The LPGA informed players of the changes during The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
BELLEAIR, Fla. – At long last, there will be a way for superstar amateurs to bypass Q-School and go directly to the LPGA. Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine first reported the news, noting that two separate programs will provide paths to both the LPGA and Epson Tour. The LPGA informed players of the changes at a meeting earlier this week during The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
The tour has confirmed that more details on the programs will be released next week at the CME Group Tour Championship.
The path that leads directly to the LPGA will be similar to the PGA Tour’s University’s Accelerated program, though the women’s version will be open to all amateurs rather than just college players.
“I love it so much,” Rose Zhang told Golfweek. “The criteria to get into the LPGA is very difficult, but if you have such a stellar career in the amateur league, then why not?”
Zhang, of course, bypassed what’s now known as LPGA Qualifying by winning her first LPGA event as a professional.
“We weren’t sure what the qualifications mean,” said Hannah Green, “and then they showed obviously who would’ve earned spots that are currently members and playing and it was only three people: Lydia (Ko), Rose and Leona (Maguire).”
Such a short list eased their minds that it wouldn’t be a rush of amateurs, Green said.
Most years won’t have anyone meet the threshold, in fact.
Lottie Woad of England and Lydia Ko of New Zealand pose for a photo on Day Four of the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews Old Course on August 25, 2024, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images)
Players were told that Lottie Woad, the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, would currently have 16 points under the new system.
The second program, Romine noted, will mirror the PGA Tour University rankings for those in their last two years of college.
The top players from those rankings will earn Epson Tour status.
Linn Grant liked the proposal but felt that the 20-point threshold could be dropped some in future years, noting the quality of talent in the amateur game.
“If you play that well during your amateur career, you should definitely have a spot out here,” said Grant. “You shouldn’t have to go to Q-School and all of that. You go to Q-School, you could be sick for a week or just play your worst golf for some reason.”
With LPGA Qualifying falling in November and December, college coaches have dealt with losing star players midseason for more than 15 years. This won’t solve the entire problem, of course, but it will help.
This year five college players advanced to December’s final stage, and they’ll each have to turn professional in order to compete. The deadline to inform the LPGA of their decision is Friday, Nov. 15.
“Third time’s a charm!” Davidson wrote on Instagram.
A total of 100 players advanced out of the LPGA’s Pre-Qualifying Stage (formerly Stage I) and among them was transgender golfer Hailey Davidson.
“Third time’s a charm!” Davidson wrote on Instagram.
Three years ago, Davidson became the second transgender player to compete in LPGA Q-School, where she did not advance past the first stage. She tried again in 2022, missing the 54-hole cut by a single stroke.
This time around, Davidson tied for 42nd at Mission Hills Country Club with rounds of 72-72-69-71 to finish at 4 under. She now advances to the Qualifying Stage (formerly Stage II) October 15-18 in Venice, Florida. Those who complete the 72-hole event (play all four rounds) at Plantation Golf and Country Club will earn Epson Tour status based on their finish. Those who make the cut will advance to Final Qualifying, which will take place in December.
Amateur Ashley Menne won the Pre-Qualifying Stage with a 16-under total.
Days before the Pre-Qualifying event started, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan sent out a memo to LPGA and Epson Tour players regarding the tour’s Gender Policy. Golfweek confirmed that in the memo, Marcoux Samaan stated that the tour planned to conclude a lengthy review of its current policy by year’s end and would implement any updates to the policy before the 2025 season.
The commissioner stated that the tour’s top priority must be to have a policy that provides for fair competition and considers “first and foremost” competitive advantage.
In 2010, the LPGA voted to eliminate its requirement that players be “female at birth” not long after a transgender woman filed a lawsuit against the tour.
Earlier this year, Davidson came within one spot of qualifying for the 79th U.S. Women’s Open, the biggest championship in women’s golf.
Davidson had primarily competed on NXXT Golf until the Florida-based mini tour announced in March – on International Women’s Day – that competitors must be a biological female at birth to participate.
A three-time winner on the tour, Davidson ranked second on the mini tour’s season standings at the time of the ban. She had played nine times this season on the NXXT.
Australia’s Robyn Choi topped the field with a 29-under total over the course of six rounds.
A total of 50 players earned LPGA status for the 2024 season at Q-Series. Australia’s Robyn Choi topped the field with a 29-under total over the course of six rounds, earning $15,000.
This year’s event, cut down from the traditional eight rounds, was held at Robert Trent Jones’ Magnolia Grove Golf Course in Mobile, Alabama. A field of 104 players began the week and a cut was made after 72 holes. Players who finished in the top 20 and ties earned Category 14 status, while those who finished from T-23 to T-45 earned Category 15.
The big move of the day belonged to Lauren Hartlage, who skyrocketed from T-60 to 16th with a closing 63.
“The last two years I had to come back to Q-School to earn my card back,” said Hartlage. “This time I feel like I’m getting better in learning the ropes of how the LPGA works, so I’m super excited to get back out there.”
LPGA veteran Jennifer Song had good friend Amy Yang on the bag this week. Yang, of course, won the CME Group Tour Championship last month and a $2 million first-place prize. Song finished tied for 17th to earn her card back.
“I think I got like 200 percent confidence from her,” said Song. “You know, just having a close friend, it’s a long week, and I knew I had the game to play well, but I just needed to feel relaxed out there, and then a friend was just what I needed out there.”
Added Yang: “You know, Jennifer, she prepared everything. Her game was so ready to go already at home. I just needed to carry the bag and just talk other stuff and make her feel comfortable.
“I really didn’t do enough other than that.”
Here’s a closer look at the 50 players who earned LPGA status for 2024:
These golfers will soon have to make a decision about turning pro or go back to school.
The second stage of LPGA Q-School took place last week in Venice, Florida, and of the 188 who started the week, 41 advanced. Among those 41 were nine amateurs, including LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad, who topped the field by four strokes with an 18-under total.
Lindblad, a fifth-year senior who is currently No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, shot 67-66-70-67 at Plantation Golf and Country Club’s Bobcat and Panther courses.
Last year, the LPGA changed its Q-Series criteria, requiring players to turn professional before they can compete for an LPGA card. The deadline for players to sign up for Q-Series as a professional is 5 p.m. ET on Friday, November 17.
Lindblad said she’s decided to go back to school for one more semester.
“At the beginning of the year I’m like I am probably just going to go through the whole Q-Series and like peace out,” said Lindblad, “but I was talking to my coaches, and I really like it at LSU. Like, our coaches are awesome. This year we have a really good team, so I just want to give it a chance to get another SEC and maybe a national championship.”
Lindblad left Venice with Epson Tour status for 2024.
Ingrid Lindblad from LSU plays her tee shot on the 10th hole during the first day of stroke play competition at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic)
Notable amateurs who missed the cut include Southern Cal’s Amari Avery and former U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Jensen Castle.
This year’s LPGA Q-Series takes place Nov. 30 to Dec. 5 in Mobile, Alabama, at the Magnolia Grove Golf Course.
Here are the eight other amateurs who will soon have to make a similar decision about turning pro:
The first full-field LPGA event of the season is in March in Arizona.
Charlotte Thomas described this week as a “do or die” chapter of her professional career. Six years into the play-for-pay ranks, Thomas felt that whatever happened at Q-Series over the last eight rounds could be a sign.
In the end, the sign read: Back to the LPGA.
“I’m exhausted and ready for a drink,” said Thomas, who tied for 28th to earn back her tour card for 2023. A total of 46 players earned LPGA cards at Q-Series, a 144-hole grind that takes places over a fortnight in Alabama.
“I think when I look back on last year, I initially was disappointed that I lost my card and had to come back here,” said Thomas, “but I think the fact that I didn’t play golf for 16 months was – I kind of don’t give myself enough credit sometimes I don’t think.”
Thomas missed the 2021 LPGA season while struggling to find a treatment for chronic eczema.
Everyone in the field in Dothan has a story. Some have been toiling in the professional ranks for years, while others, like Michigan State’s Valery Plata, turned pro just before Q-Series. Plata tied for third with recent Stanford grad Aline Krauter.
Tournament winner Hae Ran Ryu, a KLPGA veteran, is ranked 50th in the world. (Epson Tour photo)
South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu, currently No. 50 in the Rolex Rankings, topped the field at 29 under, clipping Bailey Tardy by two strokes.
Two years ago, Tardy missed out on earning her LPGA card through the Epson Tour by $343. Once again, Tardy finished 11th on the money list this year, missing the 10th spot by $1,765.
“I actually told my caddie just walking down, I think 15, and really anybody close to me knows that I wasn’t even going to sign up for QII,” said Tardy. “I think I signed up 15 minutes before the deadline, and that was because my coach told me to and was like, this is your opportunity, you can’t give that up.
“And I didn’t want to come to Q-School at all. Even at the beginning of the year I told everyone, I’m not going to Q-School. I’m not doing it. That’s not what I want to do.
“And I’m so happy I did.”
The top 20 players and ties earn category 14 status on the LPGA, while those who finished 21-45 and ties earned category 15 status. Players who finished outside the top 45 and completed all four rounds before the cut earned Epson Tour status for 2023.
“Feels good, especially since our first event of the year would be my home course in Phoenix,” said Dana Finkelstein, who tied for 15th.
“Superstition Mountain is kind of where golf started for me. The Safeway Open out there, I was like 12 or 13 and I went to go watch Annika [Sorenstam] and Morgan [Pressel] and all them. I have pictures of my awkward 12-year-old self at the golf course, and now it’s cool that I’m going to be playing and some other 12-year-old is going to be watching me. It’s pretty cool.”
The first full-field LPGA event of the season, the LPGA Drive On Championship, will take place March 23-26, 2023, in Gold Canyon, Arizona.
Finkelstein, an LPGA veteran, shared 15th with 2022 Alabama grad Polly Mack, who held on despite a closing 76. Mack played the first 72 holes without a caddie but employed a good friend for the second week.
Alexa Pano, the 18-year-old who starred in the Netflix series “The Short Game,” shot 68-67 over the weekend yet missed the top 20 by one stroke. Pano turned professional in the spring and finished 13th on the Epson Tour money list this season.
Jaravee Boonchant was one of three former Duke players who finished in the top 45. Boonchant had former Blue Devil teammate Gina Kim on her bag for Q-Series. The pair, along with Ana Belac (T-38), helped Duke win the 2019 NCAA title. (Kim earned her LPGA card earlier this year via the Epson Tour.)
Lindy Duncan, a former NCAA Player of the Year at Duke, shot three consecutive 73s to also take a share of 38th.
“I keep asking Gina questions that probably shouldn’t be asked on the course, but she was really helpful and very supportive,” said Boonchant, who tied for 21. “And she honestly was like the one who kind of put me in place and shape my thought and my mental game.
Stage II of Q-School will return to Florida in November.
The LPGA has postponed Stage II of LPGA Q-School due to the impact of Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm that slammed into Florida on Sept. 28. Stage II will remain at the Plantation Golf and Country Club’s Bobcat and Panther Courses in Venice, Florida. The dates, however, have been adjusted from Oct. 18-21 to Nov. 17-20.
The LPGA reported in a release that while the club did not endure catastrophic damage, the storm knocked down a significant number of trees and washed out many bunkers. Many Venice area hotels and restaurants face extended closures due to lack of power.
“We are so thankful that our friends at Plantation Golf and Country Club survived the hurricane and are all safe,” said Kathy Lawrence, vice president of Tour Operations and Q-Series. “Now that they have had time to survey the course, we agree that we need to make the difficult decision to postpone Stage II of Q-School.”
Entries for Stage II closed on Aug. 8. The 72-hole tournament will not have a cut. Those who complete 72 holes and do not advance to Q-Series will earn 2023 Epson Tour status. A minimum of top 30 and ties will advance to Q-Series. The final number will be determined prior to the start of competition.
Q-Series, the final stage, takes place over the course of two weeks (Nov. 28-Dec. 11) at Magnolia Grove and Highland Oaks Golf Course in Mobile and Dothan, Alabama, respectively.
Stricker was one of 106 players to advance to Stage II of LPGA Qualifying.
Former Wisconsin player Bobbi Stricker, daughter of Steve Stricker, was one of 106 players to advance to Stage II of LPGA Qualifying. Bobbi closed with a 69 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course to finish in a tie for seventh at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
Steve Stricker, a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour and the winning captain for the U.S. squad at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, caddied for Bobbi, who didn’t begin playing competitive golf until after high school. Emily Lauterbach, a Wisconsin senior, also advanced to Stage II with a share of 25th.
Italian amateur Alessandra Fanali, who played collegiate golf at Arizona State, topped the field with back-to-back 69s over the weekend. Fanali, 23, finished at 14 under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of two more amateurs, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap (67) and Valery Plata (68).
“It feels good,” said Fanali, who didn’t have a caddie this week. “I still don’t really realize it, but it’s good. I’m so excited. This is what I’ve been waiting for since I was 12.”
The second stage of Q-School will be held Oct. 18-21 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida. From there, players will advance to Q-Series, a two-week contest in Mobile, Alabama, and Dothan, Alabama, where LPGA cards will be handed out.
At this week’s event in blistering Rancho Mirage, 311 hopefuls teed it up in carts on three different courses: Mission Hills Country Club (Dinah Shore and Palmer Courses) and Shadow Ridge.
The youngest player in the field, 16-year-old Holly Halim, finished in the top 100 as did Shuangshuang Fan (17) of China, Ting-Hsuan Huang (17) of Taipei, Yunxuan Zhan (17) of China and Bailey Shoemaker (17) of the United States.
Shoemaker, a rising high school senior and USC commit who recently advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, finished T-67 to advance to the second stage of Q-School. Shoemaker said she has no plans to turn professional this year.
Hailey Davidson, 29, a transgender woman who first competed at Stage I last year, was among those who missed the cut after rounds of 70-76-73.
Davidson became the second transgender golfer to compete in the event after Bobbi Lancaster, a 63-year-old physician from Arizona who earned Epson Tour status in 2013, but ultimately spent her time traveling the country as a human rights advocate.
Davidson earned a scholarship to play on the men’s team at Wilmington University, an NCAA Division II school in Delaware, before transferring to the men’s team at Christopher Newport, an NCAA Division III school in Virginia.
Davidson began undergoing hormone treatments on Sept. 24, 2015, a date that’s tattooed on her right forearm, and in January 2021, underwent gender reassignment surgery, a six-hour procedure that’s required under the LPGA’s Gender Policy.
Players who completed 54 holes without a score of 88 or higher earned 2023 Epson Tour status.
Get to know a little more about the players in Stage I of LPGA Q-School.
For those wondering, it’s too hot for the scarf. Kim Welch, a 39-year-old pro who has competed only a handful of times in the past few years, is known for her trademark head scarf. The 2008 “Big Break” winner came back to Stage 1 of LPGA Q-School this year in the California desert because her heart told her head she wasn’t done.
Meanwhile, for Bailey Shoemaker, a 17-year-old who competed last week in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, everything is new this week. The rising high school senior and University of Southern California commit wanted to give Q-School a test drive. Shoemaker said she has no plans to turn professional this year.
“I just wanted to test myself a little bit this week,” said Shoemaker of her first time to Mission Hills. “I feel like the more rounds I have the better chance I’ll have in the future.”
Bailey Shoemaker plays her tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club on June 03, 2022 in Southern Pines, North Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
A field of 311 hopefuls will tee it up this week for the chance to compete for an LPGA card later this year. Stage I is held over three different courses: Mission Hills Country Club (Dinah Shore and Palmer Courses) and Shadow Ridge.
Players who complete 54 holes without a score of 88 or higher will earn 2023 Epson Tour status. Any player who shoots 88 or higher in any of the first three rounds will be withdrawn from the event and not be eligible to receive any tour status for 2023.
The top 100 and ties will advance through to Stage II in October. There are a total of three stages.
The youngest player in the field is 16-year-old Holly Victoria Halim of Indonesia, and the oldest is 41-year-old Constanza Jofre of Argentina.
Welch, who won 11 times at Washington State, can’t even remember her first trip to Q-School.
“Were some of these kids not even alive?” she asked with a laugh. “It’s actually a really legit question that I don’t want to know the answer to.”
Welch has 23 career starts on the LPGA and won on the Epson Tour more than a decade ago. She spent most of 2020 volunteering at Los Angeles food bank during the pandemic and later started a small charcuterie business. She even worked as Kenny G’s moving coordinator during her break from competitive golf. She and her fiancé have known the famed musician for years.
Kim Welch in action during the Mission Hills Celebrity Pro-Am on 26 October 2014, in Haikou, China. (Photo by Power Sport Images/Getty Images)
Before COVID, when Welch was competing full-time on the Epson Tour, she felt pretty good about her game as she climbed the money list in 2017. But with four events left in the season, Welch found out that her father, Pete, had Stage 4 prostate cancer and he died within two months.
She had already signed up for Q-School that year and decided that he would’ve wanted her to play.
“I literally could not tell you what I shot, how I played, how I felt,” she said. “I was just kind of like a zombie that week.”
It was at a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier this year that Welch really felt the competitive juices start to flow again. She wanted to give the LPGA another go because deep down, it doesn’t feel over yet. And she felt it was a way to honor her dad.
There’s also the fact that the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open will be played at Pebble Beach for the first time, a special place for the Welch family. As a junior, tournament winners in Northern Cal gathered on Dec. 26 at Pebble Beach for the annual Tournament of Champions.
Welch remembers packing up Christmas day to head to Pebble with her parents – the ultimate present.
As a pro, Welch was invited to play in the TaylorMade Pebble Beach Invitational and had the chance to invite her parents.
“It ended up being my dad’s last 18 holes of golf,” said Welch, “which is pretty epic.”
Left to right at Pebble Beach in 2017: Dad Pete Welch, Kim, fiance Bret and mom Kazuko (courtesy photo)
There was a time when Welch, a former bomber, would look up and down the range at Mission Hills and compare herself to other players in the field. She doesn’t feel the need to do that anymore.
“I think I used to carry around a lot of self-doubt and needing validation,” said Welch, “and now it’s like I have that internally.”
Welch competed on the Ladies European Tour at the same time as Ashleigh Buhai, and said the 33-year-old’s breakthrough success at the AIG Women’s British Open at Muirfield certainly serves as inspiration. Even teeing it up in a Women’s British for the first time, for Welch, would be a thrill.
Welch played a practice round this week on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course with a “Big Break” super fan who peppered her with questions. It was a fun trip down memory lane.
Shoemaker, a semifinalist at Chambers Bay, is at the start of her memory-making journey. The highlight of her summer, she said, was making the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. She loved playing in front of a crowd.
Shoemaker said she plans to take classes next summer to get a jump on her college degree and hopes to graduate in three years. There are 23 teens in the field this week.
“I feel like the window for women’s golf is a lot smaller,” said Shoemaker.
Because an eight-round tournament isn’t difficult enough, Q-Series happens to collide with the last two weeks of the semester for Florida State senior Beatrice Wallin. Thankfully, the humanities major reports that her professors have been supportive.
Wallin is one of eight amateurs in the field of 110 this week, and she’s currently the highest in the World Amateur Golf Ranking at No. 5.
“It’s legit,” said Wallin of the vibe so far at Q-Series. “It’s very different to what I’m used to, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Wallin was able to skip Stage I of qualifying thanks to being awarded a spot in the field at Stage II as a top-5 player in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings at the time of the entry deadline. Both Linn Grant of Arizona State and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of South Carolina advanced into Stage II this way but have turned professional. Roussin-Bouchard medaled at second stage.
The first week of Q-Series takes place Dec. 2-5 on the RTJ’s Magnolia Grove (Crossings and Falls Courses) in Mobile, Alabama. There will be a cut to low 70 and ties.
Scores will carry over from the first week to the second. The top 45 players and ties will receive LPGA status for the 2022 season. Those who do not receive LPGA status will have Symetra Tour status for next year.
College players who enter the field as amateurs can defer LPGA membership and accept at any point until July 1, 2022.
Both Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi chose to defer after earning their LPGA cards. Kupcho won the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur the next spring and Fassi won the NCAA Championship.
Wallin said she isn’t yet sure what she’ll do.
“I’ve been telling everyone that I’ve been in college for 3 ½ years, I might as well just finish it off,” she said. “You know, it can be tempting to turn professional because that’s what you’ve been practicing for your whole life.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
Among the seven college players in the field are sisters Yu Chiang Hou (who goes by Vivian) and Yu-Sang Hou. The Taiwanese pair play for Arizona and are both ranked in the top 30 in the world.
Yu-Chiang Hou, from Chinese Taipei, smiles after defeating Cara Heisterkamp 4 & 3 in the quarterfinal match at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Westchester Country Club in Harrison on Friday, August 6, 2021.
Rounding out the college players in the field are U.S. Curtis Cup players Gina Kim (Duke) and Brooke Matthews (Arkansas) as well as Polly Mack (Alabama) and Karen Fredgaard (Houston).
In addition, Hyo Joo Jang, 18, of South Korea, is a 2022 high school graduate who attends a golf academy in Florida.
A three-time winner at Florida State, Wallin ranks second in career scoring for the Seminoles at 71.94. It was her brother Richard who got Wallin and her parents into the game after a neighbor first invited him to play. Richard, who works back home in Sweden, is on the bag this week.
“There’s a lot of Swedes playing,” said Wallin, who went to dinner at Bonefish with four of her compatriots on Tuesday night.
“Just talking about normal stuff, trying to have some fun off the golf course.”
The top 45 players and ties will receive LPGA status for the 2022 season.
With no LPGA Qualifying School in 2020, the depth of this year’s Q-Series is particularly strong. Consider that there are six players in the top 75 of the Rolex Rankings in the field, including No. 14 Ayaka Furue, No. 18 Atthaya Thitikul, No. 38 Hinako Shibuno, No. 53 Hye-Jin Choi, No. 67 Na Rin An and No. 71 Emily Kristine Pedersen (pictured above).
The field of 110 players will play eight rounds over the course of two weeks at two courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The first week (Dec. 2-5) will take place at Magnolia Grove (Crossing and Falls courses) in Mobile, Alabama, followed by a hybrid course at Highland Oaks Golf Course in Dothan (Highland and Marshwood courses) on Dec. 9-12.
The top 45 players and ties will receive LPGA status for the 2022 season. Those who do not receive LPGA status will have Symetra Tour status for next year.
Scores will carry over from the first week to the second. There will be a cut after the first week to 70 and ties. College players in the field who enter as amateurs can defer LPGA membership and accept at any point until July 1, 2022.
Players who finished in the top 45 at Q-Series in 2019 were seeded Nos. 129 to 174 on the initial LPGA Priority List. Most full-field events range from 120 to 140 players.
