Leona misses out by one after brave Q-School bid
Leona Maguire
Leona Maguire’s hopes of winning her LPGA Tour card this year ended in agonising fashion when she came up one shot shy at Stage II of the Qualifying Tournament in Florida.
The former world amateur No 1 shot a level par 72 to finish in a nine-way tie for 42nd on one-over par at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice where 33 qualified automatically for next week’s Q-Series on one-under and were joined by nine additional players who finished one shot outside the top 25 on level par.
With 62 players already exempt for the Q-Series, where no more than 108 can tee it up, the top 41 took the Q-Series field to 103.
Maguire and the other eight players on one-over missed out as they would have taken the field size beyond 108 to 112.
It was a tough day for the Co Cavan star, who started on the back nine on the Bobcat Course and made 10 pars in a row before dropping a shot at the par-four second.
She plugged away and birdied the par-four eighth to get back to level for the day but needing a birdie four at the ninth, her final hole, she could only manage a par and ended up out in the cold.
Korea’s Kyung Kim (67) and Wales’ Amy Boulden (73) led the qualifiers on 10-under, finishing one shot ahead of Sarah Burnham.
Players who complete 72 holes but do not advance to the Q-Series will receive 2019 Symetra Tour status.
Leona already had Symetra Tour status after finishing 37th in the official final money list with $28,243 from just 13 starts.
Stephanie Meadow regained her LPGA Tour card last week as one of the top 10 money winners by finishing sixth on the Symetra Tour money list with $70,617 from 21 starts.
