2020 Symetra Tour

[18majors]

The season will kick off next week: FLORIDA'S NATURAL CHARITY CLASSICFormat: 54 holesPurse: $125,000Par: 72History: This event started in 2009Yardage: 6,189It's a strong field; Sierra Brooks, Youngin Chun, Mohan Du, Yaeeun Hong, Kyung Kim, Frida Kinhult, Alison Lee, Rebecca Lee Bentham, Lucy Li, Yujeong Son, Cheyenne Woods, Min A Yoon, Weiwei Zhang

Final Field | Symetra Tour

 

[18majors]

This tournament will feature Rebecca Lee Behtham; who's top LPGA Q-School qualifier in 2012. She beat Moriya Jutanugarn, who's second.

Rebecca, 27, retired from Symetra Tour in 2016, after 3 indifferent seasons at LPGA from 2013 to 2015.

She seemed to have rekindled her fire and has been playing well all year in 2019; she missed the cut by one shot at PGA Mackenzie Tour.

[18majors]

YaeEun Hong; the next Lucky 6

 

[18majors]

The Volvik Race to the Card is a sprint this year; only 20 tournaments are scheduled.

file:///C:/Users/chuan/Downloads/st20-flyer--tournament-schedule-85x11130.pdf

 

 

[Titleist_PT23]

Do you guys agree with Symetra Tour Top 10 getting initial priority above 81-100 and Q-Series players?

I've never looked but wondering where the better players come out of (on average)? Obviously there's a bit of difference in the route taken by these players, and I can see where the high fliers tend to be in the Q-Series bucket but not sure about the cut of players after that.

I guess the priority ranking is one benefit of playing it (given the limited financial rewards).

[fredogolfer]

I can see an argument for Q-School getting higher priority than Symetra Tour qualifiers. In Q-School you can have highly ranked players from other tours. In Q school however, you also have players who are back at q-school because they lost their card. In other words those players couldn’t cut it on the LPGA that particular season.

The Symetra tour is the official developmental tour of the LPGA so for optics it may be better to give those players first priority. Also, fewer players from Symetra earn tour cards giving the appearance it is more exclusive than the forty-something from Q school.

In short, I can see arguments for both.

[Titleist_PT23]

I think someone that played Symetra and finished outside top 10 could go to Q-Series and qualify that way. Practically speaking, I guess it's kind of hard to have that player then given priority above the Player that got Symeta Top 10. They would have to change the entire Symetra bucket to be priority after Q-Series, in which case Symetra#1 would still want to do Q-Series to try and get a better spot. But then the whole optics of a development tool would kind of go down the drain.

I don't have a strong opinion. More just a thought that came up.

[Seamus_McDuff]

Yep, 11-30 on Symetra get auto-entry to Stage III.

 

I think Symetra should be expanded to top 15 but maybe put 11-15 after after LPGA 81-100 on the priority list and lower Q-Series to top 40.

[18majors]

 

Of the Top-10 2018 Symetra graduates; only Charlotte Thomas finished inside Top-80 in 2019 official money, #79.

The 2018 Q-Series qualifiers did much better; Lucky 6 #3, Jennifer Kupcho #39, Kristen Gillman #43 and Cheyenne Knight #65.

In reality, there're very little differences between priority #95 and #135. Both are good for full field events and neither is good for Spring Asian Swing, which requires Top-55.

[18majors]

It's nice to have a women's professional tournament for a change

2020 Floridas Natural Charity Classic Storylines | Symetra Tour

[mallrat]

I think the Top 10 is very deceiving based on the year. Look at 2017, Nelly Korda, Madeline Sagstrom & Ally MacDonald. 2017 had Hannah Green and Celine Boutier. So while quite a few struggle others don’t. Plus remember 3 wins in a year and they get promoted.

i think the LPGA is a different animal and takes some of these ladies a while to figure out.

Also, I believe Jennifer Kupcho qualifies on money earned, not through the Q series.

[18majors]

 

Please see the attached file; Jennifer Kupcho finished #2 at -17 on November 3, 2018 at 2018 Q-Series.file:///C:/Users/chuan/Downloads/lpga-qseries--no-7-final-round-tournament-summary%20(14).pdf

[18majors]

Dylan Kim, every player has a story to tell

2020 My Road to the Tour Has Been Anything But Straight | LPGA | Ladies Professional Golf Association

[18majors]

Sierra Brooks, Yae Eun Hong and Frida Kinhult are paired together.

Leaderboard | Symetra Tour

[mallrat]

But didn’t she go back to college after that? Because I know last year her Maria had to earn a certain amount and she had to be an Am to play at the Augusta tourney

[18majors]

 

Jennifer didn't turn professional until late May 2019, just before US Women's Open.

She played Augusta National Women's Amateur in April 2019, before she turned pro.

 

[18majors]

This is fun; a 10 years old

Junior golfer Lucie Strnadova hits bombs, creates buzz

[mallrat]

And didn’t she earn her tour card by earning a certain amount in her sponsors exemption tournaments? I didn’t think she used her Q Series status for her tournament entries? I may be wrong

[Seamus_McDuff]

She earned her card for 2019 at the 2018 Q-Series. She deferred membership until after she finished her college season. Fassi did the same. She then earned enough in the remaining 2019 tournaments to keep her card for 2020.

[mallrat]

Thank you

[18majors]

Yae Eun Hong (Korea, 17) and Mohan Du (China, 18) are two of the youngest; both are -2 and T9.

Alison Lee , +5 on front nine, shot -5 in back 9 to pull even.

[PepsiDuck]

It is an incentive to compete on the Symetra Tour, drawing the best of the developmental players to compete week after week. If the carrot being dangled isn't appealing enough, you wouldn't get full fields each week, which would reduce the "legitimacy" of the tour.

[postfold]

Would be great to see Rebecca Lee-Bentham do well, good to have her back out on tour.

[bc_golf]

Is there a list of players that played on the Symetra tour last year and earned their card to play on the LPGA in 2020? Looked on the Symetra and LPGA websites, but only see an alumnae list.

[Golf Dino]

On the Symetra Tour site, there's a photo gallery of the 10 Symetra tour players that earned their LPGA cards:

1. Perrine Delacore

2. Patty Tavatanakit

3. Jenny Coleman

4. Ssu-Chia Cheng

5. Jillian Hollis

6. Julieta Granada

7. Leona Maguire

8. Robynn Ree

9. Esther Lee

10. Mind Muangkhumsakul

[North Texas]

Cheyenne Woods with a hole-in-one today on the 12th hole (her third hole of the day). Two under on her round so far and +2 for the tournament. Trying to make the cut. Sierra Brooks shot 1 under in the first round with quite the scorecard. Four bogeys and a double bogey along with 5 birdies and an eagle. Looks like one of my scorecards. Well, except for the birdies and the eagle.

[bc_golf]

Thanks very much!

[18majors]

Rebecca Lee Bentham had seven birdies in her last 10 holes during Stage II of Q-School but missed 2018 Q-Series by one shot; she hoped to do one better today.

She bogeyed Holes 8 and 9 to go +8, but she calmly shot -3 in her back nine to possibly make the cut.

[North Texas]

Anyone know anything about Janie Jackson who won the Symetra Tour event? Shot 10 under to win by 8. Also averaged 298 driving distance.

[18majors]

What a tournament!