After a fortnight of pressure-packed golf, 46 players representing 21 different countries earned LPGA status for 2023 through Q-Series. A total of 23 of the 46 players will be LPGA rookies.
Hae Ran Ryu earned medalist honors, finishing at 29 under. The KLPGA player came into the event ranked 50th in the world. Ryu broke 70 in six of the eight rounds.
“I didn’t think that I could earn the LPGA tour card so soon,” said Ryu. “It’s still unreal to me that I could play on the LPGA tour.”
Three teenagers earned LPGA status for the first time, including former Netflix star Alexa Pano. Two players who are 30 and over are LPGA members for the first time.
Former Wake Forest player Ines Laklalech made history by becoming the first LPGA member from Morocco as well as North Africa and the Arab region.
Six players turned professional at the start of Q-Series. Two of those players earned LPGA status: Valery Plata and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap.
Plata, a fifth-year senior at Michigan State, prepped for final exams all throughout the tournament.
“I think it was good for me to just go home, stop thinking about what happened on the golf course and just think about school,” said Plata, who was 4 over in her first nine holes on Day 1 and finished the tournament 25 under.
Players who finished in positions 1-20 earned category 14 LPGA status, while those in positions 21-45 will be in category 15.
To wit: Of the 17 Q Series grads last year who kept their LPGA card in 2022, only 4 were below 20th. The lowest were a pair at T35: Linn Grant (who despite only playing the non-US events incredibly was 56th in CME points) and Caroline Inglis who got the final card at No. 100.
— Grant Boone (@grantboone) December 12, 2022
Check out the complete list of players who earned LPGA status below:
Hae Ran Ryu/Epson Tour
Hae Ran Ryu is a five-time winner on the Korean LPGA and is currently No. 50 in the Rolex Rankings. Ryu is the third player from South Korea to win Q-Series and the second consecutive, following Na Rin An in 2021.
Ryu was the 2020 KLPGA Rookie of the Year and 2018 Korean Women’s Amateur champion.
Bailey Tardy/Epson Tour
Bailey Tardy will be a rookie on the LPGA in 2023. After several close calls, including an 11th-place finish on the 2022 Epson Tour money list, the Georgia grad finally earned her card. Tardy’s lone victory on the Epson Tour came at the 2021 Copper Rock Championship.
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