rest.
“But the game feels really good. The more I give myself opportunities to lift a trophy, the more I believe that I will. Like you said, my game feels really good. I'm looking forward to a week off and then taking it to Europe.”
)
)
)
)
