Tag: Lucy Li

Lucy Li, 19, wins again on Epson Tour, virtually locks up LPGA card for 2023 season

Lucy Li won again on the Epson Tour, virtually locking up her LPGA card for 2023.

Lucy Li’s second victory of the season on the Epson Tour doesn’t yet technically make her a mathematical certainly for the LPGA, but it certainly looks good for the one-time prodigy.

Li’s wire-to-wire triumph at the Twin Bridges Championship gives her $107,241 for the season, $36,669 ahead of second place Linnea Strom. The top 10 players on the money list earn LPGA cards for the 2023 season.

Li shot 66-68-69 at Pinehaven Country Club to win by four over Strom.

“Having the support of your family, for me was huge,” said Li. “I can say that they never stopped believing in me, even when at some points it feels like you stop believing in yourself.”

Li, 19, burst onto the golf scene in 2014 when she became the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open at age 11. She turned professional at age 17, and has played the last three seasons on the Epson Tour.

Li currently leads the tour in scoring (69.39), rounds under par (27) and birdies (143).

“It’s a journey,” said Li. “And it’s different for everyone. But it’s important to boil it down to why you love playing this sport and focus more on that. I transformed my practice to focusing more on that enjoyment of the game.”

In keeping with that theme, Li said she might go to the Dave & Busters near her hotel after the victory.

“I have a ton of points I haven’t used,” she said with a smile, “so I hope they don’t expire.”

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Former high school hockey goaltender Sarah White wins Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute at Longbow

Sarah White capped off a final-round 68 with a birdie on the 18th hole to finish at 15 under to win the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute at Longbow.

Sarah White capped off a final-round 68 with a birdie on the 18th hole to finish at 15 under to win the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute at Longbow.

White, the starting goaltender for two seasons for East Kentwood High School’s varsity hockey team in Grand Rapids, Michigan, edged Casey Danielson and Sophia Popov by a shot.

“I have that competitive spirit in me from playing ice hockey for so many years,” White said after Saturday’s second round. “I know what it takes, the grind and all of that. I hit a 354-yard drive today and this course sets up for me really well. I’m also putting well, which trusting that frees me up.”

Danielson shot a final-round 65, a score that was matched by Demi Runas and Min-G Kim for the best scores of the day. Popov’s 63 on Saturday was the best score of the week.

Founders Tribute at Longbow scores

Fatima Fernandez Cano finished solo fourth at 12 under. Lucy Li shot a final-round 66 and finished in fifth.

Sunday’s final round in Mesa, Arizona, was played under an excessive heat warning, with the temperature reaching 109. Longbow Golf Club in Mesa withstood high temperatures for all three days of the 54-hole event, the Symetra Tour’s second on its restart. It was 112 during Friday’s first round. The Thursday pro-am saw temperatures climb to 114.

The Symetra Tour should find cooler weather in Beaumont, California, for its next tournament, the IOA Championship Presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Aug. 21-23.

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Lucy Li returns to competition on Symetra Tour

On Thursday, at the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute in Arizona, Lucy Li hit her first shot in a competitive round of golf since March 8.

She turned pro last November and she’s only played one tournament as a professional.

The global COVID pandemic put her career on hold, as it did for many others.

But on Thursday, Lucy Li hit her first shot in a competitive round of golf since March 8.

Even though the high temperature at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, for the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute is expected to reach 115 during Thursday’s first round, Li, 17, isn’t sweating the small stuff.

“It’s been fun,” she said after Wednesday’s pro-am regarding her extended time off from competition. “I started taking some college courses online. I took a few of those over the spring and summer and that’s kept me occupied.”

Many LPGA and aspiring LPGA players took to the mini tours over the summer. The Cactus Tour in Arizona had several events with good fields. But Li chose to work on her game at home.

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“I was practicing and studying and just doing random stuff to keep myself occupied,” she said. “Cooking, playing video games with my brother. I’ve actually been really busy.

“I make this really good pan pizza. My dad is obsessed with it. I was making it like every two, three days and my dad would always be asking for more. It was funny.”

Li shot 75-73-77 to post a T-43 finish in the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in March, earning her the first $627 of her pro career.

She did not play in the Symetra Tour’s restart at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan, two weeks ago.

So are there any extra nerves after more than five months away from competition?

“Not really, I mean, I haven’t played in so long, so who knows what’ll happen. But it’ll be fun to get back out and back in the groove.”

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Top 10 amateur storylines of the decade: Major feats and new frontiers

The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf gets.

The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf or even college competition gets. Despite that, the stories of underdogs, comebacks, record rounds and breakthroughs are seemingly never-ending.

The following list represents the most impactful moments in the game over the past decade, from players who accomplished meaningful things to opportunities that changed the amateur landscape forever.

10. The USGA calendar gets a makeover

T.J. Vogel with the U.S. Amateur Public Links trophy in 2012.

In 2013, the USGA announced that it would do something it had never done before: Retire a championship. The following year, the U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links were played for the final time. It was a big deal, considering that a Masters invitation was on the line for the winner of the APL. The hallmark of the Public Links championships was the opportunity they provided for the “everyman” golfer. Part of the USGA’s reasoning in ending them was the feeling that the tournaments ceased to serve their original purpose of creating opportunities for true public golfers.

The Public Links were replaced by the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in 2015, tournaments played in the late spring that overlap the college postseason.

A side effect of the Public Links retirement that’s worth noting is that it becomes that much harder for a player to win multiple USGA titles in one season. Eun-jeong Seong was the last player to do that in 2016 when she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur. For five of the eight players who have won multiple USGA titles in one season, a Public Links title accounted for one of those wins.

It’s worth noting that in 2017, the USGA also retired the State Team Championship, which had been played biennially since 1995.

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