Q-School Saturday: Go Time!

The 4th-round pairings and Q-School leaderboard tell an interesting story: of the 49 golfers between E (T41) and +4 (T84), 31 are playing the Champions course and only 18 are playing the Legends. With that many people playing the course that has given up more rounds in the 60s, you can expect the cut line (currently at +2) to go down. So there's a lot of pressure on players like Jaclyn Sweeney (+4, T84), Sophia Sheridan (+3, T80), and Melissa Reid (+2, T67) to go low on a narrower course, just in case it goes all the way down to E. But even the 6 players on the right side of the bubble on the Legends--Sarah Kemp (-3, T20), Alison Walshe, Paola Moreno, Taylor Leon, Liz Janangelo, and Sarah Lynn Sargent (all -1, T31)--can't rest easy. They can't let the most important cut line--20th place--get too far out of reach. With 4 players already double digits under par and 14 at -5 or better, not to mention almost everyone already under par on the Champions course, I wouldn't be surprised to see those numbers swell to 8 and 24 by day's end. So the attitude of most people playing at all well this week has to be, put the pedal to the metal.

Right now I'd say that the best way to ensure you get an LPGA card worth anything is to try to get double digits under par by the 90th hole. That's why I don't expect to see the usual cut-line carnage today, with players wilting under the pressure of getting into the top 70 and ties (that's what tomorrow's hard top 20 is for!). What I expect to see is people leapfrogging each other with low scores. If you're not breaking 70 on the Champions course, you're probably moving backwards. We'll see if I'm right in less than 12 hours....

[Update 1 (11:12 pm): Well, here's how my top 20 fared:

1. Shiho Oyama 64-70-71-71 -12 4th (CLLC) yay!
2. Sun-Ju Ahn 78-68-WD (LCL) oh, man!
3. Miki Saiki 74-72-70-72 E T50 (LCCL) needs mid-60s or better tomorrow
4. Anna Nordqvist 74-71-73-69 -2 T35 (LCLC) needs her best round of the week to come tomorrow
5. Amy Yang 67-71-70-67 -13 3rd (CLLC) yay!!!
6. Michelle Wie 69-65-72-68 -14 2nd (LCLC) yay!!!
7. Stacy Lewis 69-66-71-67 -15 1st (CLLC) yay!!!
8. Melissa Reid 79-74-65-71 +1 T58 (LCCL) needs mid-60s or better tomorrow
9. Alison Walshe 79-72-64-70 -3 T29 (LCCL) time to go low again!
10. Mika Miyazato 66-74-72-68 -8 11th (CLLC) that's more like it!
11. Martina Eberl 80-68-73-69 +2 T61 (LCCL) needs mid-60s or better tomorrow
12. Dewi Claire Schreefel 74-70-74-74 +4 T9 (LCLC) oh, man!
13. Charlotte Mayorkas 75-67-66-69 -11 T5 (LCLC) wow!!!!
14. Anna Rawson 71-71-68-71 -7 T12 (CLLC) keep on keepin' on!
15. Tania Elosegui 79-66-71-69 -3 T29 (LCLC) all right, then!
16. Onnarin Sattayabanphot 70-74-75-73 +4 T79 (CLLC) oh, man!
17. Song Yi Choi 77-71-68-72 +2 T61 (LCCL) needs mid-60s or better tomorrow
18. Hannah Jun 74-70-78-68 +2 T61 (CLLC) needs mid-60s or better tomorrow
19. Carolina Llano 70-70-71-70 -7 T12 (LCLC) keep on keepin' on!
20. Pornanong Phatlum 75-69-72-71 -1 T44 (LCLC) time to go low tomorrow!

Not bad, but let's see how many strike-outs I pitched after 90 holes.]

[Update 2 (11:20 pm): Here are Hound Dog and Average Golfer.]

[Update 3 (11:21 pm): Here's LPGA.com.]

[Update 4 (11:30 pm): Here are the Golf Channel highlights.]

[Update 5 (11:33 pm): Eric Adelson is getting more meta as the week goes on. You gotta love it!]

[Update 6 (11:36 pm): Speaking of meta, do you get the feeling that maybe Ron Sirak is reading this blog?]

[Update 7 (11:39 pm): Nice of Beth Ann Baldry to profile some of my picks.]

[Update 8 (12/7/08, 10:18 am): Lisa Mickey does a nice little story on the 10 who made it on the dot into Sunday's play.]