Category: Symetra Tour

Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux chose a childhood dream to play the Evian over the Olympics

Recent Symetra Tour winner Morgane Metraux chose to play the Amundi Evian Championship close to her childhood home, backing out of the Olympics.

For Morgane Metraux, the biggest goal in 2021 is crystal clear: earn her LPGA card.

The 24-year-old Swiss player currently ranks fourth on the Symetra Tour money list thanks to a maiden victory last month at the Island Resort Championship in Harris, Michigan. That triumph actually earned Metraux an exemption into the Amundi Evian Championship in France, fulfilling a lifelong dream for a player who grew up just across Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland.

It also presented a tough decision as Metraux also qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which take place Aug. 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

“I basically had to make a choice between Evian and Olympics,” said Metraux, who didn’t think she could afford to miss that many weeks on the Symetra Tour to compete in both.

Ultimately, Metraux chose the Evian and backed out of the Olympics, leaving Albane Valenzuela as the lone player representing Switzerland. Ladies European Tour player Tonje Daffinrud of Norway replaced Metraux in the Tokyo field.

“It was honestly tough to say no,” said Metraux. “It feels like I could regret it one day, but at the same time right now it’s what I needed to do.”

Morgane Metraux (courtesy Symetra Tour/Alison Palma)

Metraux, who played with older sister Kim at Florida State, started attending the Evian – her first professional event – in elementary school with a group of girls shortly after taking up the game. She wasn’t good enough or old enough at the time to even realize who she was watching, she was simply excited to watch women compete.

There’s a hat covered in signatures back home in her room. It has faded a bit since then, but she can still make out the names of Morgan Pressel, Ai Miyazato, Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer.

Qualifying for Evian fulfills a lifelong dream, and Metraux plans to head back home after this week’s Symetra stop in French Lick, Indiana, to prepare.

“For me that’s a priority because it’s just an hour away from where I grew up,” she said.

Metraux came from three back with a closing 67 to win on the Symetra Tour the same day former FSU teammate Matilda Castren, who will compete in Tokyo representing Finland, won on the LPGA. Metraux won three times at Florida State; Castren won a school-record seven.

[listicle id=778113059]

“I kind of won first because of the time change,” said Metraux, “that was really fun to do the same week. It just gives me that much more confidence that I can do it, too.”

In 2019, Metraux suffered a shoulder injury that kept her away from the game for 10 months. The pain started in mid-February as she was prepping for the Symetra Tour season and lasted until the fall. When she came back, she’d lost distance, too. It took nearly two years, she said, to be completely gone.

In 2020, Metraux competed some on the Ladies European Tour, where sister Kim currently plays.

There are nine events left on the Symetra Tour this season. Metraux will miss two of them to compete in the Evian. In addition to her victory in Michigan, Metraux also finished runner-up at the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic in April. A total of 10 players will earn LPGA cards for the 2022 season.

As Metraux preps for Evian, she also has her sights set on 2024, when the Olympics return in Paris, though she knows that much can change in the span of three years.

“I’m really hoping to make it next time,” she said.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[lawrence-related id=778114587,778114444,778110198]

Ruixin Liu holds off No. 1 amateur Rose Zhang to win Symetra Tour title in Arizona

Ruixin Liu claimed another Symetra Tour title when she closed out amateur Rose Zhang in a playoff at the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Classic.

An amateur nearly won on the Symetra Tour on Sunday. Ruixin Liu, however, wasn’t going to let that happen.

It took two extra holes at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, for the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic to reach a conclusion, but when Liu made a birdie on her third trip down No. 18 for the day, she effectively wrapped up her fifth career Symetra Tour title and forced Zhang to wait a little longer for her first win on the pro circuit.

Zhang, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world and the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, finished 11th at the ANA Inspiration last fall, an LPGA major. She has also won three American Junior Golf Association invitationals in the past six months.

Zhang, a 17-year-old who will start her college golf career at Stanford next fall, played in the next-to-last group on Sunday alongside another amateur, Arizona State super senior Olivia Mehaffey. Zhang trailed 54-hole leader Liu by three shots while Mehaffey was two shots back.

Mehaffey started her day with a birdie, but immediately gave it back with a bogey on No. 2. It was a rollercoaster from there, and a 1-over 73 left her at 11 under, six shots out of the playoff.

Zhang meanwhile, bogeyed her first hole, but then made seven birdies on the day for a 6-under 66. That was three shots better than Liu’s 69, which allowed Zhang to catch Liu at 17 under.

The two headed back to the par-5 18th, where both parred. Zhang’s tournament was derailed when she took an unplayable on the left side of the fairway as Liu made birdie.

Liu was the 2018 Symetra Tour Player of the Year, and last won on the developmental tour at the 2020 Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

[lawrence-related id=778093900,778092627,778079791]

Symetra Tour: Amateur Olivia Mehaffey leads by 2 after 36 holes in Arizona

Arizona State senior Olivia Mehaffey carded nine birdies on Friday to take the lead at the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic in Arizona.

Three amateurs were granted sponsor exemptions to the Symetra Tour season opener.

That decision is proving to be a smart one, as all three made the cut, two of them are sitting inside the top ten and one of them is the outright leader after 36 holes at the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic.

Arizona State senior Olivia Mehaffey has posted rounds of 69-64 and holds the solo lead by two strokes at 11 under heading to the weekend at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa. She had nine birdies and one bogey on Friday to vault to the top of the leaderboard. Her 64 is the best score of the week so far.

Mehaffey is trying to match former Sun Devil Phil Mickelson with a victory in a professional event while still in college at ASU.

Maybe it’s not too surprising. Last Sunday, she posted a final-round 62 in the Clover Cup at Longbow, helping her Sun Devils win their third college tournament in four outings in the spring season. An extra challenge this week: Longbow played at 6,184 yards for the Clover Cup and is measuring 6,439 yards for the Symetra event.

Her ASU teammate, Ashley Menne, shot a 67 on Friday, nine shots better than her first-round 76, which has moved her into a tie for 31st at 1 under.

Rose Zhang, the top-ranked amateur in the world, is also in contention after shooting 70-69 in her first two rounds, putting her in a tie for 9th at 5 under.

Longbow Golf Course
Longbow Golf Course in Mesa, Arizona. Photo by Golfweek

Laurie Coughlin, Ruixin Liu and Celine Herbin are tied for second at 10 under. Allie White is in 5th at 8 under, while Fatima Fernandez Cano is at a shot back at 7 under. Defending tournament champ Sarah White shot 73-74 and missed the cut.

SCORES: Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic

An amateur won a Symetra Tour event on the same course in 2015. Hannah O’Sullivan won the Gateway Classic at age 16, the youngest player to win on the circuit.

The Carlisle event is the first on the Symetra Tour’s 2021 schedule and features one of the bigger purses, $200,000, with $30,000 going to the winner.

[mm-video type=video id=01f1659j4h4b1xfqfr playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f1659j4h4b1xfqfr/01f1659j4h4b1xfqfr-6ee4ee93427315dd294dd9ee4a7eb51f.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=778093587,778093660,778050324]

How deep is the women’s game? Sophia Popov, Sarah White showed us all last summer

Longbow Golf Club is host of the Symetra Tour season-opening Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic. White edged Sophia Popov last time out.

Sarah White packed up her 2012 Ford Escape and headed west on March 13 at 2:30 a.m., determined to get from her San Antonio suburb to Mesa, Arizona, before sunset. White’s father taught driver’s ed for 32 years, and she picked up a few pointers along the way, hence the early wake-up call.

“You’re more awake when you wake up,” she said, “than you are when you’re coming down the last four hours. I’d rather drive in the dark in the beginning.”

Dad still called every 90 minutes though.

The Symetra Tour is the ultimate road warrior life. And the 14-hour drive back to Longbow Golf Club for this week’s season-opening Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic was especially sweet for White as it took her back to the place where everything changed instantly last August when she won the Symetra Tour’s Founder’s Tribute.

The victory kickstarted a 10-day stretch of golf that shined a light on the fine line between obscurity and stardom in the women’s game. Between uncertainly and security.

A fifth-place finish at the Texarkana Children’s Charities Open on the Women’s All Pro Tour earned White $1,690 and a spot in the Symetra Tour’s field at Longbow. White – who had no status of any kind – took full advantage of the opportunity by winning in her first Symetra start, edging Casey Danielson and Sophia Popov by one stroke.

“I was just a nobody on the mini-tours,” said White.

One week later, Popov, the player White had just beaten by a stroke, won the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon. Suddenly a Symetra Tour player who didn’t have any LPGA status of any kind was a major champion.

Sophia Popov
Sophia Popov, the winner of the 2020 AIG Women’s British Open, poses with the her trophy at the FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. (Photo: Thomas Hawthorne/USA TODAY Network)

Like White, Popov played her way into the AIG by virtue of a top-10 finish at the Marathon Classic, which doubled as a qualifier.

“It’s pretty unheard of to have non-members of two tours win back-to-back,” noted White.

When White first arrived at Longbow last Sunday to practice, the Clover Cup, a college event she used to play in at Texas State, was finishing up on the 18th with the identical hole location she faced last August.

“I could still vividly relive that 6-foot putt and still feel the chills of everything that happened,” said White of the putt she drained to win. “I can do that any point that I need to remember why I’m here.”

Popov left Longbow disappointed to have another runner-up finish, noting that she’d been “pretty patient” waiting for that first win. She rushed out of Mesa to begin the long trek to Scotland for her first Women’s British Open appearance in nine years.

“Every shot is pretty much going where I want it to go,” she said after the round, “so all I can do is just keep doing what I’m doing. Pick a good number, pick a shot and just hit, and it’s been working really well for the last three or four months. Honestly nothing is going to change next week except for the weather.”

Only everything changed at Troon, and a 304th-ranked Popov, like White, gave countless touring pros still waiting for their big break a renewed sense of hope.

People have asked White what they need to do to get on the Symetra Tour. What does it take? She tells them that she played to her strengths and worked on her weaknesses. There’s no set formula.

Sarah White
Symetra Tour golfer Sarah White.

This week 132 players will take their first step toward trying to earn an LPGA card. White will compete alongside the No. 1 amateur in the world, Rose Zhang, and Emily Pedersen, who ended her 2020 season on the Ladies European Tour with three consecutive victories. Zhang, 17, makes her debut on the Symetra Tour this week. She won the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur and finished tied for 11th at last year’s ANA Inspiration.

White won’t be battling triple-digit heat this time around at Longbow. She won’t have a caddie either as older brother Brett has his own tournament this week, and her dad slipped on some ice back home in Michigan and broke his tibia and fibula.

Sarah is battling her own injury as well, a stress fracture in her left ankle and tendonitis. She only really notices the pain though after the golf is done and she’s taking her shoes off in the parking lot.

But the vibes are still good in Mesa.

“Some people have a misconception that maybe it was a little luck,” said White. “No, absolutely not. We worked to get to that opportunity.”

The notion that anyone can beat anyone any given week still hangs thick in the air.

[lawrence-related id=778093587,778093900]

Wrist injury behind her, top-ranked amateur Rose Zhang ready for Symetra Tour opener

The No. 1-ranked amateur in the world is taking on the pros this week in the Symetra Tour’s season opener in Mesa, Arizona.

MESA, Ariz. — The Symetra Tour opens its 2021 season this week and a field of 132 golfers will compete in the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic. It’s a field that will include three amateurs, including the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur Rose Zhang. She’ll be looking to continue her impressive play.

She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August and then a few weeks later, finished 11th at the ANA Inspiration, one of the LPGA’s major championships. It wasn’t long after that she found herself atop the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking. She capped off 2020 being named the AJGA’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year.

Much of this success came while she was still healing from a wrist injury.

“Over quarantine last year, I was practicing in the garage and I over-practiced on the mats,” she said on Tuesday at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa. “It didn’t really do well with my left wrist. It seemed like I got tendinitis and then it became wrist impingement.”

After she closed out 2020, Zhang said she finally got a chance to rest.

“After the U.S. Women’s Open (in December) I rested for around a month and a half,” she said, adding that she barely touched her golf clubs. “I putted a little bit but not a lot.”

https://twitter.com/golfweek/status/1371951843157241860

Now she’s in the field in Arizona, just a couple weeks after getting invited by Longbow General Manager Bob McNichols.

“I was actually at a friend’s house when I got the invite,” she said, admitting when the phone rang, she didn’t know who was calling. “It was a number that I didn’t really know. But I got a call from Bob and he was like ‘I’ll extend an invitation to you’ and I was like, ‘That’s great. I would definitely take that opportunity. I would be glad to’ and now I’m here.”

Making the decision last year between the ANA and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur was not so easy.

“It’s really tough because both of them being in the same week and both of them being such great events for women’s golf. It was quite a tough decision, do I want to play the major or whether I want to play the Amateur and going to Augusta National. But I think both events are great.

“Then it turns out Augusta was canceled so it worked in my favor, choosing ANA,” she noted.

Because of the COVID pandemic, the ANA was delayed to September but the 2020 ANWA was canceled. The ANWA is back this year and Zhang can’t wait to return after playing in the inaugural event.

“I was able to play in 2019 and the event was just so prestigious, the first one, being such a historical event, being a part of it was simply amazing, especially with the golf course and the Masters. There’s so much history that you can just see out there any time you’re on the course.”

As for this week, she’s not getting ahead of herself.

“I see so many amazing players,” she said. “It’s a very nice and competitive atmosphere. I have a couple friends out here that I haven’t seen since junior golf, so it’s definitely very fun and I’m excited to play with such amazing people.

“I don’t really have a goal of what place I finish. I think, for me, it’s just being able to manage myself and play the best I can, stick to my course management and try to play my best.”

[lawrence-related id=778093587]

Symetra Tour’s 2021 schedule features 20 events and record purse sizes

The 2021 Symetra Tour schedule has been released. A total of 20 events will be contested for $3.8 million in total prize money.

The 2021 Symetra Tour schedule has been released and players will compete for a record purse average of $190,000. A total of 20 events will be contested for $3.8 million in total prize money.

“We are proud to unveil a schedule that includes six new title sponsors, six new venues and three existing tournaments that have increased their purse,” said Mike Nichols, Chief Business Officer of LPGA Qualifying Tours. “Each year, our two stated goals for the schedule are to improve the quality of the venues for both new and existing tournaments, and to increase the amount of money for which our athletes are competing for each week.”

For perspective, consider that in 2013, the 15-event schedule featured an average purse of $108,000 and one tournament at $150,000. In 2021, half of the events on the schedule will be $200,000 or more.

The season kicks off in Arizona with two new desert partners coming on board – Carlisle Companies Inc. and Casino Del Sol Resort. The first event, the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic, is set for March 18-21 at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa.

The Symetra Tour’s usual spring Florida stop in Winter Haven, the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, is noticeably absent. Jean Reynolds won the first edition in 2009.

This 2021 developmental tour consists of more than 300 members from 40 countries. In 2020, seven different countries were represented among the 10 champions during the 2020 season (Chinese Taipei, Finland, People’s Republic of China, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United States).

Symetra Tour

[lawrence-related id=778086568,778079487,778073899,778073870]

Symetra Tour winner Ana Belac brings can’t-miss game, colorful hair to U.S. Women’s Open

Ana Belac transitioned quickly from college golf to a professional career, finishing on top of the Symetra Tour money list for a USWO start.

When Ana Belac won the Symetra Tour’s Carolina Classic on Oct. 31, she did it with purple hair. Her long, colorful locks will make Belac easy to distinguish from the crop of U.S. Women’s Open first-timers at Champions Golf Club in Houston this week.

Belac’s long hair had been purple earlier in the Symetra season before she traded out for blue – bright blue – and then went purple again. Belac, the 23-year-old from Slovenia, is naturally a brunette but her hair has seen a rainbow of colors. It doesn’t stand for anything in particular, Belac said. She just likes to experiment.

“Maybe I’ll surprise everyone with something that hasn’t been seen seen before,” she mused a month before her first U.S. Women’s Open start. “Although purple has brought me two victories so far, so I kind of like purple.”

Belac doesn’t quite remember when she learned that limited spots in the U.S. Women’s Open were on offer to Symetra Tour players this season along with LPGA status. It certainly didn’t change anything about the way she went about her first few months as a professional.

USWO: Photos | Tee times | TV info | First-timers | Memories

“I heard it somewhere,” she said. “I tried not to think much about it, because the more things you think about, the more pressure you add in.”

Belac is among the 41 first-time competitors in the U.S. Women’s Open field. She earned her spot by finishing among the top 5 players on the season-end Symetra Tour money list. Belac made nine Symetra Tour starts since turning professional in April, not long after the 2020 college season ended prematurely because of COVID.

That decision didn’t require a lot of thinking. Belac always knew she wanted to play professionally. She had earned Symetra Tour status at LPGA Q-School in the fall of 2019 and even though Duke head coach Dan Brooks told her he’d find a spot on the roster for her if she wanted to return for a post-COVID fifth year, Belac was ready to close that chapter.

“I accomplished a lot in my college career. I wish I got another chance at nationals but at the same time I won nationals last year with my team,” she said. “Maybe it would have been different if that hadn’t happened, but my ultimate goal was always to play professionally and knowing that I had my degree – I finished my degree in May – that kind of made my decision easier and I was just so excited to turn pro.”

Ana Belac during the second round of the 2019 NCAA Women’s National Golf Championship at the Blessings Golf Club Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Photo: Tim Cowie)

Brooks remains Belac’s swing coach, and she’s still based in Durham, North Carolina. Her roots are so firm there that she calls her Carolina Classic victory on the Symetra Tour a home win.

“A lot of things can affect if you’re going to finish in the top and luckily I did really well in the highest purse of the season so that kind of boosted me up a little bit,” she said of that victory, which netted her $30,000.

Beginning with the Symetra Tour’s Florida swing in September, Belac had her mom Erika on her bag. Belac said mom knew enough about golf to know what to do on the course but not enough to give advice.

“Which is great,” added Belac, an independent player who likes to make her own decisions.

Still, it was nice to have the companionship – and someone to help her do the driving. During a round, Belac and her mom would often try to spot which yards had dogs.

“We’d remember and then the next day we’re like, where is that dog from yesterday?” Belac said.

At home in Slovenia, Belac has a cat named Hilton. She hasn’t been home since last Christmas, and isn’t sure if she’ll head home for the holidays after the U.S. Women’s Open. The last thing she wants is to get stuck there should COVID travel restrictions arise again.

Belac won $49,081 in her nine Symetra starts, enough to put her on top of the season-long money list. She hopes some of that can go toward getting a dog to bring home to her Durham apartment. She’s always wanted a Husky.

This week, Belac will be one of four Duke players in the field. When Brooks was recruiting Belac at the 2015 ANNIKA Invitational Europe, he walked up on a par 3 to watch her swing for the first time, began recording and she made a hole-in-one. It remains her only hole-in-one to date, but she wouldn’t mind repeating a similar feat this week with another.

“Clutch moments,” she joked. “U.S. Opens and things like that.”

[lawrence-related id=778079187,778073899,778073870]

Meet the 2020 Symetra Tour grads who also just qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open

Five Symetra Tour players earned spots at the U.S. Women’s Open and LPGA tour cards after the Symetra Tour season finale.

The Symetra Tour wrapped up its 2020 season on Friday. The top five players on the money list earned LPGA status for 2021 as well as a berth in next month’s U.S. Women’s Open.

The tour typically hands out 10 cards each season, but with LPGA status frozen this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that number was cut in half. In addition, the level of status players received also dropped from Category 9 to 19. (Category 19 is typically reserved for the Class A/Veteran International players who have been active on the tour for at least 10 consecutive years. Category 19 sits below Nos. 125-150 on the money list.)

The 75th U.S. Women’s Open will be held Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston and features a purse of $5,500,000.

Here are the top five finishers:

  1. Ana Belac, Portoroz, Slovenia ($49,081) – Former Duke player turned pro after her senior season was cut short due to COVID-19 and didn’t miss a beat, making the cut in all nine starts. A victory last week at the Carolina Golf Classic vaulted her up the standings. Led the tour in birdies with 111. Said Belac: “There has been so much to 2020 that seems nearly unbelievable, but with all the hard work I have put in, this is a reality; it’s a dream come true.”
  2. Fatima Fernandez Cano, Santiago de Compostela, Spain ($48,069) – Cruised her to card despite missing two tournaments due to COVID-19, including the season finale. Third-year Symetra player won her first title at the IOA Championship and finished in the top 15 in six of eight starts. Finished second on the tour in scoring (70.880). Said Fernandez Cano: “This season has been a whirlwind, to say the least. I’m so thankful for all the Symetra Tour did to find a way to have us compete in as safe a manner as possible and extra thankful to achieve what I’ve worked so hard for over the years. There was quite a mountain of adversity to overcome, but with the support from my sisters on Tour, staff, medical personnel, family and friends, I am a Symetra Tour graduate and I get to play in the U.S. Women’s Open. To say I’m excited would be an understatement.”
  3. Kim Kaufman, Clark, South Dakota ($44,459) – LPGA veteran notched her third career Symetra Tour title at the Four Winds Invitational in September. Posted six top-20s in 10 starts. Kaufman’s LPGA status was actually already better than she earned from the Symetra Tour, but the USWO berth is a huge bonus for the Texas Tech grad. Said Kaufman: “Spending seven years on the LPGA Tour, this season has been a tremendous learning experience and I couldn’t be more grateful. I was able to travel the country extensively with my husband (and caddie) Johan (Wolkesson), gained an even stronger appreciation for the game, developed new friendships and worked my game back to form. … I am greatly looking forward to competing in the U.S. Women’s Open in my (now) home state of Texas in December. It will be good to be home.”
  4. Frida Kinhult, Fiskebackskil, Sweden ($42,057) – A four-stroke victory at the Symetra Tour Championship catapulted Kinhult into the top five. The former Florida State standout finished in the top 15 four times in eight starts, missing only one cut. The Symetra Tour rookie set a new single-season scoring average record of 70.66 while at Florida State, sharing ACC Player of the Year honors with LPGA pro Jennifer Kupcho. She was also the Division I Freshman of the Year. This will be Kinhult’s debut in the USWO. Said Kinhult: “What a surreal feeling, winning my first professional tournament to secure my 2021 LPGA card and join the competition for the U.S. Women’s Open in a few weeks. It’s so much to take in and almost seems too good to be true.”
  5. Janie Jackson, Huntsville, Alabama ($41,723) – A victory at the season-opening Florida’s Natural Charity Classic back in March set Jackson up for success in a most unpredictable year. In addition to overcoming the impact of COVID-19, Jackson also dealt with a left wrist injury. A tie for fifth at the season-ender put Jackson, an Alabama grad, in position to earn her card. Jackson led the tour in driving distance at 288 yards. Said Jackson: “It’s really special to earn LPGA membership for next year and also qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open next month with a good finish at the Symetra Tour Championship. The last time I played in the U.S. Open was when I qualified in 2014 as an amateur.”

Frida Kinhult earns LPGA card with Symetra Tour Championship win

Frida Kinhult is headed to the LPGA after her win at the Symetra Tour Championship.

Frida Kinhult was all smiles Friday afternoon at River Run Country Club for a few reasons.

First and most obvious, the 21-year-old won the Symetra Tour Championship by four shots after surviving some trouble on the back nine for her first career win on the tour. Most importantly, she earned her LPGA tour card and a U.S. Women’s Open invite with her win in Davidson, North Carolina.

The former No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings from Fiskebackskil, Sweden, shot rounds of 68-71-69-70 to finish the tournament at 10 under. Her final round began with four birdies on the front nine to lead by seven shots at the turn. Kinhult added another birdie on No. 10 to sit at 13 under overall, before a little bit of trouble began.

The former Florida State golfer carded bogeys on Nos. 12, 14 and 17. However, her performance through the event’s first 65 holes gave her some security.

Finishing in second, four shots behind Kinhult, was Demi Runas at 6 under. Runas shot a final-round 66 thanks to a hot start to her round with five birdies within the first six holes, and back-to-back birdies to finish.

Former Florida Gator Sierra Brooks finished third at 4 under. Laura Wearn finished in fourth at 2 under while Janie Jackson and 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Gabi Ruffels finished T-5 at 1 under.

The top 5 golfers on the 2020 Symetra Tour money list earned LPGA cards: Former Duke golfer Ana Belac; Fatima Fernandez Cano, who withdrew from the Symetra Tour finale after testing positive for COVID-19; Kim Kaufman; Kinhult; and Janie Jackson all finished Nos. 1-5 respectively on the 2020 Symetra Tour money list.

It’s Symetra Tour finale week and a U.S. Women’s Open berth is at stake

There’s a tournament within a tournament at the Symetra Tour Championship that could ultimately mean more than the LPGA card itself.

There’s a tournament within a tournament at this week’s season-ending Symetra Tour Championship that could ultimately mean more than the LPGA card itself.

The top five on the Symetra Tour money list at the conclusion of this week’s event earn LPGA status for 2021. It’s worth noting, however, that this group’s status will be significantly lower on the priority list than previous years, dropping from Category 9 to 19. (Category 19 is typically reserved for the Class A/Veteran International players who have been active on the tour for at least 10 consecutive years. Category 19 sits below Nos. 125-150 on the money list.)

It’s basically like an LPGA card lite.

The other carrot dangling on the horizon?

A start in the 75th U.S. Women’s Open next month. The top five on the money list also earn a spot at Champions Golf Club Dec. 10-13 in Houston. And on a tour where only 38 players have crossed the $10,000 mark in earnings – for the year – the USWO’s $5,500,000 purse is a mega-opportunity.

“Today was big for me,” said rookie Sierra Brooks of a 3-under 69 that vaulted her into a tie for third. “I knew coming into this week that there was maybe an outside chance of me winning to sneak into the top five there.

“I needed a day like today to have a good run at it for the last two days.”

This week’s Symetra Tour Championship at River Run Country Club in Davidson, North Carolina, offers a first-place check of $26,250. At the start of the tournament, 34 players had a chance to finish in the top five. Money leader Fatima Fernandez Cano hopes to hang on to one of those spots from her hotel room in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she’s currently quarantined after testing positive for COVID-19 for a second time this season

Ana Belac, Kim Kaufman, Bailey Tardy and Peiyun Chien round out the top five, with Chien checking in at $36,570. (Kaufman’s LPGA status is already better than what’s on offer from the Symetra Tour. But that USWO start would be big.)

Charlotte native Laura Wearn sits tied with Sweden’s Frida Kinhult at the midway point at 5-under 139. Wearn came into the week 10th on the money list and must finish solo seventh or better to have a chance. She’s sleeping in her own bed this week, 45 minutes from the course, and trying her best not to think about what’s at stake.

“I’ve just done a good job of staying in the moment,” she said of her second-round 67.

A strong finish at Champions Golf Club could go a long way toward eliminating the financial strain of a Symetra season that included only 10 starts. The original purse for the Symetra Tour finale was slated to be $250,000 but has since dropped to $175,000. A tour official said purses this year were fluid up until the start of the event, “as economics allowed.”

“At the end of the day, what the purse is is completely out of my control,” said Wearn. “If it’s $175,000 and that means we get another tournament in, that’s fantastic.”

It’s worth noting too that the purse for the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship will also be down from last year’s $5 million payout to $3 million.

No tour was spared.

Kinhult has competed in one ANA Inspiration and two Women’s British Opens but hopes to make her first start in the U.S. Women’s Open next month alongside several of her former Swedish national teammates.

“I know the only thing I can do to try to make that happen is to get the win,” she said.

There’s actually a third carrot on the line for Kinhult: If she wins an event, her family promised she’d get a TrackMan.

To get that done, Kinhult will need to keep working on an area that 2020 has forced her to address.

“I like to have control over everything,” she said, “which has really been tested this year.”

[lawrence-related id=778073471,778067691,778064913]