AIG Women’s Open Leader Ally Ewing Taking Inspiration From Brian Harman

At the halfway stage at The Open we had an American, who had yet to win a Major, leading by five shots on 10-under. At Walton Heath we have another American, also a non-Major winner to date, on 10-under and also with a five-stroke lead. 

Brian Harman went on to win by an incredible six shots at Royal Liverpool after piecing together a brilliant weekend – what lies ahead for Ally Ewing is anybody's guess but she's certainly hoping to take the positives from what her fellow southerner did last month. 

"I don't know him personally, I obviously know his story. He's a Bulldog but he's a Georgia bulldog. I'm a Bulldog; I'm a Mississippi State Bulldog. I guess we have that in common. But yeah, it's pretty cool, southern guy, I'm southern, just a little Mississippi girl. It is inspiring what he did," explained the 30-year-old.

"You know, I think a lot of people, I wouldn't say they were rooting against him but a lot of people were rooting for other people. I can kind of attest to that in some sense but yeah, certainly happy with where I am through 36 holes."

Harman made reference in his winner's press conference that a spectator had pointed out that he might not 'have the stones' early on in his final round on the Sunday, a comment that sparked the American back into action.

"That helped, that helped a lot. It helped snap me back into I'm good enough to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to go through my process and the next shot is going to be good."

And, while Ewing will unlikely face any type of similar comments, she will have to win on foreign soil. Ewing was even asked whether, like Harman, she hunted and, like Harman, she had a similar reply.

"I actually do some hunting. I know that's probably not going to be interpreted well by the media but I do, yes. I think people can spin it the wrong way, it's a means to eat for sure. For the most part my family, my husband and I, we do mostly deer hunting, so venison. That's most of what we do."

Ewing's second round added up to a six-under 66, an improvement of two shots on Thursday's effort, and it featured a beautiful run of four straight birdies to complete a front nine of 30.

"I didn't really even know until I signed my scorecard that I had four birdies in a row, so I would probably say that stretch from like 6 to 11 is kind of a little bit of a blur but yeah, I was very in the present on all of those shots. So it's not like I was just, you know, wandering around. It still took execution and being in that present form to those shots.

"You can have looks but you've got to be able to capitalise on them and I rolled them in which not all of them were super straight. I rolled in some breaking putts, which I feel like that's always a confidence boost to match up the line and speed. So yeah, it was a very solid day."

Ewing has Type 1 diabetes which she found out after getting her Tour card in 2016 and she keeps a device in her back pocket so she can scan herself every so often.

"I'm not one that's started using an insulin pump yet. I'm still doing shots by the mil so that's kind of how I've gone about it. Some days are tougher than others but it's manageable. The technology and stuff has progressed a long way. It's something that I have to be aware of on a golf course, not just my golf, which you know, can sometimes be a little distracting.

"I don't feel spikes as much. The lows, I can feel pretty loopy, I can feel shaky. It honestly changes every time. Sometimes I feel very fatigued all of a sudden, so I keep Gatorade in my golf bag, take six ounces or so to get it to come back up and stay on top of my snacks and stuff."

Ewing was going to treat herself to a pastry before turning her attentions to a weekend that might well be life-changing.

"You can't really suppress it. The past is the past, like nothing that I've done through 36 holes can do anything for me for the next 36, so I'm just going to be mentally prepared for each individual day that presents itself. Each shot is going to be different."