(Reuters) – Inspired by fellow American Brian Harman’s British Open triumph, Ally Ewing said she aims to emulate his success and win her first major championship in the Women’s Open at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England.
Harman led by five shots at the halfway stage at 10-under par before eventually winning by six strokes at Royal Liverpool last month to land his first major title.
Ewing is on the same score and holds the same lead after Friday’s second round, having rolled in five birdies on the front nine and shot a six-under par 66.
“I don’t know him personally, I obviously know his story,” Ewing told reporters. “It’s pretty cool – southern guy, I’m southern, just a little Mississippi girl. It is inspiring what he did.
“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.”
The 30-year-old Ewing also revealed she is a keen hunter like Georgia native Harman.
“For the most part my family, my husband and I, we do mostly deer hunting, so venison,” she said. “I know it’s not going to be interpreted well by the media, but it’s something I do. You put food on the table that way… It’s a means to eat.”
When asked what it would mean to win her first major this weekend, Ewing added: “It would be huge. It’s something I’ve obviously circled as something I want to accomplish in my career.
“I’ve had possible chances to do that (before), I’ve been in the last group, so for me it’s just going to be (about) leaning on that a little bit as well as the confidence I have in my game right now.”
England’s Charley Hull is one of three players tied for second on five under, alongside American Andrea Lee and Japan’s Minami Katsu, before the third round on Saturday.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; editing by Miral Fahmy)
