LAKE ELMO, Minn. — Alicia Um Holmes is unsure what her roster is going to look like come springtime.
The women’s golf coach at UCLA had a runner-up finish at the 2024 NCAA Championship, and the Bruins returned four of their five players in the lineup from the championship match against Stanford. They also added one of the top female amateurs in the country, giving Um Holmes depth and experience to make another title push come spring.
She also may not have her best player, and one of the best in the country, past the fall season.
It’s an uncomfortable wait, but what other choice does Um Holmes have?
LPGA Q-Series is an event numerous college players compete in each fall, and plenty are left with a difficult choice if they advance to the final stage. LPGA rules stipulate that players must turn professional before the final stage begins in December, which means giving up the last few months of their amateur careers to chase status on the best professional tour for women in the world. Those who don’t earn an LPGA card will have Epson Tour status.
It’s a guaranteed landing spot, whereas staying in college doesn’t provide any direct avenues to the professional game.
Zoe Campos and Caroline Canales, seniors at UCLA, have advanced to second stage of LPGA Q-Series. With a win or top finish there, they would advance to final qualifying and also receive some status on the Epson Tour.
While Canales said she would come back to school and finish her final year, Campos told Um Holmes she would strongly consider turning professional. And how could a player like Campos, ranked fourth in the world, pass up that opportunity?
Men’s, women’s access to pro ranks
When you compare the men’s amateur game to the women’s, there are more opportunities for men to get to the professional ranks compared to the women. While the men’s game is deeper, the women’s game has grown, and the top amateurs each year are capable of making their mark on the biggest tours right away. They just don’t have the same access as the men, especially for collegiate players.
By all means, PGA Tour University has been a success. So, why isn’t there a similar program for the top women’s collegiate players?
“A lot of us coaches have certainly asked the question over the last few years,” said Oregon coach Derek Radley, who last year lost Briana Chacon when she turned pro after qualifying for final stage. “It has created an amazing dynamic on the men’s side, and why wouldn’t you want the best talent in college on the LPGA Tour?”
PGA Tour University gives the top-ranking senior each spring a PGA Tour card, and Nos. 2-25 in the rankings get some sort of status and guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas.
Last spring, Ludvig Aberg was playing college golf at Texas Tech. He finished first in PGA Tour U and became the first player to earn a PGA Tour card directly from college.
Now, he’s ranked fifth in the world.
At the same time, Rose Zhang is arguably best female amateur of all-time. Her first professional start came thanks to a sponsor exemption at the Mizuho Americas Open.
Thirteen days after winning her second straight NCAA title, she won her professional debut. Thanks to that, she had immediate LPGA status and is now a top-10 player in the world coming off a historic week at the Solheim Cup.
Imagine if Zhang didn’t win that week? Sure, she had numerous sponsor exemptions lined up thanks to her prowess as an amateur, but she had no guaranteed status anywhere. If she would’ve struggled, one of the best young Americans in the history of the game could’ve been scrapping it out to get to the LPGA.
Instead, she has become one of the most popular female golfers in the world and is now a two-time tour winner. And it happened because she had an opportunity.
“We play great venues, great schedules, so you’re going to get players that have proven themselves,” Wake Forest coach Kim Lewellen said.
Last year, Ingrid Lindblad won the ANNIKA Award as the Player of the Year in women’s college golf. The fifth-year senior at LSU had one of the more impressive college careers and had an opportunity to turn pro at the end of last fall.
But after winning the second stage of LPGA Q-Series in October, Lindblad opted not to move on to the final stage so that she could compete in one last Augusta National Women’s Amateur and NCAA Championship. The Swede accepted her full Epson Tour status and returned to school, leading the Tigers into match play at the NCAAs for the first time in school history.
Last weekend, she picked up her first professional win on the Epson Tour and is well on her way to earning an LPGA card, but it didn’t have to be this hard.
“We need to do it. It’s imperative we get this out here,” said South Carolina coach Kalen Anderson, who is on the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee, about providing a more direct path to the LPGA from college golf. “It’s going to keep some of the greatest players in school. We need to start somewhere and go.
“I got on the NCAA committee for a few reasons, and that’s one of them. I’m on a four-year term, and that’s one of my goals.”
While there have been some cons to PGA Tour U, the benefits far outweigh any negatives.
The same applies for the women’s game. As Anderson alluded to, it would keep the top players in school longer, which is better for the sport in general, coaches and fans. Providing a direct access to the LPGA through college golf would lead to players staying in school longer as they battle for professional status without going to qualifying school.
The year-round race would put a spotlight on both up-and-coming players and the tour.
“I think we’re going to start seeing that soon,” Central Florida coach Emily Marron said. “It’s been a good thing on the men’s side. I think that gives these girls something to shoot for, and it helps us recruiting process and say, ‘Hey, you come here, and this is a way to get to the LPGA Tour.'”
Why hasn’t the LPGA changed how the top college players each year get access to its tour?
There are a few reasons.
First, as mentioned earlier, the professional women’s game is not as deep as the men’s side, so there are theoretically less spots up for grabs each year. The more status the LPGA gives to top college players, even if it’s conditional LPGA or full status on the Epson Tour, it takes away spots from a current member, and that’s something the membership likely doesn’t want.
Additionally, there’s no outside pressure from a faction like LIV Golf on the men’s side to sign the top players right out of college, meaning the LPGA and Epson Tour are the only options in the United States for college players to play after graduation. Why make it easier for golfers to get there if there’s no worry they’re going to go anywhere else?
When comparing the PGA Tour and LPGA, 13 of the top 50 players in the current FedEx Cup standings did not go to college in the United States. On the LPGA and the Race to CME Globe standings, that number is 29 of the top 50 who did not go to college, another reason the LPGA may be against having a direct pipeline from college.
The LPGA did not respond to Golfweek‘s request for comments on the possibility of an LPGA Tour U and whether a program like that is in the works.
However, in 2022, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said this at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship: “You have to always look at the pipelines. You have to look at the pipelines from the Epson Tour. You have to look at who is coming out of various parts of the world, and I think you can’t forget about what’s coming out of the college game.
“So nothing is changing immediately. But as with everything, we evaluate that and we’ve got a team that is looking at who are the best players in the world and how do they get on to the LPGA? I think those pathways are really critical, so there’s nothing new brewing right now from the college game.”
Two years have passed, and it seems the question is even greater now than it was then about more pipelines for the top college players.
Coaches want it. College players would welcome it. It would be a boost for women’s college golf.
But at the end of the day, it’s up the LPGA to decide whether it wants to make the direct path to its tour easier for the top college players. Especially with the talent in today’s college game, it seems like a missed opportunity for players like Campos, Julia Lopez Ramirez at Mississippi State and numerous others to not have a chance to play right away on the LPGA.
“It’s an upward battle, but why don’t these women deserve it?” asked Anderson. “It’s time. We’re at that point in women’s sports where they need to do it.”
Beth Ann Nichols contributed to this story.