Thursday, December 2, 2010

JLPGA Final Qualifying Tournament Thursday: Shanshan Feng Keeps the Pedal to the Medal

Shanshan Feng birdied 4 of her last 6 holes in the 3rd round of JLPGA's Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament to open up a 4-shot lead on fellow LPGAer Hee Young Park, who fired her 3rd-straight 69 (this one bogey-free). The only other player within shouting distance of Feng is the JLPGA's Satsuki Ushiro, whose 10th-hole eagle sparked a back-9 32 that moved her within 6 of the lead. The trio has opened up a big gap on the rest of the field in the race for medalist honors, but what Q-School is really all about is getting your card and there are some big-name players on the bubble heading into tomorrow's final round.

The CLPGA's Tao-Li Yang is recovering from a wrist injury and from an opening-round 77, but moved up to T43 today with a solid 71. Meanwhile, shaky 75s by Teresa Lu and Lindsey Wright left them at T29 and T37, respectively. 3rd-stage medalist Kumiko Kaneda stabilized her game after yesterday's disastrous 79; her 72 left her tied at +4 with Wright. They'll all need to play solid golf tomorrow to stay in the top 50 and get full status on the JLPGA for next season.

By contrast, fellow LPGAer Soo-Yun Kang's 7-birdie 69 moved her from T63 yesterday to T22 today. And JLPGA vet Kaori Higo bounced back from a terrible start to the tournament with a 5-birdie 70 that got her within sight of the top 50. Meanwhile, Brazilian-Japanese Maria Iida, the LET's Yuki Sakurai, and the JLPGA's Sakurako Mori will need miracles to make the top 50 tomorrow.

So here's how the leaders and notables stand heading into the final round of the final stage of JLPGA Q-School:

1st/-13 Shanshan Feng (70-66-67)
2nd/-9 Hee Young Park (69-69-69)
3rd/-7 Satsuki Oshiro (71-70-68)
4th/-5 Ji-Na Lim (70-70-71)
5th/-4 Cai Ying [Pei-Wing Tsai?] (71-70-71)
T6/-3 Bo-Mee Lee (69-74-70), Aiko Ueno (71-68-74)
T8/-2 Meena Lee (72-71-71), Chie Sakai (72-71-71), He Yong Choi (73-69-72), Natsu Nagai (69-73-72), Kaori Ohe (68-74-72), Yui Mukaiyama (70-70-74), Yumi Hirose (69-71-74), Jae-Hee Bae (67-70-77)

T16/-1 Mika Takushima (76-70-69), Shiho Oyama (71-70-74), Miki Uehara (71-70-74)
T19/E Mayumi Shimomura (70-74-72)
T22/+1 Soo-Yun Kang (73-75-69), Erika Kikuchi (71-73-73)
T25/+2 Yumiko Yoshida (73-73-72), Orie Fujino (72-71-75)
T29/+3 Erina Hara (73-74-72), Mihoko Iseri (71-76-72), Megumi Kido (72-73-74), Teresa Lu (70-74-75)
T37/+4 Kumiko Kaneda (69-79-72), Lindsey Wright (74-71-75), Ya-Huei Lu (69-75-76)
T43/+5 Tao-Li Yang (77-73-71), Julie Lu (75-74-72), So-Hee Kim (74-72-75), Onnarin Sattayabanphot (72-74-75)
T57/+6 Saori Ikushima (73-78-71), Yeo-Jin Kang (73-74-75), Miki Sakai (74-72-76), Kuniko Maeda (70-73-79)
T64/+7 Maiko Suzuki (70-77-76)
T69/+8 Ae-Na Jeon (76-75-73)
T75/+9 Kaori Higo (76-79-70)
T79/+10 Erina Hayashi (70-77-79)
T82/+11 Maria Iida (74-73-80)
T87/+13 Sakurako Mori (75-77-77)
T91/+14 Yuki Sakurai (77-76-77)

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