Futures Tour Grads Will Skip School

R

escued from Q-school" blares the headline on the front page of sports section of the Albany Times Union today.

Those "rescued" are the top five money winners on the Duramed Futures Tour who, at the conclusion of the nineteenth and final tournament at Capital Hills Golf Course Sunday, won fully exempt LPGA Tour cards for 2008.

In other words, they'll play hooky and get a free pass from the LPGA Tour Q-school, held on November 28-December 2 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida.

No one was happier than 26 year-old Allison Fouch. After four long years on the Futures Tour she has finally finished second on the money list and is heading to the LPGA Tour. "This whole year, every time I heard them announce me onto the tee and say, 'In her fourth year,' I thought, 'That's enough,'" said Fouch. "Four years is plenty out here."

The final test was a grueling one. After playing through passing showers Saturday, the 70 players endured two rain delays Sunday, the first of which took two hours. The soggy tournament tested the patience and endurance of all the golfers, and over ten hours after the first group teed off, the "road to the LPGA Tour" came to an end.

The top five money winners were immediately presented with their cards during a reception that included hors d'oeuvres, champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries. Families, friends and fans cheered and cried as they inducted the golfers into the LPGA.

The new LPGA Tour pros are:

• Emily Bastel, 27, from Upper Sandusky, Ohio, grabbed the Player of the Year award-given to the top money winner-by earning $59,779 this season.
• Allison Fouch, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, finished second to earn $10,000 and moved from No. 4 to No. 2 on the money list, earning $54,476 for the season.
• Mollie Fankhauser, also 26, from Columbus, Ohio, moved from No. 4 to No. 3 on the money list with $50,128.
• Violeta Retamoza, the 24-year-old from Aguascalientes, Mexico, who moved down this week from No. 3 to No. 4, earning $49,895
• Seo-Jae Lee, 19, from Seoul, Korea, who slid down a spot, earning and $48,493, to clinch the fifth spot.

Auspiciously for the top five, success on the Futures Tour has generally meant success on the LPGA Tour. Four of last year's top-five money winners currently rank among the top-100 on this year's LPGA Tour money list: Charlotte Mayorkas, who finished second on last year's Futures Tour money list, ranks 63rd on the LPGA Tour money list with $136,970; the No. 3 money winner on last year's Futures Tour, In-Bee Park, ranks 35th on the LPGA Tour with $321,919; Kristy McPherson, who ranked fourth on the 2006 Futures Tour, ranks 100th on the LPGA Tour with $69,395; and Meaghan Francella, who just cracked the top-five last year on the Futures Tour, ranks 27th on the LPGA Tour with $449,780.

Although this year's five winners walk away with the same prize, their experiences leading into this event were unique, making the LPGA Tour card sweeter for some than others.

Bastel, who played her rookie year on the Future's Tour in 2004, graduated to the LPGA Tour for two years before losing her 2007 exempt status. "I've learned a lot this year, which was another year of grinding it out and playing well overall. I learned about myself and about my game and I've become more patient, which is really important on the LPGA."

Bastel says her success on this year on Futures Tour stems from her struggles on the LPGA Tour last year. "Now I can look back at last year and realize it was a learning experience. It was very difficult to go through and I just feel really happy that I was able to turn it around this year, learn from my experiences and rise above the challenge of low confidence on the golf course. On the LPGA Tour you're playing week in and week out against the best players in the world. I learned that you have to play within yourself and to have some internal goals to help you focus on what you need to do as opposed to what's going on around you."