Jodi Ewart Shadoff claimed her maiden LPGA Tour victory at the LPGA Mediheal Championship, a week on from Charley Hull winning the Ascendant LPGA; only the second time this century different English players have won successive events on the LPGA Tour
Monday 10 October 2022 12:55, UK
English winners on the LPGA Tour appear to be like the age-old saying about London buses: you wait ages for one, only for two to come along at the same time.
When Georgia Hall and Mel Reid won consecutive events during the 2020 season, it was hard to imagine that it would take two years for another English player to reach the winner's circle on the LPGA Tour.
England's leading female golfers may have enjoyed success on American soil during that time, most notably during Europe's Solheim Cup title defence in Ohio last September, but no player was able to celebrate individual glory until Charley Hull stopped that drought at the Ascendant LPGA.
Hull's one-shot win in Texas ended a six-year run of near-misses on the LPGA Tour, stretching to her breakthrough triumph at the 2016 CME Group Tour Championship, while Jodi Ewart Shadoff made it back-to-back English titles once again the following week with a long-awaited maiden victory.
Ewart Shadoff's wire-to-wire victory in the LPGA Mediheal Championship came in her 246th start on the LPGA Tour, with the 34-year-old admitting that she questioned whether a victory would ever come after being plagued by injury and inconsistency in recent seasons.
"I've waited a long time for this," Ewart Shadoff said after her one-shot victory over Yuka Saso. "It's been many times in my career that I didn't think this was ever going to happen, so just really grateful in this moment.
"I've been through a lot in the past, you know, couple of years, specifically injuries as most people know. So last year was really tough. I found that a pretty significant mental challenge to get through that.
"There were times during last year where I didn't think that I was going to be playing this year, so to be stood here today, it's just really awesome I didn't give up on myself.
"I have a lot of people to be grateful for. Everybody on my team who has stood by me and made me believe in myself when I really didn't, you know, just really grateful."
A round-of-the-day 65 at The Saticoy Club left Hall two strokes behind Ewart Shadoff in a share of third spot, with the former AIG Women's Open champion pleased to see another English player win silverware on the LPGA Tour.
"It's a very small country and there are only four or five of us on this tour, so to have maybe two winners in two weeks is very special," Hall said. "Obviously very proud of where I come from.
Hall had been on hand to celebrate the first English victory the previous week, standing on the final green to witness Hull join her as a two-time LPGA Tour winner.
"She [Hall] is one of my best friends, inside and outside of golf," Hull told Sky Sports News. "We're always there for each other. She's a great person and it was so nice for her to come and spray me with champagne on that 18th green!
"Me and her are on similar schedules so we do travel a lot together and we're always on the phone to each other, even if we're not at the same events. It's special to have that type of bond, because it can be lonely off the golf course."
The back-to-back English victories will have caught the attention of Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen, who has already seen potential European team members Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Leona Maguire and Maja Stark win on the LPGA Tour this season.
Europe will be chasing a third consecutive Solheim Cup victory next September in Spain, while three-time LPGA Tour winner Trish Johnson believes recent results will leave Hall wanting to produce a different kind of three-peat for the English contingent.
"She [Hall] is thinking 'it's my turn next', without a shadow of a doubt!" Johnson told Sky Sports. "She has been close a couple of times and has actually been very consistent this year, she just hasn't quite got over the line.
"Charley [Hull] has won one, Jodi [Ewart Shadoff] has won now, so now she'll be thinking she has to be next. The way she's playing, she's very consistent, but for me she just needs to get off to a quicker start.
"She does this [finishing strongly] quite a lot. Her weekends are pretty much nearly always great but she's often never quite right up at the very top, so maybe she can get off to a better start and maybe this [watching other English winners] is the catalyst.
"She'll think she's the best of the three, because that's what people do, so she'll want to be next. Wouldn't that be amazing - three English winners on a trot?! That would be a first."
Watch the conclusion to the LPGA Tour season live on Sky Sports. The next event is the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea - watch live on Thursday October 20 from 6am on Sky Sports Golf.
