At the end of every Epson Tour season, the top 10 players in the Race for the Card achieve their dreams of earning an LPGA Tour card. But, for everyone else, it’s back to the drawing board. One of the hardest places to finish the season is 11th, just one spot short of the LPGA Tour, and then needing to mentally reset and get ready for LPGA Q-Series, which is just a few short months away.
That’s the spot that Becca Huffer found herself in after 72 holes at the Epson Tour Championship, just $1,701 short of finding her way back to the LPGA Tour. The last spot in the Race for the Card top 10 was secured by Kristin Gillman, who bumped Huffer out of the final spot with a birdie-eagle finish at LPGA International to regain status. Despite that heartbreaking finish, the Colorado native has a positive mindset and knows her game is as good as it has ever been heading into LPGA Q-Series.
“Unfortunately, things did just not work out my way at the end of the season,” said Huffer. “But I had a really good season, so I think that is what I am pulling from this week. Obviously, I wish I played a little better at the Tour Championship, but I finished with a 7-under round so there is no way I can be mad at that. I think having a lot of pressure on that last round and showing myself I can perform with it helped a lot.”
Huffer first earned LPGA Tour Membership for the 2019 season by finishing 10th at the 2018 LPGA Q-Series at Pinehurst. The 33-year-old has had her share of ups and downs over her 10+ years of professional golf and is hopeful her week at 2023 LPGA Q-Series will turn out the same as it did a few years ago.
“It is always nice to have the opportunity to be here because it is definitely not the easiest to get to Q-Series,” said Huffer. “To have the opportunity to come here and play and hopefully get to play on the LPGA Tour again is great. There is a lot of golf to play this week, but the goal is the same as it was this season, which is to finish inside the top 10. This week it is more of a marathon than it is a sprint with the cut being after four rounds.”
Huffer will begin her first round on Thursday at 8:58 a.m. CST on the Falls Course at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Magnolia Grove.