Yan has the lead halfway through final round of Q-Series Final Qualifying at Magnolia Grove

 

   Once the LPGA Tour finally got some dry weather at the Robert Trent Jones Trail Magnolia Grove courses in Mobile, Ala. Monday, it just kept the players playing.

   As a result, Jing Yan of China, going 4-under through 10 holes of her final round at the par-72 Crossings Course when it was suspended by darkness, will have a one-shot lead with eight holes to play Tuesday in Q-Series Final Qualifying.

   Drenching rains early Sunday left the Crossings Course and the Falls Course at Magnolia Grove unplayable until the middle of the afternoon. With the winter solstice only a couple of weeks away, there isn’t a whole lot of daylight, but the players were sent out to try to play as much as they could.

   The third round concluded Monday – most of the leaders were playing the Falls Course in the third round – and the LPGA Tour sent the players out to get in as much of the final round as possible.

   The tournament was originally scheduled to be 90 holes and was scheduled to conclude Monday. The opening round was washed out Thursday and when the drencher hit early Sunday, the tournament was cut to 72 holes.

   It will be a mad dash to the finish Tuesday with the players trying to get one of the LPGA Tour cards for 2026 that will go to the top-25 finishers.

   Yan completed a solid 3-under 68 at the Falls Course Monday morning and then, starting off the 10^th tee at the Crossings Course, jump-started her round with an eagle at the par-4 11^th hole and a birdie at 12.

   A birdie at the first hole, the last hole Yan completed before play was suspended, got her to 4-under for the round and 11-under for the tournament.

   Yan has struggled on the LPGA Tour, but always seems to save her best stuff for the U.S. Women’s Open, for which she has qualified seven times and made the cut three times.

   She had five birdies in a stretch of six holes on the incoming nine at Erin Hills in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open on her way to a sparkling 3-under 69 in the second round that had her on the leaderboard at 4-under at the halfway point. Yan faded to a tie for 28^th place with a 4-over 292 total, but she is clearly capable of some solid stretches of golf.

   When I first clicked on the leaderboard Monday, Helen Briem, a talented 20-year-old from Germany, was tied for the lead with Yan. But Yan’s birdie at the first hole dropped Briem back into a tie for second place 10-under.

   Briem had completed her third round at the Falls Course early Monday with an even-par 71. She was 1-under through seven holes on the incoming nine at the Crossings Course. She would appear to be in pretty good shape to earn an LPGA Tour card.

   The kind of shifts that can happen in the chase of an LPGA Tour card were obvious even in those final updates before play was officially suspended Monday.

   Sharing second place at 10-under with Briem was Japan’s Kokona Sakurai. She birdied the last two holes she played, the 17^th and 18^th at the Crossings Course, to jump up into a tie for second place.

   Sakurai completed a solid 2-under 69 at the Falls Course Monday morning and was 3-under on the incoming nine at the Crossings Course.

   Dongeun Lee of South Korea had taken the lead through three rounds she completed a 2-under 69 at the Falls Course Monday. She made a birdie on the last hole she played in the afternoon, the 16^th at the Crossings Course, to jump to fourth place, a shot behind Briem and Sakurai.

   Lee had made a couple of bogeys early in her final round and the birdie at the 16^th hole got her back to 1-over for her round.

   Yu Liu, another native of China, went 2-under on the back nine at the Crossings Course to join France’s Perrine Delacour and Canadian Leah John in the trio tied for fifth place at 8-under.

   Liu had completed a 2-under 69 at the Falls Course Monday morning.

   Dellacour, who has split time on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour (LET) during her career, and John, coming off a solid season on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s developmental tour, each completed a 2-under 69 Monday morning at the Falls Course and were 1-over through seven holes on the back nine of the Crossings Course to join Liu at 8-under.

   Three Americans, Camille Boyd, a native of Yorba Linda, Calif. who was a standout at Washington, Laney Frye, a native of Nicholsville, Ky. who was a really nice player in college at Kentucky, and Ryann O’Toole, an LPGA Tour veteran battling to keep her place in the big leagues of women’s golf, are among a group of seven players tied for eighth place at 7-under.

   Boyd has been solid all week and completed a 1-under 70 at the Falls Course Monday morning. She was 1-over through seven holes on the back nine of the Crossings Course.

   Frye and O’Toole both made a move Monday to put them in good position to earn playing privileges on the LPGA Tour in 2026.

   Frye completed a 3-under 68 at the Falls Course and was 1-under through 11 holes on the Crossings Course to get it to 7-under. O’Toole matched par in the third round she completed Monday morning at the Falls Course with a 71 and then went 3-under on the incoming nine at the Crossings Course to jump up into the top 10.

   Another interesting name in that group at 7-under was Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini, who was a sophomore on a Mississippi team that was a stunning winner of the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 2021, defeating Oklahoma State in the Final Match.

   Tamburlini has been a winner on the LET and she put herself in position to bring her talent to the LPGA Tour with a big Monday. After finishing off a 1-under 70 at the Falls Course Monday morning, Tamburlini had four birdies and no bogeys, going 4-under for 13 holes on the Crossings Course to get it to 7-under.

   She is just five solid holes away from earning an LPGA Tour card.

   Soo Bin Yoo, a 21-year-old South Korean who owns an Epson Tour win in 2024, made a huge move in the third round as she finished off an eight-birdie, one-bogey 7-under 64 at the Falls Course.

   Bin Yoo was 1-under through seven holes on the back nine at the Crossings Course to join the group at 7-under.

   Rounding out the group tied for eighth place at 7-under were China’s Mohan Du and Juniper Jang, like Bin Yoo, another talented South Korean youngster.

   Du, coming off a solid season on the Epson Tour, completed a 1-under 70 Monday morning at the Falls Course and was even-par through eight holes on the back nine of the Crossings Course.

   Jang also completed a 1-under 70 in the morning at the Falls Course and was 2-under through 10 holes at the Crossings Course in the afternoon.

   One of the more interesting story lines at Magnolia Grove is the bid by 17-year-old Gianna Clemente to earn an LPGA Tour card after receiving a waiver to allow her to compete on the tour before turning 18.

   Clemente of Estero, Fla. via Warren, Ohio struggled a little in finishing up her third round at the Falls Course as she ended up recording a 3-over 74.

   But she ripped off consecutive birdies at the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes at the Crossings Course to get back in the hunt for a spot in the top 25. A bogey at the 14^th hole left her at 2-under for the back nine at the Crossings Course and just outside the top 25 in the group tied for 27^th place at 3-under.

   Samantha Wagner, an Easton native who was a college standout at Florida, has some work to do to get into that top 25.

   Wagner, who earned her first professional win at the FireKeeper Casino Resort Championship at Battle Creek Country Club in Michigan on the Epson Tour in the summer, matched par with a 71 at the Falls Course in the third round she completed Monday morning.

   Wagner was even-par through 12 holes at the Crossings Course in the afternoon and was among a group tied for 38^th place at 1-under.