The revamped method to qualify for the LPGA Tour, the Q-Series completed its two event, eight-round format early this month, with a Lady Buckeye near the top of the leaderboard.
Instead of a five-round gauntlet, Q-School as in past years, LPGA Tour hopefuls competed in two 72-hole tournaments held at Pinehurst over two weeks at the end of October and the beginning of November.
Scores were cumulative for the eight rounds. At the end of the first four rounds on Pinehurst No. 6, Klara Spilkova from the Czech Republic held the lead. Ohio State’s Jaclyn Lee was four shots behind her in second place with four rounds to go.
Lee was the BIG Ten Medalist at the 2018 conference championship and her season scoring average of 71.14 was 11th best in the nation.
In the second week of competition on Pinehurst No. 7, Spilkova remained near the lead, but a final round 76 dropped her to fourth. Jeongeun Lee6 fired rounds of 70-68-68-70 on No. 7 to get to 18-under-par and win by one stroke over amateur sensation Jennifer Kupcho. Sarah Schmelzel was third with Mel Reid capturing the fifth spot and the Buckeye’s Lee in sixth.
In all 45 women earn LPGA Tour cards for next season. Final scoring results can be found at: http://leaderboard.symetratour.com/public/QSLeaderboard.aspx
