This is particularly vital as only two players, No. 1 Giulia Molinaro and No. 2 Annie Park, have secured a spot among the top 10 for 2016 LPGA cards with this week’s tournament, the 54-hole IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Fla., and next week’s finale, the 72-hole Epson Tour Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla., remaining.
A look at these two players:
Daniela Iacobelli
Entering the final event of the 2012 season, Iacobelli was 22nd on the money list. She won the Daytona Beach Invitational with a last-hole birdie to move to fifth and earn her LPGA card for 2013.
“Just by being out there, I benefitted,” Iacobelli said this summer of her LPGA stint. “I know how the schedule works. I’m more prepared. I’ve made changes in myself mentally and with my game. I’m more consistent, first off. It’s very rare that you see the top 20 or 30 girls on the LPGA have very erratic rounds.”
Iacobelli is among the top performers in Driving Distance (fourth), Eagles (second) and Birdies (fourth) this season. She moved to fifth in the standings with a tie for third in Arkansas two weeks ago. Yet, she is just $5,162 ahead of No. 10 Rachel Rohanna ($52,314).
Lindy Duncan
The former Duke All-American and 2012 national college player of the year finished 12th on the 2014 Epson Tour money list, just $1,794 out of 10th place. She used finishes of T8, T9 and T7 in the final three events to come close to a spot on the 2015 LPGA.
The momentum continued though the middle of the 2015 season as Duncan recorded six top-10 finishes, including two runner-ups, through Aug. 16. But recently, Duncan has struggled a bit with seven consecutive rounds at par or above and a best finish of T22 at the Prairie Band Casino in mid-August.
She currently sits 13th on the money list, $7,448 behind Rohanna’s 10th spot, and needs a similar final kick as 2014 to contend.
Epson win began O’Sullivan’s great season
Amateur Hannah O’Sullivan began her competitive season on Feb. 22 with a win in the Epson Tour’s season-opening Gateway Classic at Longbow GC. Since then, the Chandler, Ariz., high school senior has finished runner-up at the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open and won the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Her only real disappointment was losing in the first round of match play at the U.S. Girls Junior. But that occurred only when opponent Maria Balcazar holed her second from 150 yards for eagle on the 19th hole.
Sullivan, bound for Southern Cal next fall, is competing next week (Oct. 12-14) in The Spirit International, a bi-annual international team competition that includes four players from each country – two women and two men – at Whispering Pines Golf Club north of Houston. Canada’s Brooke Henderson was the 2013 women’s champion.
Etc.
All of this year’s Epson Tour winners are entered this week except for four – O’Sullivan, Sue Kim, Brooke Henderson and Annie Park. … At 6,117 yards, this week’s site, Alaqua Country Club, offers the shortest course of the season on the LPGA and plays to par 71. … The leading money winner on the Epson Tour has won at least once in a season every year since 1999. This year, leading money winner Giulia Molinaro of Italy hasn’t won but has nine finishes of sixth or better in 17 starts.
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