They call the Golf Channel series “Big Break”, but it’s more than just a name to Kelly Jacques, the two-time state high school champion who grew up in Longmont.
When Jacques (pictured at left) landed a spot on “Big Break Ireland” last year, it led to an opening of the floodgates for her golf career.
Besides receiving some national and international exposure on the golf skills show, Jacques has seen her golf fortunes improve immeasurably over the last year and a half, and particularly the last six months.
She finished third in the 2012 HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open, qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open and posted three top-20 showings on the Symetra Tour.
And then there’s the biggest development. On Sunday, the former Longmont resident earned conditional status on the 2013 LPGA Tour thanks to finishing 17th in the final stage of qualifying in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Though Jacques birdied the final hole of regulation from 15 feet to move into the top 20, she lost in a seven-person playoff for the final four full exemptions available. The playoff lasted five holes — a three-hole aggregate, then sudden death — and Jacques’ even-par total wasn’t good enough to join the top 20, who receive “Category 12” exempt status.
Instead, she’ll get the Category 17 status given to the players who finish between 21st and 45th (and ties).
“I’m excited to have some status, but it stings” to fall just short of a full exemption, Jacques said in a phone interview Sunday night.
Meanwhile, former University of Denver golfer Stephanie Sherlock landed a Category 12 spot.
Sherlock, who’s played the LPGA Tour each of the last two years, finished 10th in the qualifying finals, as a final-round 74 left her at 5-under-par 355 in the five-round tournament. She earned $2,250.
Jacques, who opened with a double bogey on Sunday when she hit a ball into the water after a disagreement with her caddie about which club to hit, carded a 75 to check in at 357. That was good for $1,242.
Former DU golfer Sue Kim also landed conditional LPGA status — Category 17 — by placing 32nd on Sunday. Her final-round 69 left her at 360.
Former University of Colorado golfer Emily Talley, after making a run at an LPGA spot on Sunday, fell back to finish 59th, which leaves her with Symetra Tour status for 2013. She shot a 71 Sunday for a 364 total.
For the 26-year-old Jacques, finally earning a spot on the LPGA Tour is a dream come true.
“My game has come really far the last one or two years,” she said. “It’s neat to see my hard work pay off.”
Still, coming up just short of full status was hard to swallow.
“I was in the top 10 all week, and for my worst day to be the last day was frustrating,” Jacques said.
The issue is that by ending up with Category 17 status instead of Category 12, it will mean getting into fewer LPGA tournaments next year, and possibly a significant amount fewer. But the number will depend on how Jacques performs in her early season events.
As it stands, she anticipates that she’ll split her tournament starts between the LPGA Tour and the Symetra Tour, which is a level lower than the LPGA circuit.
“I have no other choice,” she said. “The problem is, sometimes if you play seven events on each tour, you can’t do well on either. But I plan to play in the LPGA events I can get in, get experience and see how it goes.”
Perhaps it was a good omen for Q-school when, on the very first hole of the finals on Wednesday, Jacques eagled a par-4, holing a 3-wood into the wind from 191 yards. The Skyline High School graduate shot under par every round except Sunday’s.
As it turns out, Jacques indicated that being a contestant on Golf Channel’s Big Break Ireland last year helped her deal with the pressure of big-time golf.
“At first, when you find out you’re going to be on the show, you’re overwhelmed with excitement and joy and then you get so deathly scared,” Jacques said this past week. “You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to be on TV’ and if you hit a bad shot, it’s going to be shown to everybody. So it was really neat to be a part of that and to see how your game holds up under pressure.”
Sherlock, winner of seven individual tournament titles at DU, earned the right to play the LPGA Tour for a third consecutive season. She lost her fully-exempt status in 2011 after finishing 101st on the money list, and in 2012 by placing 139th on the money rankings.
But, by virtue of finishing 10th in Q-school on Sunday, Sherlock has better status for 2013 than she had in 2012. This marks her third straight year of placing 20th or better in the Q-school finals.
The former Canadian women’s amateur champion has made seven cuts in 22 LPGA Tour events over the last two years. She finished the 2012 season strong with a win in the SunCoast Ladies Series Tournament in Daytona Beach.
Kim, who played at DU only one semester before deciding to turn pro, earned conditional LPGA status for 2013 by shooting 70-69 the final two rounds to move up to 32nd. Kim, who made the cut in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, will be an LPGA Tour rookie next season after placing 23rd on the 2012 Symetra Tour money list.
Talley was inside of the top 45 after shooting a 3-under-par 33 on her front nine Sunday. But the winner of the 2012 California Women’s (Amateur) Championship carded a 2-over 38 on her back side to finish 59th. That leaves her with a spot on the Symetra Tour in 2013.
Here are the round-by-round scores for the players with Colorado ties who competed in the Q-school finals:
10. former University of Denver golfer Stephanie Sherlock 71-70-71-69-74–355; 17. Kelly Jacques of Longmont 70-71-71-70-75–357; 32. former DU golfer Sue Kim 76-71-74-70-69–360; 59. former University of Colorado golfer Emily Talley 74-74-73-72-71–364.
