US Solheim Cup Star Ally Ewing Announces Shock Retirement From Professional Game

US Solheim Cup star Ally Ewing has announced her retirement from professional golf at the age of 31.

Ewing, who began her professional career under her maiden name McDonald, made the announcement on social media with a lengthy audio statement featuring highlights from her career. 

In it, she described the day she earned full LPGA Tour status as a "dream come true" and expressed gratitude for being able to fulfill a "dream that many strive for."

She also described representing her country in the Solheim Cup as "the highest honor of my career" and said she "cannot thank the LPGA enough for all I was able to accomplish, before saying: "It is with a heavy but grateful heart that I want to annouce that I will be retiring from professional golf at the end of this year." 

Ewing turned professional in 2015 and has won three times on the LPGA Tour. The first victory came in 2020 at the LPGA Drive On Championship, with further wins coming at the 2021 Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play and the 2022 Kroger Queen City Championship.

The Mississippi star also finished in the top 10 of Majors seven times during her career, including three times this year, the most recent of which came with a T10 at the Amundi Evian Championship.

Ewing also appeared four times for her country in the Solheim Cup, finishing with an overall record of 3-12-1.

That included an appearance at the Robert Trent Golf Club match earlier this month. Even though she had a disappointing match from a personal standpoint, where she lost all four of the sessions she appeared in, the team won the trophy for the first time since 2017 - her first experience of Solheim Cup victory,

Ewing's decision to walk away from the professional game at the end of the year follows a similar move from another US Solheim Cup star, Lexi Thompson, who announced in May that she would retire at the end of the season.