Competing on the current-day LPGA Tour isn’t ideal by any means. The schedule is sporadic, the number of tournaments — especially in the U.S. — is a far cry from what it once was, and making a good living is challenging for many of the players.
Just take the case of former University of Denver golfer Stephanie Sherlock. She qualified for the 2011 LPGA circuit as a rookie professional, made the cut in almost half of her tournaments and finished as high as 16th place.
Yet in the midst of the season, it wasn’t unusual for Sherlock to be found driving the beverage cart at Simoro Golf Links, the course her family owns in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
“That’s the kind of kid she is,” DU coach Sammie Chergo said Sunday.
Glamorous existence or not, Sherlock earned herself a second consecutive season on the LPGA Tour on Sunday by finishing tied for 20th in the qualifying finals in Daytona Beach, Fla. The 2010 DU graduate shot a 2-over-par 74 in the final round to end up at 5-over-par 365 for five days. Though the top 40 players and ties earn LPGA Tour membership for 2012, Sherlock didn’t gain fully-exempt status as she failed to win the nine-golfer playoff for the final top-20 spot. But she did earn “Category 16” status by ending up among the next 10 finishers.
“I’m thrilled,” Chergo said. “The more pressure there is and the more important the tournament, the better she plays.”
Sherlock won a DU-record-tying seven individual titles during her college days and led DU to sixth- and fifth-place finishes in the NCAA Championships. The former Canadian women’s amateur champion placed 14th at LPGA Q-school in her first try last year, and she subsequently made five cuts in a dozen LPGA events in 2011, including one top-20 showing.
Still, in finishing 101st on the 2011 money list, Sherlock fell about $16,000 short of keeping her LPGA Tour card, which put her back into the finals of Q-school.
“It’s tough these days” to make it on the LPGA Tour, Chergo said. “There are not that many events to play and not that many in a row.”
Still, especially with Sherlock now having a year of experience under her belt, Chergo expects the 24-year-old to take another step in her development in 2012.
“She hits it as good as anyone and she has such a good short game,” the coach said. “I think she can stay out there (on the LPGA Tour), especially as she gets more comfortable. She’s a very smart athlete.”
Unlike this year, when four players with strong Colorado connections started the season with LPGA Tour cards (Sherlock, Jill McGill, Kimberly Kim and Alison Whitaker), Sherlock will be the lone “local” on that circuit in 2012. McGill, Kim and Whitaker failed to make an LPGA cut in 2011, and Kim and Whitaker missed the cut in the qualifying finals.
The only other player with Colorado ties to make the cut in the LPGA Q-school finals was Sue Kim, who spent a semester playing golf for DU before turning professional. Kim finished 64th on Sunday, meaning she’ll be playing on the Symetra Tour (formerly the LPGA Futures Tour) next year.
One competitor who did regain her LPGA Tour card was Birdie Kim, who won the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. Kim, who has battled back following a major car accident in 2009, finished 34th on Sunday.
Here are the qualifying final scores of all the players with strong Colorado ties: former DU golfer Stephanie Sherlock 73-72-72-74-74–365 (20th place); former DU golfer Sue Kim 73-72-79-74-75–373 (64th place). Missed 72-Hole Cut: former DU golfer Dawn Shockley of Estes Park 73-79-76-75–303 (88th place); Ashley Tait of Littleton 75-79-77-74–305 (96th place); part-time Denver resident Alison Whitaker 72-80-74-79–305 (103rd place); Kristin Walla of Aspen 76-76-82-80–314 (131st place); former DU golfer Kimberly Kim 89-79-78-79–325 (137th place).
