Thirteen Australians begin road to LPGA Tour

BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2007 LPGA Q-School (California) - Stage One | Preview | 18 Sep 2007

Qualifying for the 2008 USLPGA Tour begins tomorrow at the Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs in Rancho Mirage, California with nearly 170 players looking to secure one of the 30 places from this venue for final stage qualifying in early December in Daytona Beach, Florida.

A further 30 places will be available at the Plantation Golf and Country Club’s Bobcat and Panther courses in Venice, Florida from October 2nd to 5th. The graduates will then be joined by non-exempt players from the LPGA Tour and ten players from the Duramed Futures Tour to make up the field of 140 players to play for one of fifteen fully exempt places available on the LPGA Tour in 2008. Another 25 non-exempt places on the 2008 LPGA Tour are also available at the final stage.

Several players are entered in both California and Florida to hopefully increase their chances of making it through to the final stage.

Thirteen Australians, one New Zealander and one Australian based Korean are amongst those entered, several of whom have already proven themselves as winners on the European Tour.

New South Wales golfer, Nikki Garrett, who has won twice in 2007 on the Ladies European Tour, Joanne Mills, who won earlier this season in Europe, Sarah Kemp, who won in 2006 on the Ladies European Tour and Gold Coast based Korean, Amy Yang, who at the age of 16 won the 2006 ANZ Ladies Masters, are all in the field.

Anna Rawson, Kristie Smith, Sarah Kemp, Leah Hart, Emily Tankey, Sarah Jane Kenyon, Helen Oh, Polly Travicia, Sarah Oh, Rachel Bailey, Priscilla Duffield and New Zealander Stacey Tate are other Australasians vying for graduation to the final stage.