ALPG Members Ready for LPGA Q-School

(30 November 2011) Six ALPG members Julia Boland, Cathryn Bristow, Emma de Groot, Stephanie Na, Kristie Smith and Alison Whitaker will be vying for a card on the 2012 LPGA tour when the final Qualifying School gets underway in Florida.

The final stage is played over a gruelling five rounds, 90 holes, commencing Thursday Australian time and is being played on both Champions and Legends Courses at LPGA International, Daytona Beach Florida.

144 players have qualified for the marathon final stage which will see a cut made to the top 70 and ties after 72 holes. The top finishers will earn full playing status (total number of full cards TBA) and all others who make the cut will receive conditional and LPGA Futures Tour status.

When asked if that her past experiences of winning on tour will help her perform under the pressures of the Qualifying School Smith responded from her base in Florida. “I think yes that experience I&aposve had of winning golf tournaments will always be helpful when it comes down to the wire and you need those experiences to understand that feeling of pressure. But in saying that I don&apost think I&aposve ever experienced as much pressure then I have done before at tour school weeks. It&aposs a different pressure. “

“ The pressure to win is a great feeling because you&aposre in the hunt you&aposre obviously playing good and you’ve got nothing to lose really. Whereas at tour school it’s the pressure of your whole career ahead of you, over just this one week. “

“Yes I have the LET but there&aposs no place I want to be more then on the LPGA and living in America. I can&apost wait for that day!”

Of her preparation Smith said, “I couldn&apost be any better prepared for LPGA school more than I am this year. Over the past six months I have worked so hard on my body and my swing to get it all right for this week. It&aposs paying off in practice, now all I got to do is put that into action next week.”

This will be is Smith’s fourth attempt and past experience both in tournaments and q-schools are invaluable as she mentioned “Every experience I have at any tournament, let alone q-school, I always learn something. Every q school I&aposve been to though I&aposve always learnt that you just have to be patient. It&aposs a long week and a grind for everyone to get that card.”

Smith has played a considerable amount of golf in Florida, particularly during her time playing on the Futures Tour (development Tour of the LPGA) and when practicing at her base in Florida. When asked about keys to courses she responded “The courses are typical Florida courses but at the same time they&aposre quite opposite. I&aposve been lucky enough to have won on the Champions course at the Futures event in 2010 so I&aposm excited to be playing on that again. I personally think the key to both courses is understanding the rough around the greens and the grain in the greens. They&aposre much different to your typical "Australian" golf course that&aposs for sure haha!”

While Whitaker made the following comments when asked about keys to playing the courses well “Knowing when to be aggressive and when to play it safe. Q school tempts people into trying to &aposgo&apos for shots that may not be the best option. Playing your percentages and hitting to the fatter sides of the greens means more potential putts at birdie; and the more putts at birdie you have, the more you&aposre likely to make.”

When Na was asked what it would mean to get a full playing card on the LPGA she replied earlier this week “It would mean EVERYTHING to get my full LPGA tour card as it&aposs been my dream goal since taking the game seriously as a teenager. I have worked really hard on every aspect of my game, and it would be such a great reward to make it to the LPGA and have the opportunity to live my dream – playing golf and competing against the top players in the world.”