Clemente's journey as a professionial golfer is under way at LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying

 

   It was at the 2019 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course when an 11-year-old kid named Gianna Clemente of Warren, Ohio finished in a tie for fifth place.

   Clemente had crossed the border between Ohio and Pennsylvania and joined Avalon at Buhl Park in Sharon to make her eligible for the Pennsylvania Junior Girls.

   Later that summer, the precocious kid qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

   Flash forward to Friday when the now 17-year-old Clemente, who has since relocated to Estero, Fla., played her first round as a professional golfer, carding a 1-over-par 72 at the Robert Trent Jones Trail Magnolia Grove’s Falls Course in the opening round of the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying, a 90-hole test.

   It left her in the group tied for 65^th place and only the top-25 finishers at Magnolia Grove will be assured of a spot on the LPGA Tour in 2026.

   Clemente was still an amateur when she punched her ticket to Magnolia Grove by finishing in a tie for 39^th place in the Qualifying Stage with a 3-under 285 total over 72 holes at two courses at the Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice, Fla. in October.

   Clemente was forced to turn professional to compete in Q-Series Final Qualifying. First, though, she needed a waiver from LPGA Tour commissioner Craig Kessler. When Clemente got the waiver, the decision was easy.

   Nice story by Sarah Kellam on the LPGA Tour’s website about Clemente’s decision to turn pro. She had consulted with Alexa Pano, a South Florida phenom who was an 11-year-old in the field for the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur in our backyard in Philadelphia at the William Flynn gem at Rolling Green Golf Club.

   Pano was forced to wait until she was 18 before turning pro, a decision she quickly validated by earning a victory in the ISPS Honda World Championship, an event co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour, on her 19^th birthday in 2023.

   January is always a down time for golf around these parts, so I usually check in on the Orange Blossom Tour, an unofficial group of tournaments for amateur women and Pano and Clemente were very competitive against players much older than they were.

   Clemente also lost in the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. as a 14-year-old in 2022 and played in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship three times.

   By getting through the Qualifying Stage at Plantation, Clemente was assured of having status on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s developmental circuit.

   Finishing in the top 25 at Magnolia Grove would be icing on the cake. And she’s hardly out of it with her opening round of 1-over.

   It was actually a very professional round of golf as Clemente made a bogey at the first hole of the Falls Course and then proceeded to rattle off 17 straight pars. I’m sure she saved some pars, but she probably had a lot of birdie chances that she couldn’t convert. Those kinds of opportunities have a way of evening out.

   The Q-Series Final Qualifying was scheduled to start Thursday, but storms left the two courses at Magnolia Grove unplayable. Each player will play each course twice before the field is cut to 65 players who will vie for the top 25 spots in Tuesday’s final round at the Crossings

   It was in 2017 when Samantha Wagner, an Easton native, earned medalist honors in a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Hidden Creek Golf Club at the Jersey Shore following her sophomore season at Florida.

   Wagner decided to turn pro before teeing it up in the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

   It has been a long and winding road for Wagner since then, although 2025 was her best year as a pro. She picked up a win on the Epson Tour at FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship at Battle Creek Country Club in Michigan.

   Wagner nearly finished among the top-15 point-getters in the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card, which would have given her an LPGA Tour card for 2026.

   Wagner opened with a 3-under 69 at the Crossings Course Friday and was among a group of 12 players tied for 10^th place.

   Wagner ripped off three straight birdies at the fourth, fifth and sixth holes. She made a bogey at the ninth hole, a birdie at 10, a bogey at 15 and a birdie at 16 that got her back to 3-under for her round.

   Also in that group at 3-under were a major champion in Japan’s Hinako Shibuno, the AIG Women’s Open winner in 2019 who posted a 68 at the Falls Course, and an Annika Award winner in Malaysia’s Mirabel Ting, who helped Florida State reach the NCAA Championship’s semifinals in the spring at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. and who tallied a 69 at the Crossings Course.

   The leader following the opening round was Canada’s Leah John, who blitzed the Crossings Course with an 8-under 64.

   John, coming off a solid Epson Tour campaign, had two separate strings of three consecutive birdies at the first, second and third holes and again at eight, nine and 10. She went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 to get it to 8-under for the day.

   John stumbled briefly with a bogey at the 15^th hole, but made a birdie at 16 to get it to the house at 8-under in chilly, drizzly conditions that John said were reminiscent of her native Vancouver, British Columbia.

   Helen Briem, a 20-year-old from Germany, ripped off a sparkling 7-under 65 at the Crossings Course and was alone in second place, a shot behind John.

   Briem turned pro in 2024 following an outstanding junior career and earned her spot in the field at Magnolia Grove by finishing in ninth place in the LET Order of Merit.

   Mohan Du of China, like John, coming off a solid Epson Tour campaign, was a shot behind Briem in third place after tallying a 6-under 66 at the Crossings Course.

   Yuna Nishimura of Japan had the best score of the day on the par-71 Falls Course with a 5-under 66, which left her in a tie for fourth place with Jing Yan of China and Dongeun Lee of South Korea, both of whom recorded 5-under 67s at the par-72 Crossings Course.

   Erica Shepherd, the winner of the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo. who went on to star at Duke, was the low American on the leaderboard as she opened with a 3-under 68 at the Crossings Course that left her among a trio of players tied for seventh place.

   Also in the group tied for seventh place were Spain’s Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, who helped Wake Forest capture the national championship in 2023 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Australian Jennifer Elliott, each of whom matched Shepherd’s 4-under 68 at the Crossings Course.