(3 October 2011 – Venice, Florida)
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Florida teenager Ginger Howard made it look easy, cruising past a field of 234 players to win Stage II of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament at Plantation Golf and Country Club. However, she didn’t have it all her own way with Australia’s Julia Boland mixing it with her all the way to the final hole to finish second, just a shot shy of medallist honours. Meanwhile, ALPG Member Stephanie Na finished in outright third, albeit 8 shots behind Howard. Emma De Groot (T42) and Kristie Smith (T55) also did enough to make it the final stage in December.
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rnHoward, 17, from Florida carded a 7-under par 65 in the final round on the Bobcat course and punctuated her impressive week with birdies on her last two holes from 12 feet and 15 feet. She finished the week at 16-under par 272 to edge Boland (66) of Tamworth, NSW at 15-under par 273.
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rn“It feels great,” said Howard, who carded seven birdies in her bogey-free round. “My putting was on and I stuck a lot of shots today.”
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rnHoward and Boland played in the final group together and had their own little head-to-head match in today’s final round. Both players made the nine-hole turn at 4-under par and were streets ahead of the field.
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rnBoland, who played collegiately at Texas A&M University stumbled slightly at the beginning of the back nine. She made bogey at the 10th hole, saved par from a bunker on No. 11, birdied No. 13 and then drained an eagle-3 on the par-five 16th hole from 10 feet.
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rnHowever, Howard kept her foot on the gas and added three more birdies on the 14th, and culminating with birdies on the 17th and 18th holes.
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rn“She’s as cool as a cucumber and those birdies on the last two holes were impressive,” said Boland, 25, who recorded seven birdies one eagle and three bogeys in the final round. “I was slightly embarrassed when she said she was 17.”
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rnHoward said later, “I worked really hard to get to this place and I’m excited to play in the final stage.” Taking a different route to professional golf, Howard is a home-schooled high school senior who plays out of the IMG Leadbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
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rnTied for fourth at 7-under 281 was amateur Nicole Vandermade (66) of Brantford, Canada, Jacqui Concolino (68) of Orlando, Fla., Lizette Salas (71) of Azusa, Calif., and Thidapa (“Jasmine”) Suwannapura (74) of Bangkok, Thailand.
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rnFive players tied for eighth at 5-under 283.
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rnThirty-seven players finished at even-par 288 or better after four rounds in the LPGA’s second stage of qualifying, the second of the three-part annual qualifying tournament held to determine 2012 membership on both the LPGA and LPGA Futures Tour. This year marks the first time the two tours are running joint Q-schools.
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rnPlantation Golf and Country Club has hosted a stage of LPGA Qualifying for the last 23 years. The top 70 and ties from Stage II advance into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament (Stage III). It will be contested over 90 holes and will be held November 30 through December 4, on both the Champions and Legends courses at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida.
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