Speechley and Durdin earn Tour Cards for Japan LPGA

Australians Jessica Speechley and Tamie Durdin have enjoyed success at the LPGA of Japan s Final Qualifying tournament, which concluded at the Joyo Country Club in Kyoto, Friday. Durdin, a five year member and one time winner on the rich Japan Tour lost her fully exempt status in 2012 for the first time. Exempt into the final stage, she finished in a 37th place which will guarantee her a start in most fields on the 36 event 2013 schedule. For Speechely,, who had to endure four gruelling stages of qualifying, her 40th place finish will guarantee a start in around thirty events, just reward for her decision to skip the final US LPGA qualifying school which she had also qualified to play this week. Choosing Japan s guaranteed 30 plus tournaments against the LPGA s 14, for successful q-school qualifiers, Speechley was understandably ecstatic. I feel really good making the move to play in Japan. My first round was not good but I fought back hard and never gave up. This is only the beginning, now I am looking forward to playing the ALPG Tour events. Speechley was runner-up a the 2012 ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open in February this year and has since dedicated her year to preparing for the US and Japan qualifying schools.