Wednesday, December 11, 2013

JLPGA Q-School Results

The JLPGA completed its own final stage of Q-School last week, but I'm only just now getting around to figuring out the results.  There were no prominent names from other tours trying to break into the JLPGA, unlike, say, 2010.  Neither Saiki Fujita nor Ayako Uehara competed, which either means they're not going to be members in 2014 or they got some special status for next season and didn't have to go to Q-School.  [Note: See comments for corrections and details!  If you have google translate, see this, too!] Nor did Shinobu Moromizato or Tamie Durdin.  So who did compete and how did they do?

19-year-old Hikari Fujita was the medalist at -9.  She's been among Hokkaido's finest since she's been in elementary school, it seems, but hasn't done anything super-special on a national stage until last week.

Young-Joo John (or Jeon or Jun) finished 6 shots back after going +3 over her final 10 holes.  I don't know anything about her, so any history would be much appreciated.

Yeo-Jin Kang came in 3rd after matching cards with her compatriot (she went +5 over her final 10 holes).  She's been playing on the JLPGA since 2005 without much success, although she did finish 40th on the money list in 2012.

Kaori Yamamoto came in 4th at -2.  The 40-year-old has been on the JLPGA since 2001, but has never cracked the top 60 on the money list.

20-year-old Kumamoto native Haruna Taguchi came in 5th after matching cards with Yamamoto (she followed up an eagle on the par-4 9th in the final round with 3 bogeys in her next 7 holes before bouncing back with a walkoff birdie).  Her amateur career wasn't as impressive as Fujita's but she did finish in the elite 8 in the 2012 Japan Women's Amateur Championship.

Ji-Min Lee had an unimpressive start to her JLPGA career this season, finishing 80th on the money list, but she finished just ahead of Okinawan Satsuki Oshiro, who tied her at -1 with a walkoff birdie.  Oshiro has been playing on the JLPGA since 2010 but has never cracked the top 55 on the money list.

Among those at E were Erina Yamato, who's been trying to break into the JLPGA since 2010 but has finished inside the top 100 on the money list only once thus far, Saki Okamura, who premiered at #75 on the money list this season, and veteran Nobuko Kizawa, who's been playing on the JLPGA since 1991.

Familiar names further down the leaderboard who should get full playing status next season include Bo-Bae Song (+2, 13th), Mayumi Shimomura (+2, 15th), Yayoi Arasaki (+2, 17th), Yuko Saitoh (+3, 20th), Porani Chutichai (+3, 22nd), Yun-Jye Wei (+4, 25th), Na Zhang (+4, 26th), and Ji-Woo Lee (+5, 30th).  Song and Zhang are 2 of the players I'm most excited about in the entire field--it's a big deal that Zhang, in particular, who's been plagued by back injuries for years, will be returning to the JLPGA.

Players like So-Hee Kim (+6, 31st), Natsu Nagai (+6, 33rd), Aoi Nagata (+6, 34th), Yui Mukaiyama (+8, 36th), Shiho Toyonaga (+8, 39th), and Megumi Shimokawa (+9, 41st) should get into their fair share of events in 2014. 

Not so fortunate were Mihoko Iseri (+11, 49th), Ai Suzuki (+11, 52nd), Jessica Speechley (+11, 53rd), 21-year-old Kotono Kozuma (+13, 61st), Mikiko Nishi (+14, 65th), and Sakurako Mori (+15, 70th), who'll be struggling to cobble together a full schedule on the JLPGA in 2014.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saiki Fujita and Shinobu Moromizato have full playing cards for next year. Fujita finished 51st and qualified in her own right. Moromizato is a former JLPGA Championship winner and has a 5 year exemption.

As for Uehera she will be able to play on sponsor invites and can play where ever she wants basically.

The Constructivist said...

Oh, I thought only top 50 get cards from the money list....

Anonymous said...

Yes, you are correct that the top 50 keep there seeding (exempt) for the following year but you must remember that Yuri Fudoh who finished 30th on the money list is not included due to her having permanent seeding because she has won over 30 Tournaments. That being the case Saiki Fujita qualifies in 51st position.
Having said that Harukyo Nomura who finished 29th and qualified for her LPGA tour card in 2014 has been given a waiver by the JLPGA to give up her seeding for a year, this means that Wei Yun-jye who finished 52nd on the money list was given permanent seeding. Wei went through Qualifying and made it anyway bur her position has been taken by Yumi Takabayashi.

As for JLPGA Qschool the top 41 (Wei Yun-jye excluded) have full cards, 42-50 will get into about 25 events with 51-60 about 12 events.

In regard to 2014 the JLPGA Tournament Schedule was released on Tuesday and has been updated on Wikipedia in English.

The Constructivist said...

Awesome--thank you!!