Q-School: The Last Cut's the Hardest

Around the end of the ADT Championship, I remarked that the 2007 season was all over but the shouting--that was for Q-School. Mulligan Stu surveys who's shouting for joy over at Waggle Room, while Dave Seanor also covers some of those shouting from frustration over at Golfweek (although I'm surprised Taylor Leon didn't get a paragraph). But the most interesting page to me--outside of the Seoul Sisters discussion board thread--simply lays out the final results from the tournament itself.

It shows the Super Sophs in Q-School--Virada Nirapathpongporn, Nina Reis, and Na Ri Kim--were not the only ones unable to improve on the conditional status they had already earned via the 2007 money list...there were 8 others who made it to the final round who proved unable to draw on their LPGA experience and make a late charge. But Danielle Downey, a completely unheralded member of the Class of 2006 (and a Rochester, NY, native!), gave herself a chance to compete week in and week out in 2008--we'll see if she takes advantage of it.

It also shows how strong the Class of 2007 may yet prove to be, for with Jane Park and Su A Kim leading the way at Q-School, and Becky Lucidi and Sophie Giquel giving themselves another lease on life by gaining 2 of the last few cards, Angela Park, In-Kyung Kim, Inbee Park, Na On Min, Jin Joo Hong, Charlotte Mayorkas, and Ji Young Oh will have even more company, especially when you count classmates with non-exempt status like Song Hee Kim and maybe even Eun-Hee Ji, a KLPGA star who earned exempt status through the 2007 money list. But they won't be joined by Maru Martinez, who missed the last cut.

Speaking of the KLPGA, Hee Young Park will be coming to the LPGA for sure, but Na-Yeon Choi, who had a disappointing Q-School and finished 2 shots shy of a card, will have an interesting choice to make: what kind of schedule will she plan for 2008? Same goes for LET standouts Ashleigh Simon and Anna Rawson, who just missed exempt status, and Amy Yang, who just missed missing non-exempt status--they will face the same choice that Super Sophs with non-exempt status on the LPGA and exempt status on the LET like Minea Blomqvist and Nina Reis have to make. Better to have a choice, as Kiran Matharu and Nikki Garrett can attest.

More on the Class of 2008 in 2008!