Yes! Cheyenne Woods Still Planning to Focus on the Symetra Tour in 2014

Randall Mell is reporting that Cheyenne Woods's plans to work her way onto the LPGA via the Symetra Tour this season haven't changed following her surprise victory at the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters.  This is a really smart decision.  I'm glad that Cheyenne has her head on straight and that she and her management team are being realistic and thinking long-term.

Other than winning on the LPGA this season, somehow earning enough via sponsor exemptions into full-field events to make the equivalent of top 40 on the 2014 LPGA money list, or finishing in the top 20 at Q-School at the end of the year, there's no other way onto the LPGA than via the  Symetra Tour.  And of the 4 ways, getting into the top 10 on the Symetra Tour money list is the best bet.  (And if her game keeps improving, she may win enough times on the Symetra Tour to earn a "battlefield promotion" onto the LPGA this season.)

Given how limited the Symetra Tour schedule is (and the LET schedule for that matter), I suspect Woods will still get her share of LET and LPGA starts this season.  All she has to do is focus on the Symetra Tour from roughly next week through June (playing a good proportion of their 1st 13 events).  If she's doing well there in the 1st half of the season, she can turn her attention to majors (she's already in the Women's British Open in July and the Evian in September, thanks to her LET victory, and there's nothing stopping her from trying to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open in June and maybe getting another sponsor exemption into the Wegmans LPGA Championship in August)--and then to the LET after Evian.  If not, she can mostly stay in the States and play enough of the Symetra Tour's last 5 events in late July through early September to guarantee herself an LPGA card for 2015.  And even if that doesn't happen, she should finish high enough on the money list to get a free pass into the final stage of Q-School.

For a player with Woods's skills and career trajectory, focusing on the Symetra Tour is the best possible decision for this season.  Kudos to her for making and committing to it!