Stage II LPGA Q-School Day 4: Ginger Howard Medals; Mamiko Higa Fails to Advance to Stage III

It's official!  Ginger Howard is your medallist at LPGA Q-School Stage II!  The Symetra Tour regular shot a 71 today to finish the week at -9 and outplay Alison Lee (72, -8), Annie Park (70, -6), Su-Hyun Oh (74, -6), Minjee Lee (70, -5), Samantha Richdale (69, -5), and Karlin Beck (67, -5).  The top 80 and ties move on to Stage III, but 2013 JLPGA Rookie of the Year will not be among them.

Here's how all my Stage II notables fared:

Top Prospects

• Minjee Lee 72-67-74-70 (T5)
• Ariya Jutanugarn 73-75-73-70 (T51)
• Mamiko Higa 74-77-76-70 (T92)
• Stephanie Meadow 71-73-69-74 (T16)
• Nontaya Srisawang 72-73-73-70 (T22)
• Alison Lee 71-71-66-72 (2nd)
• Annie Park 70-71-71-70 (T3)
• Su-Hyun Oh 72-70-66-74 (T3)

Great Bets

• Emily Tubert 76-72-73-76 (T92)
• Cheyenne Woods 74-72-70-70 (T12)
• Grace Na 71-79-79-70 (T118)
• Laetitia Beck 77-75-71-72 (T78)
• Sophia Popov 71-73-70-76 (T41)
• SooBin Kim 75-74-76-69 (T72)
• Simin Feng 73-72-71-73 (T32)

Good Shots

• Valentine Derrey 73-73-70-72 (T22)
• Camilla Lennarth 71-74-70-72 (T16)
• Kylie Walker 75-70-80-74 (T118)
• Stephanie Na 81-73-76-71 (T138)
• Holly Clyburn DQ
• Haruka Morita (Wanyao Lu) 71-73-73-72 (T32)
• Chirapat Jao-Javanil 72-71-76-73 (T59)
• Ginger Howard 72-67-69-71 (1st)
• Yu Liu 77-70-71-72 (T41)
• Therese Koelbaek 72-73-74-72 (T51)

If I had remembered that Hee Young Park's younger sister was Ju Young Park, I would certainly have been tracking her progress this week.  As it turned out, she went 71-70-72-71 to finish T8!  Sophie Giquel also sneaked into the top 80 with a solid 73 today that left her at T78, right on the right side of the cut line at +7 for the week.  On the down side, I was sad to see that Mitsuki Katahira and Katie Kempter finished outside the top 80 and that Hannah Yun didn't even sign up for Q-School this year.  We'll have to wait and see what their plans for 2015 are.

To close on a happy note, let me offer my congratulations to everyone who moved on to Stage III and encouragement to those who didn't.