Official practice rounds will take place on Monday and Tuesday. You can follow live scoring and obtain more information about Qualifying Tournament here —> http://www.lpga.com/tournaments/qualifying-tournament/2015-qualifying-tournament
Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament
LPGA International - Jones and Hills Courses
Daytona Beach, Florida
November 30, 2015
Storylines
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., November 30, 2015 - Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament begins on Wednesday, December 2 and concludes on Sunday, December 6 at LPGA International, Jones and Hills Courses.
There are 157 players in the field competing for LPGA Tour membership in category 12 and 17 on the 2016 LPGA priority list.
The top 20 finishers (no ties) come Sunday will earn category 12 membership while players who finish 21 through 45 plus ties will earn membership through category 17. In layman’s terms, the top 20 finishers will have “full” LPGA membership while those that finish 21-45 will have “conditional” status. For perspective, Alison Lee and Minjee Lee, who shared medalist honors in 2014, played in 23 and 29 LPGA events respectively in 2015. Minjee finished 16th on the official LPGA money list with a win at the Kingsmill Championship while Alison finished 23rd on the money list with six top 10 results. Julie Yang, who finished T21 at 2014 Final Stage, made 12 starts on the LPGA in 2015.
Players will rotate between the Jones and Hills courses over the first four days. There will be a 72-hole cut made on Saturday to the top 70 and ties. The final round will take place on the Hills Course. Play is expected to begin at 8:00 a.m. all five days.
Players that finish a minimum of 72 holes will earn Epson Tour membership in category D.
Although secondary to earning LPGA membership, there is a $50,000 purse for the event with the medalist earning $5,000.
There are three ways that players could have earned entry into the field this week: by finishing in the top 80 at Stage II, by finishing 11-33 on the Epson Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list or by having 2015 LPGA Tour membership (61 players had 2015 LPGA status).
There are 26 different countries outside the United States represented this week including ten players from Thailand and ten from Canada. There are 83 international players and 74 from the United States.
The field also includes three past LPGA Tour winners in Heather Bowie Young (2005 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic), Silvia Cavalleri (2007 Corona Championship) and Lorie Kane (4, 2000 Michelob Light Classic, 2000 New Albany Golf Classic, 2000 Mizuno Classic and 2001 LPGA Takefuji Classic).
The youngest player in the field is Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras of Thailand, who doesn’t turn 18 until December 27. There are six players that just turned 18 this year (Ssu Chia Cheng, Megan Khang, Kana Nagai, Benyapa Niphatsophon, Budsabakorn Sukapan and Ziqi Ye). Lori Kane is the oldest player in the field at 50.
TOP RANKED PLAYERS IN FIELD: The top ranked player in the field according to the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings is No. 75 Nicole Broch Larsen (Copenhagen, Denmark). The other player inside the top 100 is No. 90 Holly Clyburn (Cleethorpes, United Kingdom). There are five other players inside the top 150 in the world; No. 103 Jeongeun Lee (Seoul, South Korea), No. 107 Ssu Chia Cheng (New Taipei City, Taiwan), No. 126 Amy Boulden (Conwy, United Kingdom), No. 128 Rebecca Artis (Coonabarabran, Australia) and No. 141 Jing Yan (Shanghai, China).
There are 18 players in the top 250 in the world.
The top ranked player representing the United States is No. 287 Dori Carter (Valdosta, Georgia). Carter finished No. 106 on the LPGA money list in 2015 and is at Final Stage to improve her category for 2016.
A LOOK BACK AT THE AMAZING 2014 FINAL Q-SCHOOL CLASS: There might never be another Qualifying Tournament class that had as much success the following year on the LPGA as the 2014 class. As mentioned above, co-medalist’s Minjee Lee and Alison Lee finished 16th and 23rd on the LPGA Tour official money list and they weren’t even the most impressive members of the class.
Sei Young Kim, who finished T6 at Final Stage, was the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year in 2015. She won three times and posted a total of 12 top 10 finishes. Kim is now the No. 4 ranked player in the world.
Don’t forget about Ha Na Jang, who placed T6 with Kim and went onto to finish 15th on the LPGA money list this year with nine top 10 results.
Six of the 20 players from the 2014 Q-School class finished in the top 50 on the 2015 LPGA money list - No. 4 Sei Young Kim, No. 15 Ha Na Jang, No. 16 Minjee Lee, No. 23 Alison Lee, No. 35 Ariya Jutanugarn and No. 44 Sakura Yokomine.
INTERNATIONAL CROWN WINNER IN FIELD: One of the most recognizable names in the field is Belen Mozo, who was part of the victorious Team Spain at the inaugural International Crown in 2014. Mozo finished No. 101 on the LPGA money list in 2015 and is in Final Stage to try and improve her status for 2016. Mozo has three career top 10 finishes on the LPGA and over $700,000 in career earnings. Mozo’s best year on the LPGA was her rookie 2011 season when she finished 67th on the money list.
Mozo qualified for the LPGA by finishing T8 at 2010 Q-School.
WOODS HOPING FOR A REPEAT OF 2014 FINAL STAGE: In her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, Cheyenne Woods (Phoenix, Arizona), the niece of Tiger, finished No. 125 on the money list to retain status (category 17). She is in the field this week to try to improve her status to category 12. Woods totaled 17 starts and made eight cuts with her best finish a tie for 24th at the JTBC Founders Cup.
Woods earned her LPGA Tour card by finishing T11 at 2014 Final Stage with scores of 68-79-67-71-70 to finish at 5-under.
Woods recently finished T2 at the Hero Women’s Indian Open on the LET in October.
22 FROM STAGE I TO FINAL STAGE: There are 22 players this week that started the Qualifying School journey the week of August 3 at Stage I in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The top six finishers from Stage I, excluding Nelly Korda who is not eligible for Final Stage, have all advanced. Bertine Strauss (Austin, Tex.) won medalist honors at Stage I with a four-day score of 14-under. The 2015 Big 12 Player of the Year at Texas finished T28 at Stage II. Megan Khang (Rockland, Mass.) finished second at Stage I and third at Stage II. Khang, who is playing Final Stage as a professional, was the No. 8 ranked amateur in the world until changing her playing status after Stage II. Hayley Davis (Ferndown, United Kingdom) finished T4 at Stage I and T12 at Stage II. Davis was a three-time All-American at Baylor with three wins as a senior in 2015. Neomi Jimenez (Malaga, Spain) and Gaby Lopez (Mexico City, Mexico) were the other two that finished in the top six at Stage I that have advanced to Final Stage.
PLENTY OF 2015 WGCA ALL-AMERICANS IN FIELD: There are three WGCA 1st Team All-Americans in Final Stage - Dana Finkelstein, UNLV, Gaby Lopez, University of Arkansas and Madelene Sagstrom, LSU. There are also two WGCA 2nd Team All-Americans - Hayley Davis, Baylor and Ally McDonald, Mississippi State - and three WGCA Honorable Mention All-Americans - Allison Emrey, Wake Forest, Noemi Jimenez, Arizona State and Bertine Strauss, University of Texas.
2015 EPSON TOUR AND LET WINNERS IN FIELD: Between the Epson Tour, the official qualifying Tour of the LPGA, and the Ladies European Tour, there are twelve 2015 winners in the field this week. Seven players won Epson Tour events - Beanna Elliott (Fuccillo Kia Championship), Augusta James (Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial), Katie Kempter (Volvik Championship), Sue Kim (Florida’s Natural Charity Classic), Madeleine Sheils (FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship), Caroline Westrup (Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge), Jackie Stoelting (Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout & IOA Golf Classic) and Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong (Epson Tour Championship) while four won LET events - Rebecca Artis (Scottish Open), Celine Herbin (Lacoste Ladies Open de France), Su Oh (RACV Ladies Masters) and Nicole Broch Larsen (The Helsinborg Open).
There is also a 2015 KLPGA winner in the field - Jeongeun Lee. She won once and is 15th on the official KLPGA money list.
TWO STRONG AMATEURS IN FIELD: One of the highest profile college players in the field is Gaby Lopez (Mexico City, Mexico), who recently finished her junior season at Arkansas. Lopez finished sixth at Stage I and T9 at Stage II to put herself in position to earn LPGA Tour membership. If she finishes inside the top 20, she will have to turn professional immediately after signing her scorecard on Sunday if she wants to play on the LPGA.
Lopez, a Honda Women’s Golf Award finalist, finished runner up at the NCAA Championships this year. She is a two-time First-Team All-American.
The other amateur is Kana Nagai of Tokyo, Japan. Nagai is the third best amateur in Japan according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings. She recently finished third at the Japan Women’s Open Championship.
CAN KRISTY MCPHERSON FIND FORM AGAIN?: Kristy McPherson has earned over $2 million on the LPGA Tour since her rookie year in 2007. Although she doesn’t have a victory, she has 16 career top 10 finishes including three second place results. McPherson struggled in 2015, making just under $15,000 to finish 146 on the money list. She is in the field this week as one of the veterans hoping for a return to full status and top form.
Six years ago in 2009, McPherson finished 16th on the LPGA money list with over $800,000 in earnings.
2014 INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION DORIS CHEN IN FIELD: In 2014, Doris Chen won the NCAA individual championship. The four-time All-American at USC finished tied for fifth at Stage II to advance. Chen, who won the 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior title, was a major factor in the 2013 team national title for USC.
Chen is one of four NCAA individual champions in the field - Dewi Claire Screefel (2006, USC), Candy Hannemann (2001, Duke) and Heather Bowie Young (1997, Texas).
HEATHER FARR PERSEVERANCE AWARD WINNER STEPHANIE MEADOW: The 2015 LPGA Tour season didn’t go the way Stephanie Meadow hoped, but circumstances off the course made things tough. Meadow, who narrowly missed full status at Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament last year in a gut-wrenching playoff defeat, lost her father to cancer.
She was recognized at the CME Group Tour Championship by her peers as the Heather Farr Perseverance award winner. Meadow made 12 starts as a rookie on the LPGA while dealing with the weight of enormous loss.
She made her professional debut at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open and finished third. She was a three-time First-Team All-American at Alabama.
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