Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament
LPGA International – Jones & Hill Courses
Daytona Beach, Florida
Storylines
December 1, 2014
First Round Pairings>>
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., December 1, 2014 – Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament will be held Wednesday, December 3 through Sunday, December 7 at LPGA International – Jones & Hill Courses.
There are 154 players in the field competing to earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2015 season.
Players who finish in the top 20 will earn membership through category 12 on the LPGA Tour priority list while those who finish 21 through 45 with earn membership through category 17. In laymen’s terms, players who finish in the top 20 will have “full-time” status on the LPGA Tour while players that finish 21 through 45 will have “conditional” status. For example, Jaye Marie Green, who was the medalist at Final Stage of Qualifying Tournament in 2013, played in 22 of 32 LPGA Tour events in 2014.
There will be a 72-hole cut after play on Saturday. The top 70 plus ties will tee off in the fifth and final round on Sunday.
There is a $50,000 purse for the event with the medalist taking home $5,000.
There are four different ways that players earned entry into the field this week: by finishing in the top 80 at Stage II of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament, by finishing 11 through 30 on the Epson Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list, by being in the top 40 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings or by having 2014 LPGA Tour membership.
This is believed to be one of the strongest Qualifying Tournament fields in recent history as it includes three players in the top 40 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and three players who have posted a top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour in 2014.
THREE IN TOP 40 IN ROLEX WOMEN’S WORLD GOLF RANKINGS (WWGR): This year’s field is one of the strongest in recent memory with three players inside the top 40 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings: Ha Na Jang (No. 25, Seoul, South Korea), Charley Hull (No. 37, Kettering, England) and Sei Young Kim (No. 40, Seoul, South Korea).
Jang, who is currently a member of the KLPGA, played in three LPGA Tour events in 2014. She finished in a tie for third at The Evian Championship and earned $195,042. She also played in the LPGA LOTTE Championship (T32) and the LPGA KEB HanaBank (T35). In 2013, Jang won four tournaments on the KLPGA and was the leading money earner.
Hull, 18, played in nine LPGA Tour events in 2014 - six as a sponsor invite, two through the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and one through exemption from the Solheim Cup. She posted two top-10 finishes and four top-20 results. Her best finish on the LPGA Tour was a tie for third at the Airbus LPGA Classic (full list of LPGA tournament schedule below). Hull earned a total of $213,005 as a non-member professional.
She turned professional in 2013 and was the Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year. She was selected to play on the 2013 European Solheim Cup team where she posted a 2-1 record.
| Charley Hull LPGA Tournament | Eligibility | Finish | Money Earned |
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | Qualified – Solheim Cup 2013 | T7 | $51,522 |
| Swinging Skirts | Sponsor Invite | MC | |
| Kingsmill Championship | Sponsor Invite | T18 | $15,001 |
| Airbus LPGA Classic | Sponsor Invite | T3 | $70,089 |
| RICOH Women’s British | Open Qualified - Rolex Rankings | T12 | $51,257 |
| Canadian Pacific Women’s Open | Sponsor Invite | T55 | $6,017 |
| Portland Classic | Sponsor Invite | MC | |
| The Evian Championship | Qualified – Rolex Rankings | T47 | $13,860 |
| Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia | Sponsor Invite | T58 | $5,259 |
Kim, also a member of the KLPGA since 2011, played in five LPGA Tour events in 2014 with her best finish a tie for 42nd at the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship.
Sakura Yokomine (No. 44), Minjee Lee (No. 82), Ariya Jutanugarn (No. 91) and Valentine Derrey (No. 100) are also in the top-100 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. There are seven total players in the field this week in the top 100 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
WINNERS IN THE FIELD THIS WEEK: There are past LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and Epson Tour winners in the field this week.
LPGA Tour Winners
- Birdie Kim – 2005 U.S. Women’s Open
- Lorie Kane (4) – 2000 Michelob Light Classic, 2000 New Albany Golf Classic, 2000 Mizuno Classic, 2000 LPGA Takefuji Classic
- Silvia Cavalleri – 2007 Corona Championship
Ladies European Tour Winners
- Cheyenne Woods – 2014 RACV Australian Ladies Masters
- Charley Hull – 2014 Lalla Meryem Cup
- Valentine Derrey – 2014 Turkish Airlines Ladies Open
- Sophie Giquel-Bettan – 2007 Ladies Open de Portugal
- Stacey Keating – 2012 Tenerife Open de Espana Feminino, 2012 Lacoste Ladies Open de France
Epson Tour Winners (players that won in 2013 and 2014)
- Madison Pressel – 2014 Decatur-Forsyth Classic
- Marita Engzelius – 2014 Epson Tour Championship
- Nicole Vandermade – 2014 Four Winds Invitational
- Molly Aronsson – 2014 Island Resort Championship
- Veronica Felibert – 2014 Credit Union Classic
- Olivia Jordan-Higgins (2) – 2014 Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic, 2013 Credit Union Classic
- Guilia Molinaro – 2013 Friends of Mission Charity Classic
- Christine Song (4) – 2013 Eagle Classic, 2013 Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay, 2010 Teva Championship and 2010 Ladies Titan Tire Challenge
- Cydney Clanton – 2013 Four Winds Invitational
- Sue Kim – 2013 Decatur-Forsyth Classic
- Jaclyn Sweeney (2) – 2013 VisitMesa.com Gateway Classic, 2012 Credit Union Challenge
- Megan McChrystal (2) – 2013 Epson Tour Championship, 2012 Florida’s Natural Charity Classic
3RD AT U.S. OPEN AND NOW FINAL STAGE: Stephanie Meadow finished third at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, right behind Rolex Rankings No. 6 Michelle Wie and No. 2 Stacy Lewis. Meadow, who was a 2013-14 WGCA 1st Team All-American at the University of Alabama, quickly established herself as a rising star with the $271,373 payday.
Meadow played in a total of five LPGA events in 2014. Her next best result was a tie for 19th at the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.
The Jordanstown, Northern Ireland native had a stellar four-year career at Alabama. She was the first four-time 1st Team All-American in school history. Meadow posted nine wins at Alabama.
She is looking to become the first golfer representing Northern Ireland to play on the LPGA Tour.
FORMER TOP RANKED AMATEUR MINJEE LEE IN FIELD: Minjee Lee turned professional at The Evian Championship in 2014 and proved that she was ready for the LPGA Tour. She finished in a tie for 16th with Stacy Lewis, Lizette Salas and Ji Young Oh.
Lee made a splash on Tour when she was the low amateur at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, finishing in a tie for 24th.
Lee was the top-ranked amateur in the world before turning professional. She won the 2012 U.S. Junior Girls’ and the 2013 and 2014 Australian Women’s Amateur title.
She also played with Karrie Webb and Team Australia in the inaugural International Crown this year.
Fellow countrywoman Su Oh (East Bentleigh, Australia), who is currently No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, will also pursue an LPGA Tour card this week.
Oh made the cut at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and finished second at the Canadian Amateur Championship. She helped Australia win the World Amateur Team Championship in Japan.
CHEYENNE WOODS TAKES AIM AT LPGA: Cheyenne Woods, the niece of 79-time PGA TOUR winner Tiger Woods, will take her second crack at the Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament. Last year, she missed the 72-hole cut (+3) and finished 8-over for the four days (77-73-73-73).
Woods had a busy 2014 season, playing in five LPGA Tour events, 14 Epson Tour events and eight Ladies European Tour tournaments. Her best finish on the LPGA Tour was a tie for 23rd at the ISPS Women’s Australian Open. Woods played in three LPGA majors - U.S. Women’s Open, RICOH Women’s British Open and The Evian Championship.
In February, she won the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour.
Woods finished 52nd on the Epson Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list with one top-10 finish.
WGCA FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR ALISON LEE: Alison Lee (Valencia, Calif.), now a sophomore at UCLA, was the 2014 Women’s Golf Coaches Association Freshman of the Year and also won the Golfstat Cup, given to the player with the lowest scoring average in the country (71.02, single-season UCLA record). She was also named the 2014 Pac-12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year after winning the Pac-12 Championship.
Lee, who finished T4 at Stage I and solo second at Stage II, will now take aim at the LPGA Tour.
This summer, Lee was part of the United States Curtis Cup team and posted a mark of 3-1-1 in her matches. She also finished fourth in stroke play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Lee is entering the Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament as an amateur.
THREE TRYING TO JOIN SISTERS ON LPGA: There are three players in the field who are trying to join their older sisters on the LPGA Tour. Madison Pressel (Morgan), Ju Young Park (Hee Young) and Ariya Jutanugarn (Moriya) all have sisters that play on the LPGA Tour.
Madison finished 22nd on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in her rookie year on the Epson Tour. She won the Decatur-Forsyth Classic. Morgan has two career LPGA Tour victories and 50 top-10 finishes.
Ju Young finished in a tie for eighth at Stage II of LPGA Qualifying Tournament. Her older sister Hee Young finished 17th on the Race to the CME Globe this year with two top-10 finishes. Hee Young has two career LPGA Tour wins.
Ariya played in ten LPGA Tour events and six Ladies European Tour events in 2014. Her best finish on the LPGA Tour was a solo 16th at the LPGA LOTTE Championship. Moriya was the 2013 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year on the LPGA Tour. Moriya finished 56th on the LPGA Tour official money list in 2014 with two top-10 finishes.
10 WGCA 2013-14 ALL-AMERICANS IN FIELD: There are ten 2013-2014 WGCA All-Americans (First-Team, Second-Team or Honorable Mention) in the field this week.
First Team
Laetitia Beck – Duke University
Alison Lee – UCLA
Stephanie Meadow – University of Alabama
Second Team
Simin Feng – Vanderbilt University
SooBin Kim – University of Washington
Yu Liu – Duke University
Annie Park – USC
Honorable Mention
Augusta James – North Carolina State University
Chirapat Jao-Javanil – University of Oklahoma
Sophia Popov - USC
11-30 ON EPSON TOUR VOLVIK RACE FOR THE CARD MONEY LIST: Players that finished No. 11 through No. 30 on the Epson Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list were exempt to the Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament. In that group, six won on the Epson Tour in 2014.
- No. 11 Veronica Felibert (Caracas, Venezuela) – Credit Union Classic
- No. 15 Marita Engzelius (Oslo, Norway) – Epson Tour Championship
- No. 17 Nicole Vandermade (Brandtford, Ontario) – Four Winds Invitational
- No. 20 Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Jersey, Channel Islands UK) – Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic
- No. 22 Madison Pressel (Boca Raton, Florida) – Decatur Forsyth Classic
- No. 30 Molly Aronsson (Shelburne, Vermont) – Island Resort Championship
A total of 54 Epson Tour members have advanced to final stage.
PAST MEDALISTS OF FINAL STAGE: Although winning medalist honors is not the ultimate goal, here is a look at who earned medalist honors at Final Stage over the last ten years.
2013 – Jaye Marie Green (-25)
2012 – Rebecca Lee-Bentham/Moriya Jutanugarn (-13)
2011 – Junthima Guluanamitta (-10)
2010 – Aree Song (-6)
2009 – Amanda Blumenherst (-9)
2008 – Stacy Lewis (-18)
2007 – Jane Park (-17)
2006 – Hye Jung Choi/In-Kyung Kim (-13)
2005 – Ai Miyazato (-17)
2004 – Paula Creamer (-11)
Lewis (11), Miyazato (9) and Creamer (10) have combined for 30 LPGA Tour victories since earning medalist honors at Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament.
FINAL STAGE BY THE NUMBERS: Here are some numbers for Final Stage of Qualifying Tournament.
3 – Number of players who have won on the LPGA Tour in the field (Lorie Kane, Birdie Kim, Silvia Cavalleri)
12 – Number of players who have amateur status heading into the week
16 – Number of players from the state of Florida
32 – Number of countries represented this week including the United States
99 – Number of LPGA Tour top-10 finishes for Lorie Kane, most in the field
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