What a year on the Annika WAPT!
Last weekend was the final WAPT tournament of the season, the Heritage Classic at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kansas. Rolling Hills is the birthplace of the LPGA and they have profiles of the founders up all over the golf course. It was a great location and course to wrap up our season!
I was excited to be back in Wichita because I have a wonderful host family there. I had just come from the tournament in Abilene, where I have another wonderful host family. My group in the Pro-Am Wednesday was really fun and my parents also arrived that day. My dad caddied for me all four rounds and the galleries were so supportive and welcoming all week. This tournament gets a lot of support from the community. Annika Sorenstam attended on the final day as well, congratulating all the golfers as they came off the course and presenting awards.
Round 1
Wichita got some weather Monday evening and again on Wednesday night. There was a major hail storm, but the golf course escaped damage. I teed off early for round 1 on number 10. I had one birdie and one bogey on my first nine, and followed that up with three consecutive birdies on the first three holes of my second 9. After another bogey on number 6, I finished 2 under for the first day.
Round 2
My tee time was in the afternoon for Round 2. It rained the entire day and the wind kicked up that afternoon. It felt like a classic Oregon spring day, mid 50s and drizzle all day long. The course played very long and being in the long, wet rough was especially punishing. I was happy to get out of it at 2 over.
Rounds 3 & 4
The rain passed for round 3, but the course was wet enough that we played lift, clean and place for a second day in a row. I was three under on the front, and had two more birdies and one bogey on the back to finish at 4 under. I hit the ball very well and played steady golf all day long. By Sunday, the course had dried out enough to play the ball down, but some of the fairways were still pretty wet. They hadn’t cut the rough for a week or more because of all the rain, so being in the fairway was a real premium. Round 4 was by far my best day for driving. I hit 12 of 14 fairways and 15 greens. I had putts for eagle on three of the four par 5’s. I ended up with birdie on two of them, but on hole 14, I made eagle. That was in addition to birdies on 5, 11, and 16. I had one bogey in my final round and carded another 68 to finish 8 under for the tournament and solo 4th place. It was a really strong and necessary finish to hold my place on the overall points list.
Race to Qualifying
Throughout the season, players have been awarded points for their finishes in tournaments. The points contribute toward the Annika 20 and the Callaway Race to Qualifying. This final tournament was worth extra points. I entered the final tournament of the season ranked #4, which is why my dad’s caddie bib had the number 4 on it.
Through the incredible generosity of Southern Company, the top 20 players receive financial assistance to pay for Prequalifying and Qualifying stages of the LPGA (formerly known as Stage I and Stage II.) The entry fee for Prequalifying is $3,000 and for Qualifying is $3,500 and of course, there are still the costs of travel, lodging, meals and a caddie. The reimbursement for the entry fees is incredibly generous and makes it possible for players to continue to pursue their dream of professional golf.
In addition to the Annika 20, the top 5 players get an exemption to the Qualifying stage, skipping the prequalifying stage altogether. Automatically advancing is a huge gift.
The top three players were pretty much guaranteed to finish in the top 5, but I knew I needed to play well to hold my spot. With my fourth place finish in Wichita, I actually moved up from #4 to #3 and earned an exemption to the Qualifying stage (Stage II) in Venice, Florida, October 15-18. (For more on Qualifying and how Q-school works, see this post. ) Annika presented me with the exemption sign and flowers.
Following the awards, we posed for pictures and each of the top 5 players was given a bottle of champagne. We didn’t coordinate the opening of our bottle very well, but we had a lot of fun trying!
This has been an incredible year for me on the ANNIKA WAPT. In addition to finishing third in overall points for the season, I had my first professional win, I had four top ten finishes and three top five finishes. I made 10/10 cuts. I survived multiple tornado warnings and 100+ degree weather on the course. I explored more corners of the mid-west and southern parts of our country. And I had the most incredible support system cheering me on from both close by and far away. I am so grateful for all the love and support in this crazy professional golf journey. Thank you all for following along and cheering me on! Next up, Stage II!
