Tag: Polly Mack

Ladies European Tour Q-School grads include Gabriela Ruffels and a host of talented young players now eligible for the Solheim Cup

This year’s Solheim Cup in Spain requires that European players be members of the LET.

Not long after LPGA Q-Series wrapped up in December, another marathon Qualifying School took place in Spain at La Manga Club for the Ladies European Tour. For Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels, it marked a second chance at a tour card after she missed the registration deadline for the final stage of LPGA Q-Series.

Ruffels, the former USC standout and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, finished eighth at LET Q-School to earn her card for the 2023 season. She’ll also have full status on the Epson Tour.

A pair of Germans topped the board after 90 holes as Polly Mack and Alexandra Försterling finished knotted at 15 under. Mack also tied for 15th at LPGA Q-Series earlier in the month to earn status for 2023.

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Another German player, Aline Krauter, tied for 17th to earn LET status after taking a share of third at LPGA Q-Series. Krauter played collegiate golf at Stanford alongside Albane Valenzuela, a Swiss player who now also has status on both the LPGA and LET. Valenzuela finished 68th on the CME points list in 2022 to retain a full LPGA card.

Other notables who earned LET cards include former UCLA standout Emma Spitz (T-6) and Scotland’s Louise Duncan (T-17).

A total of 24 players secured Category 12 membership for 2023 while 28 players clinched Category 16 membership.

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This year’s Solheim Cup in Spain requires that European players be members of the LET. In 2021, Matilda Castren memorably had to win on the LET to be eligible for Catriona Matthew’s team. She did so in dramatic fashion on home soil in Finland.

It’s possible that someone from this year’s LET Q-School could play her way onto Team Europe for the first time.

Anna Nordqvist, Caroline Masson, Caroline Hedwall and Jodi Ewart Shadoff all won LET Q-School before representing Europe on multiple occasions in the Solheim Cup.

The top two players from the LET Solheim Cup points ranking will qualify for the team along with the top six players from the Rolex Rankings who are not otherwise qualified. Suzann Pettersen will have four captain’s picks.

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Eight-round Q-Series gauntlet ends with 46 players securing LPGA status for 2023

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.

LPGA Q-SERIES: Leaderboard

“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.

“I’m really thankful for that.”

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ANNIKA Award: Final watch list for 2021-22 women’s college golf season

Check out who’s in the running for player of the year in women’s college golf.

The postseason is underway in women’s golf, and after last week’s NCAA Regionals, the NCAA Div. I Women’s Golf Championship field is set for May 20-25 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

With the championship field set, the race for the ANNIKA Award is starting to heat up. A handful of players have made their case throughout the season as front-runners for the ANNIKA Award, which honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.

The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the ANNIKA Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel writers.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual