Thai Player Ties For Medalist Honors, Advances To Finals

More stories on players qualifying for the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament

Blaylock closes in on regaining LPGA card

McKinley's Hill wins in qualifier

McCurdy advances to LPGA final qualifying tournament

Laing makes it to school

Thailand's Nontaya Srisawang was relieved to tie for medalist honors at the recent LPGA Sectional Qualifying Tournament in Florida. But the teen was more concerned about flying home to Thailand the next day on a Saturday to play in a Monday qualifier for the LPGA's inaugural tournament in her homeland two weeks from now.

"Don't you have any connections?" said Srisawang of Chiang Mia, Thailand, who will turn 19 in December. "Do I still have to qualify for that if I [played so well] here this week?"

Sorry, Nontaya. Until your LPGA Tour card is firmly in hand, you still must Monday-qualify for the Honda LPGA Thailand event, set for Oct. 20-22 in Chonburi, Thailand.

But already, the lanky player is off to a good start in that effort. She fired a final-round score of two-under-par 70 last week at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla., to grab a share of medalist honors with Ohio native Angie Hill at 286 (-2). And while it was her first attempt to qualify for the LPGA, the Thai player approached the week more with a sense of belonging, than a sense of awe.

"I want to experience the LPGA Tour," she said. "This is just Part I."

A high school graduate this year, Srisawang brought some winning experience into the LPGA Sectional event. She won the China Women's Open earlier this year and finished in the top 10 in earnings on the Ladies Asian Tour. She also won the 2005 Phuket Thailand Ladies Masters as an amateur.

"I was ready to come here," said Srisawang, who has played golf since age 11. "It is not easy because they are all pros, too. Now, it will be even harder on the LPGA Tour. I have to work hard and practice more for the finals."

Srisawang joined 34 other players (who finished among the top 30 and ties) who will advance into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament Nov. 29 through Dec. 3, in Daytona Beach, Fla. If she qualifies for the 2007 LPGA Tour at the LPGA's final stage of qualifying, she will become only the second fully exempt player from Thailand on the tour. Rookie Virada Nirapathpongporn of Bangkok currently is the only exempt LPGA Tour member.

"I'm very happy," she said. "My mom also is happy and I made her cry when I made it [through the Florida sectional]. I think I can do it again at finals to play on the LPGA Tour. It has always been a dream."

Srisawang ended up competing in the Honda LPGA Thailand 2006 as a sponsor's exemption and finished T54 at 226=74-75-77 (+10).

Lisa D. Mickey is a former senior editor at the Golf Digest Company, where she covered the LPGA Tour for Golf World and Golf For Women magazines. She is a co-author of “Champions of Women's Golf: Celebrating 50 Years of LPGA Golf” (2000) and was a contributing writer of The Solheim Cup coffee-table edition book (2005). She currently writes the web stories for and serves as director of communications for the Duramed FUTURES Tour.