Helen Briem is a 20-year-old from Germany, stands 6-3 and, from all reports, just kills it off the tee.
Briem, again battling chilly temperatures and a cold rain, carded a solid 2-under-par 69 at the Robert Trent Jones Trail Magnolia Grove’s Falls Course Saturday to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying in Mobile, Ala.
As recently as March of 2024, Briem was a junior golfer, finishing alone in 10th place in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, an increasingly prestigious gathering of junior standouts at the course in Graniteville, S.C. only a few miles across the Georgia border from Augusta National.
By the summer of 2024, Briem had turned pro. This year she finished in ninth place in the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit, which secured her an invitation to the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying.
It was a bit of a roller-coaster ride on the outgoing nine at the par-71 Falls Course for Briem, who had opened with a sparkling 7-under 65 Thursday at the par-72 Crossings Course.
Briem made a birdie at the second hole, a bogey at five and a birdie at six before a costly double bogey at nine dropped her back to 1-over for the round.
But then Briem made a birdie at the 13th hole and went back-to-back with birdies at 15 and 16. A bogey at the17th hole slowed her roll a little, but a birdie at the last got her in at 2-under for the round.
Ana Belac of Slovenia and Dongeun Lee of South Korea were a shot behind Briem in a tie for second place at 8-under 135.
Belac was one of the match winners for Duke when the Blue Devils edged Atlantic Coast Conference rival Wake Forest, 3-2, in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. in 2019 to give them the seventh national title in the program’s illustrious history.
After opening with a 2-under 69 Friday at the Falls Course, Belac surged up the leaderboard on the strength of a sizzling 6-under 66 Saturday at the Crossings Course.
Belac was Rookie of the Year and the Player of the Year in 2020 on what was then known as the Symetra Tour, now the Epson Tour, and earned her LPGA Tour card through the Race for the Card. She’s trying to battle her way back onto the big tour this week at Magnolia Grove.
Lee began the day just three shots out of the lead after opening with a 5-under 67 at the Crossings Course and she added a solid 3-under 68 at the Falls Course in Saturday’s second round.
The top-25 finishers at the end of the grueling 90-hole test will earn playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2026. All the players who reached Q-Series Final Qualifying have status on the Epson Tour for 2026.
The field will be cut to 65 following Monday’s fourth round with players having each played the Falls Course and the Crossings Course twice. The final battle for the top 25 will play out Tuesday at the Crossings Course.
Canadian Leah John, coming off a solid Epson Tour campaign, had taken the lead with an opening round of 8-under 64 at the Crossings Course. She fell back with a 1-over 72 at the Falls Course Saturday, but was still sitting in a tie for fourth place with France’s Perrine Delacour and former Washington standout Camille Boyd, a native of Yorba Linda, Calif., at 7-under 136.
Delacour, who has played on both the LPGA Tour and the LET, added a 5-under 67 at the Crossings Course Saturday to her opening round of 2-under 69 at the Falls Course. Boyd, who played on the Epson Tour this year, added a 4-under 68 at the Crossings Course in Saturday’s second round to the 3-under 68 she signed for in the opening round at the Falls Course.
Japan’s Yuna Nishimura had registered the best score at the Falls Course in the opening round with a 5-under 66 and added a 1-under 71 Saturday at the Crossings Course to get a share of seventh place with Mohan Do of China at 6-under 137.
Do, coming off a solid Epson Tour campaign, had opened with a sparkling 6-under 66 at the Crossings Course and matched par in the second round at the Falls Course with a 71.
Canadian Maude-Aimee LeBlanc, a member of Purdue’s 2010 national championship team, carded a 4-under 68 Saturday at the Crossings Course as she headed a trio of players tied for ninth place at 5-under 138. LeBlanc had opened with a 1-under 70 at the Falls Course.
Joining LeBlanc at 5-under were Japan’s Kokona Sakurai and Italy’s Carolina Melgrati, who starred collegiately at Arizona.
Sakurai had opened with a 3-under 69 at the Crossings Course and added a 2-under 69 in Saturday’s second round at the Falls Course. After opening with a solid 3-under 68 at the Falls Course, Melgrati added a 2-under 70 at the Crossings Course in Saturday’s second round.
I focused on 17-year-old Gianna Clemente, who is bypassing college and trying to go directly to the LPGA Tour, in my post on the opening round of the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying and the kid from Estero, Fla. via Warren, Ohio, made her move in Saturday’s second round.
Clemente had opened with a patient 1-over 72 at the Falls Course, but she put together a bogey-free 5-under 67 Saturday at the Crossings Course and moved into a group of six players tied for 12th place at 4-under 139.
After making a bogey at the first hole in Friday’s opening round at the Falls Course, Clemente ripped off 17 straight pars.
Well, that bogey at the first hole Friday is still the only one she’s had. Clemente made back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes and another at six to head for the back nine at the Crossings Course at 3-under for her round. She made two more birdies at the 11th and 17th holes to surge into solid position to make that coveted top 25.
But there’s a long way to go. Looks like the weather is going to warm up considerably for Sunday’s third round.
Samantha Wagner, the Easton native who played her college golf at Florida, fell back into the group tied for 31st place at 1-under 142 with a 2-over 73 at the Falls Course.
Wagner had a solid year on the Epson Tour, including her first professional win at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel at Battle Creek Country Club in Michigan.
Wagner had opened with a 3-under 69 at the Crossings Course Friday.
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