Laura Gonzalez Escallon broke 70 3 out of 4 rounds at the site of the Kraft Nabisco Championship to win medallist honors at Stage 1 of LPGA's Q-School by 3 shots over the only other golfer in the field to fire as many rounds in the 60s as she did, Cheyenne Woods. With only 12 players going under par over 72 holes, and the cut line ending up at +11, not too many who moved on to Stage 2 are going to strike much fear in the hearts of those who got an exemption past the 1st stage, but Mia Piccio (-8), Erica Popson (-7), Julie Yang (-7), Pinrath Loomboonruang (-6), and Yueer Cindy Feng (-5) certainly established themselves, and most of the players I highlighted in my preview moved on (although some just barely).
Unfortunately, Georgette Rolle (an early WD), Izzy Lendl (+13), Hwanhee Lee (+13), Tiffany Lua (+14), Kyle Roig (+14), Kimberly Kim (+15), Jillian Fraccola (+28), and Angela Park (+34) weren't among them. That means no Symetra Tour status, so it's either a year on the U.S. mini-tours or off to the LET's Q-School later this year in Morocco for those who are already pros (a path Woods took last year with great success this year) and probably another year as amateurs for the rest.
The next stage of LPGA's Q-School for Stage 1's survivors takes place in Florida from October 8th through 11th. Among those on the preliminary field list are Sun-Ju Ahn, who's starred on both the KLPGA and JLPGA, Charley Hull, the darling of the Solheim Cup, Lee-Anne Pace, former Order of Merit leader on the LET, Melissa Reid, who's been searching for her game since her mother passed away but has been a force on the LET for years, ex-LPGAer Kristie Smith, and Cathryn Bristow, who's played on the ALPG, LET, and Symetra Tour, not to mention all the top players on the Symetra Tour who don't earn their 2014 LPGA cards via the money list in late September. Getting into the top 80 at that stage will be more of a challenge--and more of an accomplishment.
1 comment:
Wow..what a wonderful match it was.
Post a Comment