Rebecca Artis will begin the fight to retain her LPGA Tour card later today when the first round of the LPGA Q Series presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield gets underway at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.
The 29-year-old, originally from Coonabarabran in NSW has had a tough rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 2018 making just 7 cuts from her 20 starts, with a best finish of 27th at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship back in June.
Artis though is known for her ability to tough it out under pressure, the 2-time winner on the Ladies European Tour will relish the opportunity to play over 2 weeks on challenging courses in what are expected to be difficult conditions.
Artis is one of the 102-players in the field who will compete in the 144-hole stroke play format, over eight rounds consisting of two four-day tournaments.
The top-45 finishers and ties at the end of the second week will receive LPGA membership in Category 14 on the LPGA Priority List, with the remaining competitors earning status on the LPGA developmental tour, the Symetra Tour. There is no cut in either event, and the unofficial purse of US$150,000 will be distributed at the event’s completion.
The first week of Q-Series will be contested from Oct. 24-27 on the George and Tom Fazio-designed Pinehurst Course No. 6, with the second week of play being played from Oct. 31-Nov. 3 on the Rees Jones-designed Pinehurst Course No. 7.
Artis is one of 37 players in the field who finished from between 101-150 on the current-year LPGA official money list, in addition to 19 players from Nos. 11-30 and ties on the Symetra Tour official money list.
Furthermore, one member from the top-75 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings plus the top-five collegiate players in the US also earned an exemption into Q-Series, along with the 40 players who advanced from Stage II of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament.
First and second round action gets underway at 7:50 a.m. ET on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, with Artis teeing off at 8:12 am alongside Americans Kim Kaufman and Laura Wearn.
The other Australian in the field, amateur Robyn Choi, will start at 1:16 pm alongside American Stephanie Kono and Czech star Klara Spilkova.
There are also several well-known names teeing it up at LPGA Q Series, including former RACV Ladies Masters champion Cheyenne Woods, and past Solheim Cup participants Kristy McPherson (2009), Vicky Hurst (2011), Alison Lee (2015) Mel Reid (2011, 2015, 2017) and Emily K. Pedersen (2017)
After 36 holes, players will be re-paired by score and stay with the same group for the third and fourth round on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The low score wave goes off in the morning of round three and afternoon of round four.
Heather Daly-Donofrio, the LPGA Tour Chief Communications and Operations Officer said “On the doorstep of LPGA Tour membership, this group of talented athletes have all earned their way here. Over the next two weeks, players will compete head-to-head over eight rounds in pursuit of their dream to reach the highest level in women’s professional golf. We look forward to identifying the first-ever LPGA Q-Series class for the 2019 LPGA Tour season.”
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