LPGA TOUR FINAL Q SCHOOL THIS WEEK

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Seventy-one current members of the LPGA Futures Tour will be among the 120 players who tee off this week at the five-roundLPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.
The LPGA’s Final “Q-school” will run from Wednesday to Sunday (December 8 to 12) at LPGA International. The final qualifying tournament for the 2011 season will be held on both the Champions and Legends courses at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida. The first round begins Wednesday at 9 a.m. Eastern.
Only four British and Irish players are in the field of 120 - Ladies European Tour regular Becky Brewerton from Wales, rookie Jodi Ewart who has stayed on in the States since completing four years at the University of New Mexico and turning professional, Curtis Cup amateur Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down Ladies), pictured, and Galway-born Alison Walshe who played for the United States in the 2008 Curtis Cup match at St Andrews.
“I’m coming in here with nothing to lose and everything to gain,” said Ryann O’Toole of San Clemente, Calif., a two-time tournament winner this year who finished seventh on the 2010 LPGA Futures Tour’s money list to earn partial status for the 2011 LPGA Tour. “I’ll be able to play in a few LPGA events next year, but it will make my life easier to have full status. I don’t want to be dancing between two tours.”
Contestants in this week’s Q-school are hoping to either earn membership or improve their current member status for the 2011 LPGA Tour. The tournament is a five-round qualifier with a tournament cut to the low 70 players and ties after 72 holes. Those players making the cut will compete in the final round on the Champions Course.
Sectional qualifiers will be joined at the final stage of Q-school by current LPGA Tour members attempting to improve their status for 2011, along with players finishing Nos. 6-10, and the next top 10 players on the 2010 LPGA Futures Tour money list (who do not already have LPGA status).
“I’m coming in knowing that I earned my way to be here and that I was two positions away on the season money list of hot having to be here at all,” added O’Toole, who won a mini-tour tournament last month in Phoenix, and finished second last week at a mini-tour tournament tune-up at LPGA International.
Medalists of the two sectional qualifiers hope to continue their march through the final stage. Former Pepperdine University collegian Eileen Vargas of Ibague, Colombia, won the California sectional in September at Mission Hills Country Club, and former University of Arkansas collegian Lucy Nunn of Lawton, Okla., won the Florida sectional in September at Plantation Golf & Country Club. Both are current members of the LPGA Futures Tour.
“The California sectional was the last tournament I played, so I came here early to get used to the courses again,” said Vargas, who also played in a tune-up event last week at LPGA International.
LPGA Futures Tour member Dewi Claire Schreefel of Diepenveen, Netherlands, also is in the field this week. But while the stress of Q-school is undeniable, Schreefel has logged in countless rounds on both the Legends and Champions courses over the past four years. As a collegian at the University of Southern California, she played in the 2006 Fall Preview and the 2007 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship on the Legends Course. As a member of the Futures Tour, she has competed in the Futures’ tournament on the Legends Course in 2009, and on the Champions Course in 2010.
“I’m familiar with both courses and I know the wind changes here all the time,” said the 2006 individual NCAA champion. “For me, it’s just about getting in the competitive mode and getting into the rhythm of paying attention when I have to pay attention.”
Like former UCLA teammate Ryann O’Toole, Tour member Tiffany Joh of San Diego is in this week’s Q-school to improve her 2011 LPGA status. A tournament winner this season, Joh finished eighth on the season money list and is competing this week with the goal of earning full 2011 LPGA status.
“Unless a round is competitive, I don’t turn on the switch,” admitted Joh, who arrived early at LPGA International to play in a mini-tour tune-up tournament last week on the two courses. “It’s nice not to have to play the sectional qualifier and it takes a little pressure off. I’m here to improve on what I already have.”
Some players, however, are returning to Q-school to keep their LPGA cards for 2011. Tour alumna Danielle Downey of New York missed eight LPGA tournaments with an injury in 2009, and struggled to regain form this season.
“It’s been a tough year,” said Downey, who earned full LPGA status at the 2007 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. “Hopefully, Q-school will be a good week.”
This year’s field is comprised of players from 20 countries and 26 U.S. states. Behind the U.S., South Korea brings the most players to the event, with 11 contestants, followed by Canada with 10 players and five players from Thailand. Of players in the event from the United States, California has the most contestants with 13 players, followed by eight players from Florida and five from Texas.
A total of seven amateurs are in the tournament field. If those players earn LPGA membership for 2011 and wish to join the tour, they must declare themselves as professionals.
The top 20 players at the conclusion of the event will earn Priority in Category 11. Players finishing in the 21s-30th spots will earn Priority in Category 16, followed by 31st-40th, who will receive Priority in Category 20. All category positions will be determined by a playoff.
To follow scores of these and other contestants throughout the week, visit www.LPGA.com