Survive and Advance

Rising stars emerged and dreams were shattered this week at the second stage of LPGA Q school.

The Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla., hosted 189 players in a 72-hole, no-cut event as things returned to normal, at least as normal as a qualifying event can be. Last year’s qualifier was postponed nearly a month after Hurricane Ian struck the region. This year the schedule returned to its customary August-October-December cadence, allowing players set intervals as they chased their dream of earning an LPGA Tour card.

A total of 41 players advanced to the Q-Series in late November-December, a six-round event at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Ala., a facility on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The top 45 (and ties) will earn LPGA status. 

Here’s a look at some of the big names who advanced … and others who didn’t.

‍Notables to advance

‍Ingrid Lindblad: Things got off to a rocky start for the now top-ranked amateur when her suitcase came up missing after her flight touched down. Lindblad said she had packed two weeks of clothes and dropped hundreds of dollars to replace it all. Undaunted, she claimed medalist honors after assembling rounds of 67-66-70-67.

The well-accomplished Swede spent a good portion of her college career in the shadow of Rose Zhang, but she has had a historic amateur career of her own. In 4½ seasons at LSU, Lindblad has won 11 times, and she was the low amateur at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open and won the European Ladies Amateur Championship.

‍Savannah Grewal: As a teenager, Grewal was diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia, or SVT, an erratic, and in her case accelerated, heartbeat that affects the upper chambers of the heart. At the start of her sophomore year at Clemson, she opted for surgery and returned to the golf course two months later.

Grewal has spent the rest of her college career on an impressive upward trajectory. Achieving a program-low stroke average as a senior, she helped lead the Tigers to their first conference title, then shot a school-record 63 at regionals to send Clemson to the NCAA championship tournament. Grewal finished T-6 in Florida.

‍Christina Kim: An LPGA veteran with three wins, the 39-year-old struggled to gain much traction with conditional status in 2023. She claimed a T-8 on the strength of a third-round 65.

‍Saki Baba: The talented Japanese teenager vaulted onto the international stage when she won the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur in stunning fashion, defeating Monet Chun, 11 and 9, at Chambers Bay to become only the second Japanese winner in the history of the event. She followed up with some big finishes, including top fives at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Toyota Junior World Cup. She finished T-15.

‍Notables to miss

‍Bronte Law: The player who had a big year in 2019, with a win in Sunday singles at the Solheim Cup and a victory at the Pure Silk Championship on the LPGA Tour, struggled while having conditional status in 2023. She fell a couple of shots short despite a final-round 69.

‍Alana Uriell: After a DQ at Q-Series in 2022 for signing an incorrect scorecard, Uriell played a full Epson Tour schedule, highlighted by a T-6 at the Epson Tour Championship, but she never got it going in Florida and missed by two shots.

‍Jensen Castle: One of the biggest personalities in the amateur game, Castle took the golf world by storm when she won the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur as the No. 63 seed. The Kentucky grad student was part of the winning U.S. Curtis Cup team in 2022 but struggled in 2023. She fell three shots short.

‍Amari Avery: One of the brightest stars in the college game, Avery broke out as a freshman in 2022 with three wins, then led USC to the Pac-12 title and to the NCAA championship match as a sophomore. She couldn’t rebound from a third-round 77.

‍Amateurs who finished inside the top 41

Ingrid Lindblad, Savannah Grewal, Sabrina Iqbal, Saki Baba, Jennie Park, Lilly Thomas, Briana Chacon, Charlotte Heath and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard. (Note: Amateurs must turn professional if they intend to compete in Q-Series. The deadline to declare is Nov. 17.)

‍Closers

Oregon fifth-year senior Briana Chacon rebounded from a third-round 75 with a 5-under 67 to slide into the top 40. So did newly turned pro Benedetta Moresco, the low amateur at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open.

‍Heartbreak

Emilee Hoffman and Leah John, an amateur, went low in the final round, shooting 66 and 67, respectively, but they finished two shots outside the number.