Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Recommended Reading: Beth Ann Baldry and Brent Kelley on Going Pro and LPGA Q-School

Brent Kelley reminds us that the 4-round California sectional qualifier for LPGA Q-School begins today (at the site of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, no less) and points us toward Beth Ann Baldry's well-researched "Dollars or Degrees?" article on the decision to turn pro for top female amateur golfers.

Here are the 1st-round pairings at Mission Hills. In addition to the notables Kelley and Baldry mention, I'm curious to see how Japanese amateurs Ai Miyazawa (who lost in the 1st round of match play at the U.S. Women's Amateur this year) and Harukyo Nomura (who made it to the quarterfinals in the Japan Women's Amateur last year and made the cut at the Golf5 Ladies on the JLPGA this month) do relative to Tokyo-born and Hawaii-residing Ayaka Kaneko, Kyoto-born and University of Wisconsin-educated Lilly Kobayashi, and Maui's own Shayna Miyajima. My guess is that none of them will move on from this sectional qualifier (despite Miyazawa's and Nomura's achievements as junior golfers in Japan), but we'll see!

[Update 1 (1:43 pm): By the way, both Miyazawa and Nomura are entered in what's probably the biggest tournament in women's golf in September, the Japan Women's Open. I'll explain that comment in tomorrow's post!]

[Update 2 (11:33 pm): Here are the 1st-round results.]

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