Sunday was an enormous day for the official LPGA qualifying tour, the Epson Tour.
There have been 15 LPGA playing cards up for grabs on the Epson Tour Championship. These girls teed it up at Indian Wells Golf Resort in Indian Wells, California, for the primary time. It was a 72-hole stroke play occasion with a $287,500 purse.
This yr additionally marked the primary time the Race for the Card was point-based. Earlier than this yr, the event tour used a money-based system.
Ten playing cards have been out there at Indian Wells as 5 girls clinched theirs forward of time. The women who secured their playing cards forward of time have been Lauren Stephenson, Yahui Zhang, Fatima Fernandez Cano, Jessica Porvasnik and Brooke Matthews.
Heather Lin shot 4-under 67 on Sunday to achieve 16-under general and win by one shot over Ashley Lau.
Lin grew to become the 2024 Epson Tour Participant of the 12 months with that victory.
This victory gave her sufficient factors to go from No. 39 to No. 15 within the Race for the Card standings, which suggests she was amongst those that earned her LPGA card.
Who else was inside that High 15 rating?
2024 Epson Tour Graduates
15. Heather Lin (TPE)
14. Miranda Wang (CHN)
13. Daniela Iacobelli (USA)
12. Pornanong Phatlum (THA)
11. Ana Belac (SLO)
10. Cassie Porter (AUS)
9. Madison Younger (USA)
8. Fiona Xu (NZL)
7. Jenny Bae (USA)
6. Ingrid Lindblad (SWE)
5. Brooke Matthews (USA)
4. Jessica Porvasnik (USA)
3. Fatima Fernandez Cano (ESP)
2. Yahui Zhang (CHN)
1. Lauren Stephenson (USA)
9 completely different nations have been represented among the many 15 who earned their playing cards. 5 of them have been People, together with Stephenson, who completed No. 1 within the factors.
She gained her first Epson Tour occasion earlier this yr on the Twin Bridges Championship. Since then, Stephenson has completed contained in the High 20 in 5 of her final six begins. Three of these have been contained in the High 10.
In her 15 begins, she was within the High 10 eight occasions and made the weekend in 14 of these occasions.
Jenny Bae gained 3 times since she made her Epson Tour debut in 2023. She took the world by storm when she gained back-to-back occasions — her second and third begins on the developmental tour.
Her newest got here on the occasion earlier than the Epson Tour Championship, the 2024 Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout.
She had six High 10s in 2024 and made 16-of-18 cuts. It was one other sturdy season for the previous Georgia Bulldog, who completed second to Rose Zhang on the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Am in 2023.
Bae’s performances landed her at No. 7 on the factors checklist.
Brooke Matthews is one other second-year Epson Tour participant. She was an LPGA Tour rookie in 2022 however misplaced her card on the finish of the season.
The 26-year-old clinched her card after recording seven top-10 finishes. Nevertheless, her T-5 on the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout secured her return to the LPGA.
Ingrid Lindblad was a rookie on the Epson Tour this season after an unbelievable novice profession at LSU. She made solely 9 begins, however she gained the Tuscaloosa Toyota Traditional, had two runner-up finishes and had 4 top-10s general.
Her T-8 on the Epson Tour Championship secured her LPGA card.
Daniela Iacobelli earned her LPGA Tour Membership for the third time, having achieved it in 2012 and 2015.
She gained her fifth profession Epson Tour victory on the Hartford HealthCare Girls’s Championship and was a runner the week earlier than on the Dream First Financial institution Charity Traditional.
These are just some of the women’ achievements from this season. Nevertheless, all 15 of those girls performed phenomenally in 2024 to earn one of many few playing cards to play on the LPGA Tour in 2025.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. For extra golf protection, comply with us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms. You can even comply with her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
