RANCHO MIRAGE, California, August 21, 2017 - The first step in the grueling process of trying to earn LPGA and/or Epson Tour membership begins this week with LPGA Qualifying School Stage I at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The 72-hole stroke play competition begins on Thursday, August 24 and continues through Sunday, August 27.
The record field size of 362 players will compete to try and advance to LPGA Qualifying School Stage II, which will take place at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice, Florida the week of October 16-22. There will be a cut made after 54-holes to the top 125 players and ties. The final-round will take place on the Dinah Shore Course, which is home to the ANA Inspiration on the LPGA Tour, and the top 90 and ties after 72 holes will advance.
The interest in becoming an LPGA Tour member has grown tremendously over the last four years and that is best exemplified in the number of players competing. In 2013, there were 247 signed up for Stage I. By 2015, that number reached 283. The Tour was forced to add a third golf course because of the size of the field in 2016.
The Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying School is November 27-December 3 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida. The top 20 finishers at Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying School earn LPGA Tour membership.
It’s important to note that Epson Tour membership is also at stake for those that are unable to advance to Final Stage and finish inside the top 20. Players that finish 54 holes this week in Rancho Mirage will earn Epson Tour membership.
Last year, Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador) took medalist honors at Mission Hills Country Club with rounds of 67-70-71-70 to finish at 10-under. Darquea advanced all the way to Final Stage of Qualifying School and earned partial status on the LPGA. She has spent the entire 2017 season on the Epson Tour and has one win and three total top 10 finishes. She currently ranks ninth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
Bertine Strauss (Austin, Texas) took medalist honors in 2015 at Stage 1 while Emily Tubert was the medalist in 2014 and Laura Gonzalez Escallon took the honors in 2013. Three of the last four medalists in California have advanced to Final Stage. Tubert did not in 2014.
Play will begin at approximately 7:00 a.m. all four days of competition. The players will rotate through the three courses (Dinah Shore, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player) over the first three rounds and the final-round will be contested on the Dinah Shore Course.
There are 83 players that will enter LPGA Qualifying School Stage I as amateurs. The field is global with players from 41 different countries outside the United States. There are 19 players from Sweden and ten from Australia, Canada and the Republic of Korea.
The growth in Swedish players is particularly fascinating. There were three Swedish players in LPGA Qualifying School Stage I in 2013, four in 2014, six in 2015 and 17 in 2016.
The youngest players in the field are Youngin Chun (Gainesville, Florida) and Huize Lian (Dalian, China), who are both 17. Lian will turn 18 in September of this year while Chun will not turn 18 until May of 2018 (5/14/2000), but she petitioned and is allowed to compete in Stages I and II of LPGA Qualifying School this year.
There are 24 total teenagers in the field and 17 players over the age of 30 with Janelle Wilson being the oldest at 53.
The Dinah Shore course is a par-72 and will play 6,610 yards, the Arnold Palmer Course is a par-72 and will play 6,520 yards while the Gary Player Course is a par-72 and will play 6,510 yards.
CRITERIA TO GAIN ENTRY
Three are two ways in which players are slotted into LPGA Qualifying School Stage I:
- 2017 Epson Tour member ranked outside the top 150 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list as of the PHC Classic (August 4-6).
- Any amateurs or professionals that are not currently LPGA Tour members and not ranked inside the top 400 according to the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
The top five amateurs (new in 2017) in the world according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings are exempt out of Stage I and directly into Stage II. The top five players on the Golfweek Individual Women’s Collegiate Rankings are also exempt out of Stage I.
All players must be 18 years of age or older by January 1, 2018.HIGHEST RANKED AMATEUR IS LINNEA STROM
The highest ranked amateur in LPGA Qualifying School Stage I is Linnea Strom of Sweden, who ranks No. 11 according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).Strom recently finished her sophomore year at Arizona State where she was Pac-12 First Team All Conference and a WGCA First-Team All-American. She had eight top 10 finishes in 11 events and held a scoring average of 71.79. Strom finished T50 in individuals at the NCAA Championships in 2017 and then earned the clinching point in delivering Arizona State the national championship. Strom received an exemption to play in the Marathon LPGA Classic and made the cut and finished T57.
As a freshman, she won the Pac-12 Conference Championship while setting the 54-hole scoring record at 11-under.
Strom, 20, had quite the amateur career as well. She won the 2013 Polo Golf Junior Classic, won the 2014 Spanish International Amateur Championship and finished second at the 2015 Ladies British Open Amateur Championship.
The other top ranked amateurs in the field are Maria Torres (San Juan, Puerto Rico), who ranks 17th on the WAGR, Bailey Tardy (Norcross, Ga.), who ranks 19th and Robynn Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.), who ranks 26th. Torres was a WGCA First-Team All-American and recently completed her senior season at Florida. Tardy wrapped up her sophomore year at Georgia where she was an Honorable Mention All-American by the WGCA. Tardy qualified for the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open, but missed the cut. Ree is a rising junior at USC. She was a Second-Team All-American in 2016 and led the Trojans in stroke average as a sophomore (73.00). She recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
TWELVE 2017 WGCA ALL-AMERICANS IN FIELD
There are twelve 2016-17 WGCA All-Americans in the field this week. There are two First-Team All-Americans: Maria Torres (Senior, Florida) and Linnea Strom (Sophomore, Arizona State). There are two Second-Team All-Americans: Casey Danielson (Senior, Stanford), Martina Edberg (Senior, Cal-State Fullerton) and eight Honorable Mention All-Americans: Matilda Castren (Senior, Florida State), Kelly Grassel (Senior, Florida), Jillian Hollis (Sophomore, Georgia), My Leander (Senior, San Jose State), Harang Lee (Senior, Georgia), Morgane Metraux (Junior, Florida State), Robynn Ree (Sophomore, USC) and Bailey Tardy (Sophomore, Georgia).
FOUR OF TOP TEN ROOKIES ON LET IN Q-SCHOOL
Four of the top 10 Ladies European Tour (LET) rookies are in LPGA Qualifying School Stage I. Frida Gustafsson Spang (Sweden), Yan Liu (China), Andrea Wong (USA) and Valdis Jonsdottir (Iceland) all are in the top ten in the LET Rookie of the Year Race. Spang ranks fourth amongst rookies and 72nd on the Order of Merit.
RECORD SEVEN PLAYERS FROM INDIA
There are seven women from India that will tee it up this week in California with hopes of joining Aditi Ashok on the LPGA. Ashok made headlines last year when she qualified for the Olympics and finished 41st. Ashok went through Qualifying School last year and advanced all the way to Final Stage where she finished T24 to earn partial LPGA status. She has made 14 starts on the LPGA Tour this year and ranks 74th on the money list.For perspective, there were zero players from India signed up for LPGA Qualifying School Stage I in 2013. As recently as 2015, there was just one player from India (Simi Mehra).
Mehra has three career wins on the Epson Tour and 13 total top 10 finsihes and then played on the LPGA in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Mehra is in Stage I this week looking for a return to the LPGA at the age of 45.
The Thiagaraj sisters - Kharisma and Khushboo - are part of the nine from India. They both played college golf in the U.S. Kharisma played at James Madison while Khushboo is a senior at Radford.
Sharmila Nicollet, who played in the ShopRite LPGA Classic on an exemption through a Twitter vote, is also in the field. She has nearly 400,000 followers on Twitter.
FACE OF BRAZIL OLYMPICS IN FIELD
Victoria Lovelady, who competed in the 2016 Olympic Games in her home country of Brazil, is in Stage I of Qualifying Tournament. Lovelady finished T53 at the Olympics.Lovelady, 30, played on the Epson Tour from 2010 through 2013.
2015 U.S. AMATEUR RUNNER-UP IN FIELD
In 2015, Sierra Brooks, now 19, lost 3 and 2 in the final match of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship to Hannah O’Sullivan, who went onto win on the Epson Tour and is now playing college golf at Duke.Brooks beat Bronte Law, now on the LPGA, in the quarterfinals that year. She also won the Sally Amateur and the Southern Women’s Amateur Championship. She competed on the victorious 2015 USA Junior Solheim Cup team. Brooks also captured the Florida State High School Championship in 2015 and led Lake Mary Prep to the team state title as well.
Brooks went to Wake Forest for a year, but decided to leave school and focus on pursuing the LPGA. She will enter Stage I as an amateur.
QUICK NOTES
- Gabriella Then’s younger sister, Angella, is in Stage I. Gabriella, who goes by “Gabby”, is currently a rookie on the Epson Tour.
- There is one member of Northwestern’s national runner-up team in the field - Kacie Kamoto of Honolulu, Hawaii.
- There are 41 players from the state of California in the field.
- Sisters Kim and Morgane Metraux of Switzerland are in the field together. They both are rising seniors at Florida State. They are not the only sisters in the field as Katie and Sara Detlefsen of Eagen, Minnesota will also tee it up.
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