©2015 Scott A. Miller
A year of effort to earn an LPGA Tour card via the Symetra Tour ended unsuccessfully for a number of Canadian players on Sunday.
At the conclusion of the Symetra Tour Championship at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida no Canadian player earned a place in the top ten of the Volvik Race for the Card, a position that would have gained them an LPGA Tour card for 2016.
Bath, Ontario’s Augusta James came the closest. Heading into the week she was 9th on the order for merit but missed the cut. As a result she finished 12th overall for the year with earnings of $53,077. That left her a mere $790 behind Rachel Rohanna. Rohanna earned the tenth and final card via the money list.
Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbooke, Quebec rang up $50,561 in earnings for 14th place on the final money list.
As they finished in the top 15, both James and Leblanc will be exempt into final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying.
The top 10 finishers on the Symetra Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list will play full-time on the LPGA Tour through category nine on the LPGA priority list.
The big move on Sunday came from Brianna Do, who closed at 13-under for the weekend and solo second for the second consecutive week. Do jumped from No. 12 to No. 3 on the final money list. Two weeks ago, Do was 18th on the money list and used back-to-back second place finishes to earn her card. She was 22-under over the last seven rounds to earn her card.
The top 10 finishers who earned their 2016 LPGA Tour card through the Symetra Tour Volvik Race For The Card:
1. Annie Park – Levittown, New York, University of Southern California, 20-years-old, $68,673
2. Giulia Molinaro – Treviso, Italy, Arizona State University, 25-years-old, $68,673
3. Brianna Do – Lakewood, California, UCLA, 25-years-old, $64,877
4. Daniela Iacobelli – Melbourne, Florida, Florida Institute of Technology, 27-years-old, $62,692
5. Dani Holmqvist – Stockholm, Sweden, University of California (Berkeley), 27-years-old, $62,160
6. Lee Lopez – Whittier, California, UCLA, 25-years-old, $61,731
7. Alejandra Llaneza – Mexico City, Mexico, University of Arizona, 27-years-old, $61,289
8. Vicky Hurst – Melbourne, Florida, 25-years-old, $57,814
9. Casey Grice – College Station, Texas, University of North Carolina, 24-years-old, $55,621
10. Rachel Rohanna – Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Ohio State University, 24-years-old, $53,867
