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WALTON-ON-THE-HILL, England (AP) — There’s a golfer hailing from America’s South and with a passion for hunting who is running away with the British Open thanks to precise driving and a red-hot putter.

Sound familiar?

Ally Ewing is putting up a good impression of Brian Harman as she goes for a first major title this week at Walton Heath.

The No. 39-ranked Ewing rolled in six birdies in her first 11 holes and shot 6-under 66 Friday to establish a five-stroke lead after the second round of the Women’s British Open, the final major of the year.

Ewing is delivering a golfing clinic southwest of London three weeks after Harman did the same four hours north of England at Royal Liverpool in the men’s event to win his first major championship.

The similarities don’t end there.

“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," Ewing said. “I can kind of attest to that in some sense. But, yeah, certainly happy with where I am through 36 holes.”

Ewing is from Mississippi, and Harman is from Georgia.

And then there’s the hunting — the favored pursuit of Harman and something which proved to be a fascination for the British media, who labeled him “Brian the Butcher.”

Yes, Ewing confirmed, she also likes to hunt.

“For the most part, my family, my husband and I, we do mostly deer hunting, so venison,” she said. “That’s most of what we do.”

The field will look to hunt down Ewing over the weekend, but it will need her to slow up.

At one stage Friday, she held a seven-shot lead and she felt like she was in a trance when making four straight birdies from No. 6.

“I didn’t really even know until I signed my scorecard that I had four birdies in a row,” Ewing said, “so I would probably say that stretch from like No. 6 to No. 11 is kind of a little bit of a blur.”

There was another birdie at No. 16 before a bogey at the last, after her worst swing of the day on the 18th tee, gave her rivals some hope. Ewing was 10 under overall.

The biggest names in women’s golf can’t keep up.

Top-ranked Nelly Korda shot 70 and was 1 under for the tournament — nine off the lead — like Rose Zhang, the 20-year-old American sensation in her first year of pro golf who also shot 71 in her second round.

Celine Boutier, the Frenchwoman who arrived as the hottest player in the game after back-to-back titles including the Evian Championship, also shot 71 and was two shots further back at 1 over for the tournament. That was one shot above the cut.

Former top-ranked player Lydia Ko, currently ranked No. 5, made five bogeys in the opening 10 holes of her 74 and missed the cut along with last year's champion, Ashleigh Buhai of Australia.

Charley Hull, England's biggest hope of a home winner, had a bogey-free 68 to join Minami Katsu (69) of South Korea and Andrea Lee (68) of the United States in a three-way tie for second place, a stroke ahead of Allison Lee (69), Hyo Joo Kim (70), Lilia Vu (68) and Gaby Lopez (70).

Second-ranked Jin Young Ko (68) was part of a large group a further shot back at 3 under.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

3c:Td1d,

Sound familiar?

Ally Ewing is putting up a good impression of Brian Harman as she goes for a first major title this week at Walton Heath.

Ewing is delivering a golfing clinic southwest of London three weeks after Harman did the same four hours north of England at Royal Liverpool in the men’s event to win his first major championship.

The similarities don’t end there.

Ewing is from Mississippi, and Harman is from Georgia.

And then there’s the hunting — the favored pursuit of Harman and something which proved to be a fascination for the British media, who labeled him “Brian the Butcher.”

Yes, Ewing confirmed, she also likes to hunt.

“For the most part, my family, my husband and I, we do mostly deer hunting, so venison,” she said. “That’s most of what we do.”

The field will look to hunt down Ewing over the weekend, but it will need her to slow up.

At one stage Friday, she held a seven-shot lead and she felt like she was in a trance when making four straight birdies from No. 6.

There was another birdie at No. 16 before a bogey at the last, after her worst swing of the day on the 18th tee, gave her rivals some hope. Ewing was 10 under overall.

The biggest names in women’s golf can’t keep up.

Former top-ranked player Lydia Ko, currently ranked No. 5, made five bogeys in the opening 10 holes of her 74 and missed the cut along with last year's champion, Ashleigh Buhai of Australia.

Second-ranked Jin Young Ko (68) was part of a large group a further shot back at 3 under.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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GREENSBORO, Ga. (AP) — Ally McDonald celebrated her birthday with her first LPGA Tour victory.

“It’s the best birthday present ever,” McDonald.

The 28-year-old from Mississippi held off Danielle Kang by a stroke Sunday in the LPGA Drive On Championship-Lake Reynolds Oconee. McDonald closed with a 3-under 69 for a 16-under 272 total on the Great Waters Course. Kang birdied the par-5 18th for a 68.

“I’ve never doubted my ability, but I’ve definitely questioned whether I would be able to win out here,” McDonald said. “It’s really hard to win out here. So, I’ve just really hung in there and tried to stick to my process since Day 1. That was able to get me in the winner’s circle today. I’m really thankful.”

McDonald birdied the first three holes on the back nine, dropped a stroke on 14, birdied 16, bogeyed 17 and parred the par-5 18th. Kang birdied Nos. 12, 13 and 14 to pull within a stroke, but bogeyed the 15th.

“I’m not going to lie, it shook me up pretty bad,” McDonald said. “I had to gather myself and get my heart rate under control after I made bogey on 13 and Danielle went back to back on birdies on 13 and 14. I just told myself to calm down and do what I’ve been doing every single round, and that is just trying to execute my game plan, control what I can.”

Kang won back-to-back events in Ohio in the summer, leads the Race to CME Globe and, at No. 5 in the world, was the top-ranked player in the field.

“I knew from the start that Danielle was going to hang in there,” McDonald said. “You kind of go to match play mode and you think absolutely she’s going to put the pedal down. So I was just happy to hang in there and pull it out.”

McDonald’s parents watched her play during the weekend.

“It means the world to me, obviously, that they’re here,” McDonald said. “This is the closest golf tournament that we have. ... Having them here was just amazing.”

Kang played through back spasms.

“I think I just need to take a few days off right now,” Kang said. “My back has went into a spasm few days ago. I call it wifi. It’s on strong right and left. So it was a little difficult this week to play with it. I think I’m very proud of how I played despite not having my full game, but Ally played wonderfully and it’s been a really great week.”

Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines was two strokes back after a 70. Making her sixth LPGA Tour start of the year and seventh overall. she birdied the last two holes after opening with 16 pars.

“Being at this level and just being able to compete with the greatest players, it’s so much fun,” Pagdanganan said. “I say this a lot, but I really do get to live my dream. If you told me a couple years ago that I would be playing on the LPGA Tour and in this position in my rookie year I probably wouldn’t believe you.”

Mina Harigae (67) and Carlota Ciganda (69) were 13 under, a stroke ahead of Ariya Jutanugarn (69) and Katherine Kirk (70).

3e:Tc51,

GREENSBORO, Ga. (AP) — Ally McDonald celebrated her birthday with her first LPGA Tour victory.

“It’s the best birthday present ever,” McDonald.

Kang won back-to-back events in Ohio in the summer, leads the Race to CME Globe and, at No. 5 in the world, was the top-ranked player in the field.

McDonald’s parents watched her play during the weekend.

“It means the world to me, obviously, that they’re here,” McDonald said. “This is the closest golf tournament that we have. ... Having them here was just amazing.”

Kang played through back spasms.

Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines was two strokes back after a 70. Making her sixth LPGA Tour start of the year and seventh overall. she birdied the last two holes after opening with 16 pars.

Mina Harigae (67) and Carlota Ciganda (69) were 13 under, a stroke ahead of Ariya Jutanugarn (69) and Katherine Kirk (70).

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GREENSBORO, Ga. (AP) — Ally McDonald held onto the lead Saturday in the LPGA Drive On Championship-Lake Reynolds Oconee, shooting a 3-under 69 to take a one-stroke advantage into the final round.

Winless on the LPGA Tour, the 27-year-old from Mississippi had a 13-under 203 total on the Great Waters Course. Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines was second after a 69.

“I’m excited with the position I’m in,” McDonald said. “Mentally, I think I handled myself really well. Ready to take on tomorrow.”

Four strokes ahead of Pagdanganan with two holes to play, McDonald bogeyed the par-3 17th, while playing partner Pagdanganan closed with two birdies.

McDonald bogeyed the first hole and made a big mid-round run with five birdies in an eight-hole stretch.

“I played some really solid golf after I kind of settled in,” McDonald said. “Made a few bad swings towards the end of the round, but I’m not going to discredit how I really did settle in and played solid golf for most of my holes.”

Pagdanganan, a member of Arizona’s 2018 NCAA championship team after starting her college career at Gonzaga, is making her sixth LPGA Tour start of the year and seventh overall.

“There was like a huge sigh of relief after I made my last putt,” Pagdanganan said. “It was a little frustrating. I was hitting so many good shots but couldn’t get any putts to drop. Overall, I’m still pretty happy with how I played.”

Danielle Kang was third at 11 under after a 70 in the event added to the schedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down women’s golf for five months.

“I’m very frustrated today, but there was a lot of up-and-downs,” Kang said. “ But I think I handled the curve balls pretty well. Good to finish on a birdie.”

The tour returned with another Drive On tournament in Toledo, Ohio, in late July, with Kang winning that event and again the following week in Sylvania, Ohio. She leads the Race to CME Globe and, at No. 5 in the world, is the top-ranked player in the field,

“People out here are really supportive and they’ve been kind of boating or jet skiing from hole to hole,” Kang said. “That’s pretty cool and fun. They’re all here having fun, so that’s the whole point of it, for people to watch and have fun and be entertained. I’m glad they’re having a blast.”

Carlota Ciganda of Spain had a 68 to get to 10 under. Australia's Katherine Kirk was 9 under after a 70.

“Course is in amazing shape,” Kirk said. “I think maybe it was a little trickier to score today, like harder to make get it close and have a lot of birdie opportunities. Our group certainly kind of had some moments of struggles and moments of brilliance, but the golf course is fabulous.”

40:Tb57,

Ally Ewing

Ally Ewing

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McDonald celebrates 28th birthday with first LPGA Tour win

Ally McDonald holds onto LPGA Drive On Championship lead

Ally McDonald leads LPGA Drive On Championship in Georgia