Alabama losing Gillman, Stephenson to LPGA Tour

   Kristen Gillman was probably about to walk in her high school graduation when she talked to the media – I guess I qualified as media at that point, although my newspaper career had come to a sudden end a few months earlier when I was laid off after 38 years or so in the biz – via Skype to hype the upcoming U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club.

   A couple of things that didn’t occur to me that day have occurred to me many times since.

Gillman had won the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur two years earlier at Nassau Country Club on Long Island, beating Brooke Henderson – the talented Canadian is a major champion on the LPGA Tour these days – when both were 16.

   I was expecting Hannah O’Sullivan, who had won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Portland Golf Club a year earlier and whom I mistakenly thought would be defending her title at Rolling Green. It should have occurred to me that day that O’Sullivan’s absence meant she wasn’t going to be at Rolling Green.

   O’Sullivan had a legitimate excuse. Her U.S. Women’s Amateur victory had qualified her for the Ricoh Women’s British Open and the 2016 golf calendar, condensed by the return of golf to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, made it almost impossible for her to play in both.

   At the time, O’Sullivan thought she was headed for the LPGA Tour, so it made sense to test her game against LPGA players in a major championship. These days, she’s a sophomore on Duke’s golf team. That’s a story for another day.

   The media day at Rolling Green was the day after Memorial Day and O’Sullivan was probably also busy making preparations for a trip to the Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in suburban Dublin, where she would represent the United States in the Curtis Cup Match.

   I’ve often wondered why Gillman wasn’t on that team, having won the U.S. Women’s Amateur two years earlier, although I didn’t follow the runup to the U.S. Curtis Cup team selections that closely and those picks don’t get quite the scrutiny as, say, the captain’s picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup team do.

   But she was classy enough to be available to answer questions about the upcoming U.S. Women’s Amateur.

   The landscape of the 2018-’19 women’s college golf season was altered dramatically Saturday when Gillman and her Alabama teammate Lauren Stephenson earned their LPGA Tour cards by finishing among the top 45 and ties in the LPGA Q-Series, the revamped conclusion of the LPGA Qualifying School.

   There is one major difference between the Q-Series and old Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying School. The top 20 in the old Final Stage received LPGA Tour cards, but if you were a college player, you had already committed to turning pro. There was no turning back.

   That’s why some players, former Duke standout Leona Maguire comes to mind, didn’t participate in the Final Stage. But this year, a player earning an LPGA Tour card can defer accepting it until July 1. Reportedly, reigning NCAA individual champion Jennifer Kupcho, a senior at Wake Forest, and Maria Fassi, a senior at Arkansas, are going to take that route.

   They will miss the first third of the schedule, which might compromise their chances of earning enough money to retain their cards for 2020.

   Gillman and Stephenson are reportedly going to join the LPGA Tour at the beginning of the 2019 campaign, so their amateur and college careers are over. It will be back to the drawing board at Alabama, which looked borderline unbeatable at times this fall.

   Ohio State senior Jaclyn Lee, the Big Ten champion last spring, is reportedly weighing her options. It looks like UCLA senior Lilia Vu will leave her college career behind.

   I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You’re recruiting players who you hope think they’re good enough to play professional golf some day. You can’t get too upset when they get there a little ahead of schedule.

   The Q-Series, presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, was eight rounds of golf over two of the courses at the Pinehurst Resort, the first four at No. 6 two weeks ago and the final four at No. 7, which concluded Saturday. The field included the players who stood between 101 and 150 on the LPGA money list – as of when I’m not exactly sure since the 2018 LPGA season is ongoing – the players who stood between 11 and 30 on the final Symetra Tour money list, players in the top 75 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking and the top five college players on Golfweek’s Collegiate Ranking. 

   If the field didn’t reach a certain number, it could be filled out with some of the top finishers from Stage II of LPGA Qualifying School, although that stage was essentially a final qualifier for 2019 Symetra Tour.

   Gillman was Gillman, at least until a final-round 79. It was 74, 70, 69 and 72 at Pinehurst No. 6 and 70, 73 and 70 before that closing 79 at Pinehurst No. 7. Her 1-over 577 total left her in the group tied for 13^th.

   The native of Austin, Texas didn’t have a whole lot left to prove in amateur golf.

   Gillman and Stephenson led the Crimson Tide to the brink of a national championship last spring as they fell to an Arizona team that got on a roll after barely qualifying for match play.

   Gillman, Stephenson, Kupcho and Vu were part of what may some day be viewed as one of the strongest U.S. Curtis Cup teams ever assembled as the Stars & Stripes rolled to a 17-3 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. in June.

   Gillman joined GB&I’s Bronte Law and Stacy Lewis of the United States as the only players to compile a 5-0-0 mark in a Curtis Cup Match.

   Gillman capped her summer by winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur a second time, defeating Jeon Jiwon, who joined the Alabama program this fall after two strong years at junior college power Daytona State, 7 and 6 at The Golf Club of Tennessee. Along the way, Gillman made incredibly clutch putts on the 18^th hole in both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches that sent them to extra holes and that she went on to win on the 19^th hole.

   Gillman is a tough kid, she is incredibly consistent and she possess the clutch gene, all of which bodes well for her professional career. There will be bumps along the road, there always is, but you have to like her chances.

   Stephenson of Lexington, S.C. seemed to like Pinehurst No. 6 a little more than Pinehurst No. 7. She went 68-67 in her final two rounds at No. 6 to put herself in pretty good position to finish among the top 45. Her final two rounds this weekend at No. 7 were 75 and 77, but Stephenson still finished in the group tied for eighth at 4-under 572.

   It was also nice to see Cheyenne Knight, the third member of last spring’s Big Three for Alabama, join Gillman and Stephenson in earning her LPGA Tour card. Knight of Aledo, Texas didn’t return for her senior season at Alabama. She had a shaky opening act, an 81 at Pinehurst No. 6, but just kept battling and finished among the group tied for 27^th at 5-over 581.

   Kupcho of Westminster, Colo. just missed winning medalist honors as she finished a shot behind Jeongeun Lee6 of South Korea in second at 17-under 559. No, the 6 isn’t a typo. Pretty sure the story is she added it to her name to distinguish herself from the many Lees on the LPGA Tour.

   Kupcho has been a wonderful player at Wake Forest. If not for an ill-timed gust of wind on her next-to-last hole at Rich Harvest Farms in 2016, she might be a two-time NCAA individual champion. She will be tough to beat if she makes it to The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. next spring, although I think she’s sticking around more for some team goals she harbors for the Demon Deacons.

   Lee of Canada has been good ever since she dominated the Big Ten Championship at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio last spring. A final-round 70 at Pinehurst No. 7 left her alone in sixth at 7-under 569.

   Just when it looked like Vu of Fountain Valley, Calif. might not finish in the top 45, she ripped off rounds of 70 Friday and 67 Saturday to zoom up the leaderboard and end up in the group tied for 27^th at 5-over 581.

   Vu has helped the Bruins win back-to-back Pac-12 titles, even if the rest of the postseason hasn’t always gone so well. But UCLA still has junior Mariel Galdiano, a member of both the 2016 and 2018 U.S. Curtis Cup teams, senior Beth Wu, another alumni of the 2016 U.S. Curtis Cup team, and sophomore Patty Tavatanakit, who also played at Pinehurst, but failed to finish in the top 45.

   Fassi of Mexico was on fire for the first three rounds at Pinehurst No. 6, going 69-68-69. She cooled off after that, but still finished alone in 32^nd place at 6-over 582. Fassi, the reigning Annika Award winner, has some unfinished business at Arkansas.

   The Razorbacks were the best team in college golf for large portions of the 2017-’18 season, but fell one excruciating shot short of the playoff for the final spot in match play at Karsten Creek Golf Club. It looks like Fassi has no intention of not being around for an NCAA Championship on Arkansas’ home course.

   One other player who it was nice to see earn an LPGA Tour card was Sarah Burnham, who led Michigan State to the last two Big Ten championships while earning runnerup finishes in the individual standings. Burnham was part of the group tied for 27^th at 5-over 581. Burnham is never afraid to go low, an often overlooked quality that can come in handy on the biggest stage in women’s golf.

   Sweden’s Louise Ridderstrom, a former UCLA standout, won the inaugural Valley Forge Invitational, a Symetra Tour stop at Raven’s Claw Golf Club, where Limerick and Lower Pottsgrove townships meet, with a final-round 63.

   Ridderstrom is headed for the LPGA Tour after finishing among the group tied for 36^th at 8-over 584 at Pinehurst.