Tag: LPGA Q-Series

LPGA Q-Series: Haley Moore putting tough season behind her with opening 67

At one point during her season, Haley Moore missed 10 consecutive cuts.

There was a point during Haley Moore’s second rookie season that she missed 10 consecutive cuts. Within that stretch, she played seven consecutive weeks of tournaments. It was as difficult as it sounds.

“Some of them I missed by one shot,” she said, “some I had missed by a lot. That was just really hard on me.”

Moore talked briefly about that time on the eve of Q-Series, punctuating everything as positively as she could. She learned a lot –  about the importance of good communication with her caddie, about when to play aggressively, about putting in a little more time to practice.

“I’ve gotten down a couple times,” she said, “but I just told myself it happens, it’s golf. It happens to everyone.”

And then the 23-year-old Arizona grad said the thing that keeps everyone going in this game: “Once you have that one really good week out there, it’s going to all come together.”

Amen.

Coming back to Q-Series is never part of anyone’s plan, but Moore knows that she has successfully fought her way through this eight-round gauntlet before, and after an opening 5-under 67 she’s keen to do it again.

Three players share the lead at 6 under after Round 1 at RTJ Magnolia Grove: Emily Kristine Pedersen, Peiyun Chien, and Alejandra Llano. Moore’s 67 came on the Crossings Course. The top 70 and ties will move on to Week 2 where the top 45 and ties will earn LPGA status. Moore finished 137th on the CME points list this year and earned $36,895.

“I know that this week, it’s a marathon out here,” she said, “so just to pace yourself. Having one bad round is not going to kill you out here.”

LPGA: Solheim Cup - First Day - Foursomes
Emily Kristine Pedersen of Team Europe hits her tee shot on the eighteenth hole during the morning foursomes of the 2021 Solheim Cup at Inverness Club. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Pedersen, who has twice represented Europe at the Solheim Cup, carded six birdies and an eagle in her opening 65 on the par-71 Falls Course.

“I like the tree-lined,” she said. “I like everything is in front of you. I kind of feel like you have to hit it far. It’s a little bit of an advantage this week, which is good for me because I’m hitting it quite far.”

Alabama’s Polly Mack is the low amateur after an opening 68 to take a share of sixth. Atthaya Thitikul, the 18-year-old Thai player who won the LET’s Race to Costa del Sol and is No. 18 in the world, struggled to an opening 73 on the Crossings Course and is T-70.

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LPGA Q-Series: Eight-round grind features a major champ, college stars and two Solheim Cup players

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.

Here’s a look at some of the key players.

From the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society to the LPGA? Former NCAA champion is one step closer

This NCAA champion turned Cambridge grad may be the most well-rounded professional in golf.

Is Virginia Elena Carta the most well-rounded professional in golf? The NCAA champion turned Cambridge grad certainly makes a strong case after taking another big step toward earning an LPGA card.

Qualifying School is a grueling 288-hole grind. Carta advanced through the second stage on the number and heads home to Italy on Tuesday to prepare for the upcoming eight-round Q-Series on the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Alabama in December.

School happens to be where Carta excels, and she’s already a member of one of the oldest golfing societies in the world, having survived and thrived in an academic gauntlet to become part of The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society, known simply as The Society.

Virginia Elena Carta and the Cambridge Blues Golf Team (courtesy photo)

Last September, Carta became the fourth woman to ever compete in the University Golf Match (aka the Varsity Match) between Oxford and Cambridge, which dates back to 1878 and is the oldest amateur golf event in the world.

Last year’s Varsity Match was held at Muirfield, shortly after the historic club welcomed its first female members. In 2022, Muirfield will host the AIG Women’s British Open for the first time.

Should the affable Carta qualify, she knows it can’t possibly be set up any tougher than the Varsity Match, when she played the tips, as she did in each time she competed for the Cambridge Blues Team.

The weekend competitions featured 36-hole competitions held over the best courses in the United Kingdom, including Royal Porthcawl, Royal St. George’s, Rye, Sunningdale and the Old course. The Blues Team took on the best members of each club, and Carta had a blast wearing out her driver and 3-wood while enjoying stimulating conversation.

When asked if friends thought she was crazy to delay a professional golf career to pursue another degree, Carta said she heard the opposite: “You are crazy to give up your academics and your job to actually pursue the LPGA.”

Duke’s Virginia Elena Carta participates in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Women’s National Golf Championship at the Blessings Golf Club on Saturday, May 18, 2019 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Tim Cowie/ Duke Athletics)

Carta, who was named after author Virginia Woolf, graduated from Cambridge with a “Mphil” in Environmental Policy (which is equivalent to a Masters in the U.S.). She also earned a degree in Environmental Sciences and Policy at Duke, where she won the NCAA individual title as a freshman in 2016 and then helped Duke win a team title as a senior in 2019. She was also a finalist at the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won by Eun-jeong Seong.

When the opportunity to study at Cambridge presented itself, Carta knew her LPGA dream would have to wait.

“It is tough, I’m not gonna lie, she said of her time at Cambridge. “It is tough to still play and practice and be focused on golf while pursuing high-level academics.”

Upon graduation from Cambridge, Carta worked as a consultant at Domino Printing Sciences through July. The money she earned there got her professional career off the ground. Carta made her pro debut on home soil in May at the Ladies Italian Open, where she held the spotlight and missed the cut.

“The fact that I had a rough start was great for me,” she said, “because it just woke me up and made me realize that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.”

Virginia Elena Carta with her Cambridge team at Muirfield for the Varsity Match.

A tie for fifth at the Swiss Open and a share of sixth at the French Open in September, however, gave Carta a boost of confidence heading into Stage II.

Getting her game back in order, however, wasn’t the only necessity. Carta said without a sponsorship from Lineage Logistics, she would’ve had to stop playing.

At Q-School, where Carta continued her new tradition of not looking at leaderboards (even after the round on her phone), she survived a gnarly double-bogey on a par-5 she tried to reach in two on Sunday that included more tops and chunks than are fit for print.

But she then nearly holed-out for eagle on the next hole and kept it together enough coming down the stretch to finish 3 under in Venice, Florida, joining current Duke player Gina Kim (T-19) as two of the 47 players to advance.

“It was tough; it was intense; it doesn’t matter,” said a smiling Carta. “I’m just happy we got it done.”

Though Carta left Duke more than two years ago, her legacy there lives on in the Birdies For Babies program she started in 2018. The year-round fund-raising effort benefits the hospital’s Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care units and to date has raised nearly $70,000 between the men’s and women’s Blue Devil golf teams.

“What more could you hope for in a person than for her to be academic, giving and also a successful athlete?” Duke coach Dan Brooks once asked. “It’s pretty special.”

The very definition of doing it all.

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When it comes to college players, LPGA qualifying system still needs work

Time and time again, top college lose their best players after LPGA qualifying. The whole process needs another look.

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Albane Valenzuela apologized for the background noise. She was riding through campus on her bike (helmet on) as we discussed her decision to quit college golf with one semester remaining.

One day prior, the Stanford star stood before her teammates and told them something similar. Only there among friends, especially the seniors, Valenzuela bawled.

Walking out of that room, second thoughts poured in. Was she doing the right thing?

“I thought about that in my head,” she said, “but in my heart I think I knew it was time to turn pro.”

For those who don’t follow college golf regularly, this is a scene that plays out annually at top programs across the country. Elite players who want to position themselves for the next step sign up for LPGA qualifying and, in many cases, feel they can’t afford to put aside tour membership to finish out the spring semester. (It’s like the top five players in basketball getting drafted before March Madness.)

Along with Valenzuela, USC’s Jennifer Chang accepted her LPGA card and will turn pro for the start of the 2020 season. Florida’s Sierra Brooks and Frida Kinhult of Florida State will play a full season on the Symetra Tour in hopes of making their way to the LPGA.

The timing of Q-Series is awful for college programs. Stanford’s top-ranked player, Andrea Lee, has yet to announce if she will return for her final semester. It’s obviously impossible to replace two top-five players in the middle of the year.

Regardless of what Lee decides, the system still needs work.

The dates of Q-Series aren’t moving. So what else can be done?

Last year the LPGA allowed players to defer their tour status until after the spring semester. Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi were the first ones to try that route. Both enjoyed outstanding springs (Kupcho won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and Fassi won the NCAAs) and went on to keep their tour cards despite playing only half a season.

On one hand, the deferral system could be viewed as a rousing success. But it’s also possible that no one with a top-20 finish at Q-Series defers again.

Why? Because it’s a huge risk. Missing the first five months of the season presents a massive mountain to climb for a rookie. Kupcho killed it this year. She’s currently 38th on the money list with $502,123. Fassi, however, finished 98th on the money list and made only 11 starts. The difference between Fassi kicking back in November and heading to Q-Series was a mere $6,117.

Arkansas coach Shauna Estes-Taylor knows that hosting NCAAs last May played a massive role in Fassi’s decision to return to campus.

“If the situation had been different,” said Estes-Taylor, “I don’t know what her answer would’ve been.”

Similarly, the 2020 Olympics played a major role in Valenzuela’s decision to turn professional. She represented Switzerland in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro before coming to Stanford and places a return to that stage as her highest priority.

Even so, she’d like to see the LPGA work with college coaches to make it easier for players like her to finish out the spring semester.

Alabama coach Mic Potter believes a wrap-around money list might be a possible answer. Allow earnings to accumulate from June 1 to May 31 of the following year.

Here’s another idea: Rather than have the top players in college golf get a pass to the second stage of Q-School, where players only have to complete four rounds to earn Symetra Tour status, Estes-Taylor would like to see those players instead get exemptions straight onto the Symetra Tour after the spring season.

This would also keep players from needlessly missing college events in the fall and perhaps keep a few who aren’t ready for Q-Series from putting themselves in the position to advance by being forced to tee it up (and pay) for Stage II.

The LPGA is all about protecting its own. Well, here’s the truth: College players have a distinct advantage over professionals in the qualifying process.

Q-Series is an eight-day grind. There’s nothing easy about it. But college players certainly have the best shot at getting through because unlike professionals, they have a cushy backup plan.

“It’s not really fair,” said Estes-Taylor. “One group is playing to put food on the table, and the other group is testing the waters.”

The fix for that is an obvious one: Make Q-Series for professionals only.

“You go there as an amateur,” said Stacy Lewis, “you’ve got nothing to lose.”

(Lewis, by the way, was medalist at the 2008 Q-School after graduating from Arkansas.)

It’s not a bad thing to make these players face a decision that has consequences. The thought process for going to Q-Series and taking that next step without a safety net looks completely different to the current landscape.

Amateurs haven’t always been allowed to participate in Q-School.

Why not go back to that?

It’s up to the LPGA to make some changes that will benefit all of women’s golf. Deferral was a good idea in theory, but there won’t be many Kupchos and Fassis who follow.

College golf isn’t the tour’s responsibility, but it is the main feeder system for the LPGA and Symetra Tour, and the lifeblood of American women’s golf.

Once again, there’s got to be a better way.

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Albane Valenzuela opts to leave Stanford golf to live out LPGA dream

Stanford senior Albane Valenzuela will head straight to the LPGA rather than finish out the spring with the Cardinal.

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Albane Valenzuela dreams of returning to the Olympics in 2020. It’s her ultimate goal, and therefore a major reason why she decided to forgo her final semester at Stanford to give herself the best chance of getting to Tokyo.

The qualification period for the Olympics ends June 29, 2020. Valenzuela hopes her new LPGA status helps her make the field of 60 players. She represented Switzerland in Rio de Janeiro before starting at Stanford in 2016 and tied for 21st.

“I think it would complete a great circle,” said Valenzuela of the possibility of returning to the Olympics on the heels of graduating from Stanford with a degree in political science.

Valenzuela told her coaches and teammates earlier this week of her decision to quit college golf. She was one of two Stanford seniors to earn LPGA status for the 2020 season at the recent Q-Series. While Valenzuela tied for sixth, teammate Andrea Lee took a share of 30th. Lee, who was recently the top-ranked amateur in the world, has yet to announce her decision.

Stanford is currently ranked fifth by Golfweek.

A two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur finalist, Valenzuela is currently No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She has made the cut in numerous LPGA majors, recently earning low-amateur honors at the Evian Championship.

“My decision does not come from a place that I wanted to stop college golf,” said Valenzuela. “It was more about me and my aspirations as a professional golfer. My dream of going back to the Olympics.”

As a junior, Valenzuela was named the Pac-12 Women’s Golfer of the Year, the first in program history.

Of the five college players who teed it up at Q-Series, Valenzuela is the fourth to turn professional. She joins USC’s Jennifer Chang, Frida Kinhult of Florida State and Florida’s Sierra Brooks.

Last year the LPGA introduced the option to defer LPGA status to June so that players could participate in the postseason and still keep their cards. Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi were the first to choose that route. So far, no one has followed suit.

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