Stimmel finishes fourth in another strong showing in the Dixie Senior at Eagle Trace

 

   The Dixie Amateur will tee off this week at Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla. I’m going to try to round up the Dixie Senior and Mid-Master, which was played earlier this month, and the Women’s Dixie Amateur, which wrapped up Friday, in one post.

   Rick Stimmel, who plays out of Connoquenessing Country Club in Ellwood City, outside of Pittsburgh, was the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Senior Player of the Year in 2025.

   Stimmel has been eligible to compete in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship for the last three summers and for the third straight time he earned a spot in the match-play bracket, this time at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas.

   For the last three Decembers, Stimmel has added a trip to Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla. to tee it up in the Dixie Senior and Mid-Master to a schedule that had mostly been a spring and summer campaign.

   Stimmel captured the title in the Dixie Senior in his first try two years ago and was the runnerup a year ago.

   He finished in fourth place in this year’s Dixie Senior, which was played from Dec. 3^rd to 5^th.

   Chad Branton of Cartersville, Ga. cruised to a three-shot victory in the Senior division, which includes players ages 55 to 64, on the strength of a sparkling final round of 5-under-par 67 that gave him a 7-under 209 total.

   Branton had posted a pair of 1-under 71s in the first two rounds and shared the lead with John Wright of Fairhope, Ala. and Scott Stevens of Encinitis, Calif. going into the final round at 2-under.

   Branton got off to a solid start in the final round with back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes. He stumbled briefly with a bogey at the fourth hole, but birdies at eight and 10 got him back on track.

   A bogey at the 12^th hole dropped Branton back to 4-under for the tournament, but he then put it away by rattling off birdies at 14, 16 and 17 that got him to the house at 7-under.

   Wright had opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in the second round with a 72. He closed with a 2-under 70 to finish three shots behind Branton with a 4-under 212.

   Mike Combs of Savannah, Ga. finished two shots behind Wright in third place with a 2-under 214 total. After opening with a 1-under 71, Combs recorded a 1-over 73 in the second round before closing with a 2-under 70.

   The Eagle Trace layout obviously fits Stimmel’s game and he got off to a good start with a 1-under 71. A 1-over 73 in the second round left Stimmel two shots off the lead going into the  final round and he closed with another 1-under 71 that left him alone in fourth place with a 1-under 215 total.

   Only four players finished in red figures over three days at Eagle Trace.

   Kristoffer Marshall, a two-time state amateur champion in Arizona out of Scottsdale, ran away with Mid-Master division, for players ages 40 to 54, by seven shots.

   Marshall took command of the tournament by following up an opening round of 4-under 68 with a 3-under 69. He closed with a solid 1-under 71 for an 8-under 208 total.

   Playing with a big lead, Marshall got off to a good start in the final round with birdies at the second and fourth holes. After a bogey at the sixth hole, Marshall made another birdie at eight and was 2-under for the outgoing nine at Eagle Trace.

   After a bogey at the 12^th hole, Marshall made a birdie at 16 before closing with a bogey at 18.

   Marshall’s closest pursuer was defending champion Haymes Snedeker, the older brother of nine-time PGA Tour winner Brandt Snedeker who finished seven shots behind the winner in second place with a 1-under 215 total.

   Snedeker, another Fairhope, Ala. guy, got off to a good start with a 3-under 68, matched par in the second round with a 72 and finished up with a 2-over 74.

   Dustin Sloat of Charleston, Ill. was another shot behind Snedeker in third place with an even-par 216 total.

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Sloat tallied a 1-over 73 in the second round before closing with a solid 1-under 71.

   The Scarpettas, a legendary name in northeastern Pennsylvania golf circles, made the trip to Coral Springs and Vince Scarpetta III finished in a tie for 23^rd place in the Mid-Master division with a 244 total.

   Vince Scarpetta III bounced back from an opening-round 84 with a 5-over 77 in the second round before finishing up with an 83.

   Steve Humphrey of Ocala, Fla. ran away with the Super Senior division title by six shots as he was the only player in the 65-and-over set to finish in red figures with a 2-under 214 total.

   After opening with a 1-under 71, Humphrey matched par in the second round with a 72 before closing with another 71.

   With a comfortable lead going into the final round, Humphrey opened with a birdie at the second hole. He made bogeys at the sixth and ninth holes to make the turn at 1-over for his round.

   Humphrey, however, got things straightened out on Eagle Trace's incoming nine, making a birdie at the 11^th hole and going back-to-back with birdie at 14 and 15. A bogey at the 17^th hole dropped Humphrey back to 1-under for the round, more than good enough to capture the title.

   Jeffrey Scott Ray of Central City, Ky. was Humphrey’s closest pursuer as he earned runnerup honors with a 4-over 220 total.

   Ray matched Humphrey’s opening round of 1-under 71, but fell off the pace with a 4-over 76 before closing with a 1-over 73.

   Victor Leoni of Miami Springs, Fla. finished two shots behind Ray in third place with a 6-over 222 total.

   After opening with a 4-over 76, Leoni added a 2-over 74 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   The patriarch of the Scarpetta clan, Vince Scarpetta Jr., who plays out of Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic, earned a top-10 finish as he ended up in a tie for ninth place in the Super Senior division with a 233 total.

   Vince Scarpetta Jr. opened with a 78 and added a solid 1-over 73 in the second round before closing with an 82.

   In the Women’s Dixie Amateur at Coral Springs, which wrapped up Friday, Ein Kim, a talented youngster from Irvine, Calif., capped a solid week with a 3-under 69 to claim the title by two shots with a 12-under 276 total.

   Kim is a Class of 2028 kid, the equivalent of a high school sophomore, and she opened with a 2-under 70, added a 4-under 68 in the second round and a 3-under 69 in the third round to take a commanding four-shot lead over Gianna Singh of Elk Grove, Calif. into Friday’s final round.

   After making a bogey at the first hole, Kim, who lost in the first round of match play in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga. in July, put the field away by making birdies at two, five, eight and 10 to get it to 12-under.

   She made a bogey at the 12^th hole and added one more birdie, at 15, to complete her final-round 69.

   Scarlett Schremmer of Birmingham, Ala., one of the most highly-sought recruits in junior golf a year ago, closed with a sparkling 6-under 66, but had to settle for a runnerup finish with a 10-under 278 total.

   Schremmer, No. 60 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, had joined the program at Southeastern Conference power Texas A&M, but had a change of heart during her first semester in College Station.

   Schremmer will join the program at Miami in the Atlantic Coast Conference at the end of next summer.

   Schremmer earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline in August, but was ousted in the first round.

   Schremmer had opened with a 1-under 71 at Eagle Trace and added a 1-over 73 in the second round. A 3-under 68 in the third round enabled Schremmer to get within five shots of Kim, but, even with her furious final-round rally, Schremmer never really threatened Kim.

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Singh, who will join the program at Grand Canyon University next summer, unleashed the round of the tournament, a sizzling 7-under 65 that gave her a one-shot edge over Kim at the halfway point of the tournament.

   Singh blitzed the outgoing nine at Eagle Trace with four birdies at the first, fourth, fifth and seventh holes for a 4-under 32. Singh made a birdie at the 10^th hole and then eagled the par-5 15^th to complete her stellar round.

   Singh fell back with a 2-over 74 in the third round before closing with a 2-under 70 that left her three shots behind Schremmer in third place with a 7-under 281 total.

   Vidhi Lakhawala of Kendall Park, N.J. and Maria Isabella Errichetto of Norfolk, N.C. finished in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 2-under 286, five shots behind Singh.

   Lakhawala, who will join the program at ACC power Wake Forest at the end of next summer, opened with a solid 4-under 68, carded a 1-over 73 in the second round, matched par in the third round with a 72 and finished up with another 73.

   Errichetto, a Class of ’27 competitor, was steady at Eagle Trace, posting back-to-back 1-under 71s in the first two rounds and matching par in each of the final two rounds with a pair of 72s.

   Archmere Academy junior Hannah Webb, the winner of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship last spring at the St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown, Del., played three rounds in the Dixie Women’s Amateur, failing to survive the 54-hole cut.

   Webb, a Woolwich, N.J. resident who qualified for last summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club, opened with an 83 at Eagle Trace, added an 82 in the second round and registered an 80 in the third round for a 245 total for three rounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

California dreamin': USGA invites a dozen players to a Curtis Cup practice session at Bel-Air

 

   Meghan Stasi, the South Jersey native and 10-time winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship, will get another shot at being the captain of the United States Curtis Cup team, but the circumstances will be quite a bit different this time around.

   A Stasi-captained U.S. team suffered a 10.5-9.5 setback at the hands of Great Britain & Ireland in the summer of 2024 at Sunningdale Golf Club’s Old Course in Berkshire, England.

   It was a typically talented U.S. side, but GB&I seemed to be a little more determined, having not come out on top in a Curtis Cup Match since winning in 2016 at Dun Loughaire Golf Club in suburban Dublin.

   Stasi will get reacquainted with four members of her 2024 team and eight other talented hopefuls who accepted invitations from the USGA Teams Selection Committee to participate in a practice session for candidates for the 2026 U.S. team next month at Bel-Air Country Club, the George C. Thomas gem in Los Angeles, which is where the 44^th Curtis Cup will be played June 12 to 14.

   The fact that Stasi has four potential returnees from her 2024 team is significant. There often isn’t much continuity in the biennial competition, but Stasi will likely have some players who experienced the cauldron of representing your country on foreign soil in front of a bunch of golf-mad Brits who were respectfully rooting hard against you.

   The Curtis Cup Match can be a moving target as far as where it falls on the golf calendar. This year’s Curtis Cup will be in mid-June, similar to what it was when I got a chance to watch some of the best amateur players in the world when Merion Golf Club’s iconic East Course was the site of the Curtis Cup in 2022.

   The 2024 Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale was played over the Labor Day weekend.

   When next year’s Curtis Cup Match is played at Bel-Air, many of Stasi’s players will be coming off the NCAA Championships at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. It’s likely that several of the U.S. players will have been involved in some high-leverage match-play situations at La Costa.

   There’s also a decent chance that some of Stasi’s charges will earn a spot in the U.S. Women’s Open, which will be held the week before the Curtis Cup at another Thomas design, Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

   That sounds like a lot of high-level golf in California leading into a California Curtis Cup Match.

   And wouldn’t you know it, but the four players from Stasi’s 2024 side who were invited to audition for the 2026 U.S. team Jan. 16 to 18 at Bel-Air are Cali girls.

   Another player invited to the practice session at Bel-Air, Kiara Romero, a junior at Oregon and the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), is assured a spot on the U.S. team because she secured the McCormack Medal for 2025 as the amateur player spending the most time atop the world ranking. She’s a Cali kid, too, from San Jose.

   Romero captured the Big Ten’s individual crown and led the Ducks to the team title at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace, Md. in their first year in the conference. She then led Oregon to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at La Costa, where they fell to eventual champion Northwestern in a tough match.

   The 19-year-old Romero reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August at the Bandon Dunes Resort on the rugged Oregon coastline, where she fell in 20 holes to Kansas junior Lyla Louderbaugh.

   Heading the quartet of players who wore Red, White & Blue at Sunningdale and were invited to the practice session at Bel-Air was Catherine Park, a senior at Southern California from Irvine, Calif. and No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR.

   The 21-year-old Park gained some more international experience in October as part of the U.S. team that hoisted the Espirito Santo Trophy that goes to the winner of the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore.

   Park, reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megha Ganne, a senior at Stanford, and Farah O’Keefe, a junior home girl at Texas from Austin, Texas and No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, made up the U.S. team in Singapore, which prevailed in a tiebreaker after finishing in a tie atop the leaderboard with Spain and South Korea.

   The 20-year-old O’Keefe, who helped the Longhorns earn a spot in the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at La Costa, also accepted an invitation to the practice session at Bel-Air.

   It seems like Anna Davis, a junior at Auburn from Spring Valley, Calif. and No. 13 in the Women’s WAGR, has been around forever, but that’s because the 19-year-old was just 16 when she captured the title in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship in 2022.

   Davis was part of Stasi’s U.S. team at Sunningdale and the steady left-hander, who was really good for the Tigers during the fall portion of the wraparound 2025-2026 college season, would seem like a likely choice to earn a spot on next year’s team at Bel-Air.

   Park’s Southern Cal teammate, Jasmine Koo, a sophomore from Cerritos, Calif. and No. 9 in the Women’s WAGR, went 2-1-1 for the U.S. in the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale. She’s only 19, but Koo is a proven commodity on a big stage.

   Asterisk Talley, the 16-year-old phenom from Chowchilla, Calif. and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR, was just 15 when she found herself paired against England’s Lottie Woad, then No. 1 in the Women’s WAGR, batting leadoff in the Sunday singles at Sunningdale with the U.S. staring at a 7-5 deficit.

   The kid proceeded to make five birdies and an eagle and blew away Load with a 3 and 2 decision.

   Stasi, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, knows a thing or two about match play. I’m sure she was impressed with the way Talley went about her business in about as tough a match-play scenario as you could draw up for a 15-year-old kid. Stasi will be happy to see Talley auditioning for a spot on the 2026 U.S. Curtis Cup at Bel-Air.

   The USGA Teams Selection Committee mostly went right down the list of Americans on the Women’s WAGR in handing out invitations to the practice session at Bel-Air.

   Kary Hollenbaugh, a senior at Ohio State from New Albany, Ohio and No. 16 in the Women’s WAGR, will join the party at Bel-Air.

   The 21-year-old Hollenbaugh finished in a tie for second place behind Romero in the Big Ten Championship at Bulle Rock and reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes, where she fell to Ganne, the eventual champion.

   Another Californian was invited to the practice session in Kelly Xu, a senior at Stanford from Claremont and No. 21 in the Women’s WAGR.

   The 21-year-old Xu is often overshadowed by her talented teammates at Stanford, but she was in the lineup when the Cardinal captured a national title at La Costa in 2024 and finished as the runnerup to Northwestern in this year’s Final Match in the NCAA Championship.

   Avery Weed, a junior at Mississippi State from Ocean Springs, Miss. and No. 29 in the Women’s WAGR, also accepted an invitation to tee it up in the practice session at Bel-Air. The 20-year-old reached the second round of match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes.

   A couple of members of a Wake Forest team that entered college golf’s midseason pause at No. 5 in the Scoreboard powered by clippd rankings, Chloe Kovelsky, a sophomore from Boca Raton, Fla. and No. 36 in the Women’s WAGR, and Macy Pate, a junior home girl from Winston-Salem, N.C. and No. 37 in the Women’s WAGR, will be spending a weekend at Bel-Air next month auditioning for a spot on the U.S. Curtis Cup team.

   The 18-year-old Kovelsky and the 20-year-old Pate led the Demon Deacons to the Atlantic Coast Conference team crown at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. and to the team title in the NCAA’s Lubbock Regional at The Rawls Golf Course last spring.

   Rounding out the talented dozen of Americans who accepted an invitation to audition for the 2026 U.S. Curtis Cup team at Bel-Air was Andie Smth, a senior at Duke from Hobe Sound, Fla.

   The 22-year-old reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes in August, where she fell to Romero.

   Other than Romero’s status as an automatic qualifier via the McCormack Medal, nobody else at the practice session at Bel-Air is guaranteed a spot on the U.S. team.

   Pretty sure at some point in the spring, the top three Americans in the Women’s WAGR other than Romero will qualify for the U.S. team. Later in the spring the USGA Teams Selection Committee will make the final four picks to round out the U.S. team.

   Meghan Stasi was Meghan Bolger when she won seven straight WGAP Women’s Match Play Championship crowns. She played on a winning U.S. Curtis Cup team at the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2008 and she was the losing captain in 2024 at Sunningdale.

   Stasi has never stopped learning about the game of golf, particularly match-play golf. Stasi will learn the lessons from the loss at Sunningdale and be a better captain in 2026. And any of the players who were part of the U.S. team in 2024 and are chosen to represent the Stars & Stripes again in 2026 will be two years older and better for their experience at Sunningdale.

Germany's Briem rises to the top in an eventful sprint to the finish in Q-Series Final Qualifying

 

   In the end, it was the talent of a 20-year-old German, Helen Briem, that rose to the top of the final leaderboard in the LPGA Tour Q-Series Final Qualifying Tuesday at the Robert Trent Jones Trail Magnolia Grove’s Crossing Course in Mobile, Ala.

   But you have to have talent just to reach the Q-Series Final Qualifying and the list of 31 players who earned playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2026 proved that point.

   Final Qualifying was scheduled to be five rounds, was shortened to four rounds and felt like six, at least. There was rain and cold and a round-and-half Monday followed by a sprint of between seven and 11 holes Tuesday.

   Final Qualifying is always an emotional roller-coaster and this one was no different with the weather adding its own extra touch to the proceedings.

   Briem, who had finished ninth in the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit to earn her spot in the field at Magnolia Grove, had led after two rounds and trailed Jing Yan of China by a shot with 11 holes to go in the final round at the Crossings Course when play was suspended Monday by darkness.

   Briem’s final round had started on the back nine at the Crossings Course Monday and she had completed seven holes in 1-under par.

   The 6-foot-3 bomber made the turn to the front nine at the Crossings Course Tuesday morning and went off, rattling off birdies at the third, fifth and sixth holes. She stumbled briefly with a bogey at the seventh hole, but made one more birdie at eight to complete a 3-under 33 tour of the outgoing nine at the Crossings Course and a 4-under 68 that gave her medalist honors with a 13-under 273 total.

   Nearly as impressive was the last two rounds put together by runnerup Soo Bin Joo, a talented young South Korean.

   After completing a sparkling 7-under 64 at the Falls Course Monday morning, the 21-year-old Bin Joo was 1-under through seven holes of her final round at the Crossings Course when play was suspended Monday afternoon.

   After making a birdie at the 10^th hole to get to 8-under for the tournament, Bin Joo ripped off consecutive birdies at 13, 14, 15 and 16 to complete a 6-under 66 that earned her runnerup honors, a shot behind Briem with a 12-under 274 total.

   Ryann O’Toole, the 38-year-old American, hadn’t been forced to endure Final Qualifying since 2014, but she responded like the veteran she is.

   She had gone 3-under on the incoming nine at the Crossings Course to open her final round. O’Toole then made birdies on the first, fourth, sixth and ninth holes in the resumption of her round Tuesday to complete a 7-under 65 that left her among a group of four players tied for third place 11-under 275.

   Yan of China had held a one-shot lead when darkness fell Monday night and after an early wakeup call Tuesday, she completed a 4-under 68 at the Crossings Course that left her in a tie for third place with O’Toole, country woman Mohan Du and French veteran Perrine Delacour at 11-under.

   Du, who played on the Epson Tour this year, had been hanging around near the top of the leaderboard ever since opening with a 6-under 66 at the Crossings Course Friday. Du was even-par through eight holes when play was suspended Monday night and proceeded to blitz the front nine at the Crossings Course with five birdies against a bogey as she matched Yan’s final round of 4-under 68 to earn a share of third place.

   The 31-year-old Delacour, who has split time on both the LPGA Tour and the LET during her career, was 1-over for her final round when play was suspended Monday. She calmly made three birdies and six pars on the front nine at the Crossings Course for a closing 2-under 70 that enabled her to join the group at 11-under.

    Really nice effort by Laney Frye, a native of Nicholsville, Ky. who starred at Kentucky, to head a group of three players tied for seventh place at 10-under 276.

   Frye, coming off a solid rookie season on the Epson Tour, completed a 3-under 68 Monday morning at the Falls Course and was 1-under through 11 holes at the Crossings Course to sneak into the top 10 when play was suspended late in the afternoon. Three birdies in her final seven holes Tuesday morning sealed the deal.

   Frye was joined at 10-under by a couple of talented South Korean youngsters, 22-year-old Juniper Jang and 21-year-old Dongeun Lee.

   Jang was 2-under for her final round with eight holes to play at the Crossings Course and she made three birdies on the outgoing nine at the Crossings Course to close with a 5-under 67.

   Lee, who had the lead following the disjointed third round that started Sunday and was completed Monday, was 1-over through 10 holes when play was halted Monday evening and she went 1-under in her final eight holes to match par with a 72 that enabled her to join the group at 10-under.

   Nobody made a bigger move in the final round than Polly Mack, a 26-year-old from Germany who played college golf at UNLV and Alabama.

   Not exactly sure if Mack started off the front or the back for her final round. On the outgoing nine at the Crossings Course, Mack rattled off three straight birdies at the second, third and fourth holes and added birdies at six, seven and nine for a sizzling front-nine 30.

   On the incoming nine, Mack made birdies at the 10^th and 13^th holes, gave a shot back with a bogey at 15 and added one more birdie at 16, the ninth of her round as she recorded a spectacular 8-under 64 that left her among a group of five players tied for 10^th place at 8-under 278.

   More importantly, Mack, a veteran of several Final Qualifying efforts, went from seemingly no shot to finish among the top 25 to making plans for some starts on the LPGA Tour in 2026.

   Mack was joined at 8-under by Natasha Nadaud, a 21-year-old from France, Kokona Sakurai, a 21-year-old from Japan, Leah John, a 25-year-old from Canada and 23-year-old Camille Boyd, a native of Yorba Linda, Calif. who played her college golf at Washington.

   Nadaud closed with a 2-under 70 at the Crossings Course to get her share of 10^th place.

   Sakurai was 2-under through eight holes for her final round and went 1-over the rest of the way for a final round of 1-under 71 to get it in at 8-under.

   John, coming off a solid season on the Epson Tour, had grabbed the lead with an opening round of 8-under 64 at the Crossings Course. She closed with a 1-over 73 at the Crossings Course to easily earn her LPGA Tour card.

   Boyd, another solid Epson Tour performer this year, was steady in the midst of all the rain and cold and starts and stops as she finished up with an even-par 72 to earn her share of 10^th place.

   I imagine there was a bit of celebrating for the three members of the Wake Forest starting lineup when the Demon Deacons defeated Southern California in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at Graystone Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in the spring of 2023 who got through Final Qualifying Tuesday.

   Lauren Walsh, a 25-year-old from Ireland, and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, a 22-year-old Spaniard, finished among the group tied for 17^th place at 6-under 286. Mimi Rhodes, a 23-year-old from England, qualified for the LPGA Tour on the number as she was part of an eight-way logjam tied for 24^th place at 5-under 281.

   Walsh, who played on Great Britain & Ireland teams in the Curtis Cup in 2021 at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales and in 2022 at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course, came on strong with a final round of 5-under 67 at the Crossings Course.

   Lopez-Chacarra remained an amateur long enough to represent Spain in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in October in Singapore. Spain finished in a tie atop the leaderboard with South Korea and the United States, but the US of A got to hoist the Espirito Santo Trophy in a tiebreaker.

   Now, Lopez-Chacarra is headed for the LPGA Tour after a solid showing at Magnolia Grove as she closed with a 3-under 69 at the Crossings Course.

   Rhodes, a member of the winning GB&I Curtis Cup team in the summer of 2024 at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England, won three times on her first full year on the LET this year.

   A 5-under 66 at the Falls Course in a third round that started Sunday afternoon and finished Monday morning gave Rhodes a shot and she matched par in the final round at the Crossings Course with a 72 that earned her playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2026.

   I was rooting for Gianna Clemente, the 17-year-old from Estero, Fla. via Warren, Ohio, to bring her talent to the LPGA Tour, but that will have to wait for a little while.

   I was checking the live scoring from time to time Tuesday and Clemente, who Monday qualified for three straight LPGA events as a 14-year-old in 2022, was at 4-under with just a few holes to go in her final round, needing a birdie to join the group that got through on the number at 5-under.

   Clemente, however, finished with a double bogey at the ninth hole at the Crossings Course for a final round of 1-under 71 that left her with a 2-under 284 total in her professional debut.

   Clemente knew going in that she would have status on the Epson Tour for 2026 and she sounded willing to get her feet wet at the professional level on the LPGA’s developmental tour.

   But you’ll be hearing from Clemente before long. She’s been biding her time as an amateur for more than a year. The next time Clemente tees it up in competition, she’ll be getting paid for her efforts.

   Samantha Wagner, the Easton native who played her college golf at Florida, also came up short in her bid to earn an LPGA Tour card. Wagner closed with a 1-over 73 at the Crossings Course and finished in the group tied for 48^th place with an even-par 286 total.

   Wagner made significant strides in 2025, earning her first professional victory in the FireKeepers Casino Resort Championship at Battle Creek Country Club in Michigan on the Epson Tour. You’ll see a more experienced, battle-tested Sam Wagner on the Epson Tour in 2026.