American Ally Ewing announced that she will retire as a touring professional at the end of the LPGA season, joining a parade of former champions – most in their 30s and seemingly the prime of their careers – out of the women’s game.
The news, which the 31-year-old Ewing (née McDonald) announced on social media, came three days after she completed her fourth Solheim Cup appearance for the victorious Americans. Though Ewing, a three-time LPGA winner, went 0-4-0 in the biennial match against Europe’s top female pros, she is wrapping up a year in which she posted three top-10 results in major championships and ranks 18th in the world.
Ewing’s announcement comes during a year in which Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols points out 10 prominent players – including 29-year-old American Lexi Thompson and 34-year-old South Korean So Yeon Ryu, a two-time major winner and former world No. 1 – will end or significantly scale back their days as touring pros. READ MORE
American Brooke Matthews became the fifth player on the Epson Tour to earn LPGA Tour membership for 2025 via the developmental circuit’s season-long standings. Matthews joined American Lauren Stephenson, China’s Yahui Zhang, American Jessica Porvasnik and Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, who ranked Nos. 1-4, respectively, in securing promotions. The top 15 players in the Epson Tour’s “Race for the Card” standings will earn 2025 LPGA exemptions upon completion of the Epson Tour Championship, to be played October 3-6 at Indian Wells (California) Golf Resort. READ MORE
Sharpshooting guard Caitlin Clark just finished a phenomenal rookie season in women’s professional basketball, so what’s next for the American media sensation?
“I’ll become a professional golfer,” she said jokingly.
The LPGA’s response? “Count us in,” the tour tweeted.
Clark, the WNBA’s rookie of the year with the Indiana Fever, plays a solid game of golf and makes the pro-am and media rounds when not sinking long-distance three-pointers, but the LPGA? Don’t be so quick to count her out. READ MORE
TAP-INS
American John Catlin, who leads the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit, birdied his first five holes Sunday and closed with a 7-under-par 65 at the Yeangder TPC in Taiwan, but it wasn’t enough to catch wire-to-wire leader Suteepat Prateeptienchai. The 31-year-old Thai posted a 21-under 267 total to finish two strokes ahead of Catlin and earn $180,000 from the $1 million purse. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon