Tag: Symetra Tour Championship

Meet the 10 Symetra Tour graduates who earned LPGA cards for 2022

This group includes a U.S. Women’s Amateur winner, an NCAA champ and a certified yoga instructor.

Heading into the Symetra Tour Championship, the 20th event on this year’s schedule, six players had already wrapped up LPGA cards for the 2022 season. Four more followed after the 72-hole event at LPGA International.

From 1999-2002, the official qualifying tour of the LPGA handed out three cards. Then from 2003-2007, that number increased to five before 10 were distributed starting in 2008.

Here are the top 10 players from the 2021 Money List:

1. Lilia Vu, 23, Fountain Valley, California, $162,292 ­– A three-time winner in 2021, former UCLA standout also notched five additional top-5 finishes this season on the Symetra Tour to win Player of the Year honors. Won eight titles as a Bruin. Wasn’t all that long that Vu considering quitting golf, but mom kept her going.

 2. Fatima Fernandez Cano, 25, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, $119,180 – Didn’t win on the Symetra Tour but posted seven top-5 finishes. Came into the final event leading the tour in birdies. Won eight titles at Troy University.

 3. Casey Danielson, 26, Osceola, Wisconsin, $114,534 – A two-time winner this season, Danielson wrapped up the season with a runner-up showing at Tour Championship. Member of the 2015 NCAA-winning Stanford team. Certified yoga instructor.

 4. Sophia Schubert, 25, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, $101,163 – Won first Symetra Title in penultimate event to secure her card, capping a stretch of six top-10 finishes. Texas grad won the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

5. Ruixin Liu, 22, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China, $95,281 – Two-time winner this season who played in only 13 of the tour’s 20 events. Boasts six career victories on the developmental tour. Won the 2018 Symetra Tour Player of the Year Award. Made three starts on the LPGA this season, finishing T-16 at the Pure Silk.

6. Maude-Aimee Leblanc, 32, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, $94,188 – Three runner-up showing in 2021. Came into the final event leading the tour in scoring at 70.13. Top five in both putting categories. Helped Purdue win the 2010 NCAA title.

7. Amanda Doherty, 24, Atlanta, $90,921 – Florida State grad finished the season in a share of third at the Tour Championship for her eighth top-10 finish. Leads Symetra tour in putts per greens in regulation. Named Gaelle Truet Rookie of the Year.

8. Allison Emrey, 28, Charlotte, $82,644 – Won once to go along with five additional top 10s. Wake Forest grad earns her card after six seasons on the Symetra Tour. Best previous finish on the money list was 14th last year.

9. Morgane Metraux, 24, Lausanne, Switzerland, $75,771 – Notched her first Symetra victory in June at the Island Resort Championship to earn a spot in the Amundi Evian. Chose to play skip the Tokyo Olympics to fulfill a dream of playing the Evian. Sister Kim, who also played at Florida State, competes on the Ladies European Tour.

10. Rachel Rohanna, 30, Marianna, Pennsylvania, $75,608 – Busy mom to daughter Gemelia makes her way back to the LPGA thanks to a hot stretch in July that included three top-three finishes. Ranks first on tour in eagles. Family runs a cattle ranch in Pennsylvania.

[lawrence-related id=778167283,778167260,778167235,778167243]

Frida Kinhult earns LPGA card with Symetra Tour Championship win

Frida Kinhult is headed to the LPGA after her win at the Symetra Tour Championship.

Frida Kinhult was all smiles Friday afternoon at River Run Country Club for a few reasons.

First and most obvious, the 21-year-old won the Symetra Tour Championship by four shots after surviving some trouble on the back nine for her first career win on the tour. Most importantly, she earned her LPGA tour card and a U.S. Women’s Open invite with her win in Davidson, North Carolina.

The former No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings from Fiskebackskil, Sweden, shot rounds of 68-71-69-70 to finish the tournament at 10 under. Her final round began with four birdies on the front nine to lead by seven shots at the turn. Kinhult added another birdie on No. 10 to sit at 13 under overall, before a little bit of trouble began.

The former Florida State golfer carded bogeys on Nos. 12, 14 and 17. However, her performance through the event’s first 65 holes gave her some security.

Finishing in second, four shots behind Kinhult, was Demi Runas at 6 under. Runas shot a final-round 66 thanks to a hot start to her round with five birdies within the first six holes, and back-to-back birdies to finish.

Former Florida Gator Sierra Brooks finished third at 4 under. Laura Wearn finished in fourth at 2 under while Janie Jackson and 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Gabi Ruffels finished T-5 at 1 under.

The top 5 golfers on the 2020 Symetra Tour money list earned LPGA cards: Former Duke golfer Ana Belac; Fatima Fernandez Cano, who withdrew from the Symetra Tour finale after testing positive for COVID-19; Kim Kaufman; Kinhult; and Janie Jackson all finished Nos. 1-5 respectively on the 2020 Symetra Tour money list.