Colorado-based fans of big-time women’s golf have had the opportunity to see LPGA Tour events up close and in person twice in the last three years and three times since 2005.
In the coming week, several Coloradans would like nothing more than to join the big show and be inside the ropes in 2014.
The third and final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying for this year will be held Wednesday through Sunday (Dec. 4-8) in Daytona Beach, Fla. A field of 153 players will tee it up on two courses, with the top 20 finishers after five rounds earning Category 12 status on the 2014 LPGA Tour, and the next 25 and ties gaining conditional status.
The field will be cut to the low 70 and ties after four rounds, with all those who make the cut being guaranteed of at least Symetra Tour status in 2014.
Four players with strong Colorado ties will be in the field: Kelly Jacques, who grew up in Longmont; Dawn Shockley, who grew up in Estes Park; Ashley Tait (pictured above), who grew up in Littleton; and Stephanie Sherlock, who, like Shockley, is a former University of Denver golfer. Also competing is Birdie Kim, who won the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club just south of Denver.
Two of the four local players have held LPGA Tour cards. Sherlock just completed her third straight year on the circuit, but she made just five cuts in 2012 and ’13 combined. She had a solid rookie campaign in 2011, surviving five cuts and earning almost $38,000.
And Jacques (pictured at left) was a rookie on the LPGA Tour in 2013, but only competed in five events because of her conditional-status finish in last year’s Q-school. (She tied for 17th place, but lost out in a playoff.) In her five LPGA Tour events, she made one cut, finishing 58th in the Marathon Classic.
Meanwhile, Shockley and Tait made it to the final stage of Q-school by virute of top-80 finishes in stage II, which featured 194 players. Shockley placed 45th in that tournament, while Tait was 56th.
Shockley, winner of the 2009 NCAA East Regional title while at DU, has split her time between the Ladies European Tour and the U.S.-based Symetra Tour the last couple of years.
Jacques and Tait had stellar records in junior golf in Colorado a decade ago. Jacques won two 5A state high school titles while at Skyline, and swept the major CWGA junior championships in 2002. Tait claimed three 4A state high school titles at Mullen, and won the 2003 CWGA Junior Stroke Play and the 2008 CWGA Stroke Play.
Among the other players in the LPGA qualifying tournament field this week are North Dakota State graduate Amy Anderson, the all-time victory leader in women’s college golf with 20, and Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece. Anderson won the second stage qualifying tournament by six strokes.
