Australian Robyn Choi has played her way back onto the LPGA Tour in 2024 in emphatic fashion, winning the LPGA Q-Series in Alabama by three strokes.

Choi was one of two Aussies who will add to our LPGA contingent in 2024 with Perth’s Hira Naveed shooting 65 in the final round to climb from 43rd to 15th and earn her elevation from the Epson Tour.

Securing a return to the LPGA Tour for the first time since 2019 is particularly sweet for Choi, who looked all but guaranteed a card via the Epson Tour moneylist.

Having not missed a cut all season, Choi entered the Tour Championship 11th on the moneylist, the top 10 receiving LPGA Tour cards.

Despite finishing tied for 14th at the season finale, Choi was overtaken by two others and fell to 12th, sending her to the six-round Q-Series to try and qualify for the LPGA Tour.

After a quick trip home to play the Webex Players Series South Australia and with Mum on the bag, Choi was never far from the top of the leaderboard at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

The Gold Coaster led after rounds of 64 in both Round 3 and Round 4 and closed out the seven-day marathon with rounds of 68 and 68 to finish three clear and erase the disappointment of her Epson Tour near-miss.

“A win out here, it means a lot,” said Choi.

“Just when I'm playing on Epson, we really just get to play along with the Epson girls, but to play with kind of like all around LPGA, Epson, and like from other tours, you know, just to win… Now I know where I would stand against the rest of the players out there, so that's good for me.

“We’ve all been working for this week and to show that I have that this week is pretty good.”

Choi started her day two shots out of the lead behind So Mi Lee.

After starting her round with three straight pars, the 25-year-old made birdie at the par-5 fourth before reeling off a further three pars.

It was three birdies in succession from the eighth hole and then responded to bogeys at 13 and 15 with birdies at 16 and 17 to post 29-under for the six rounds.

Choi was the only player in the entire field to record scores in the 60s all six days while Naveed had to produce her best on the final day to secure a LPGA Tour card.

A graduate of Pepperdine University, Naveed has progressed each year since her rookie season on the Epson Tour in 2020.

She finished 30th on the moneylist this year to qualify for the Q-Series and produced one of the rounds of her life – a bogey-free 7-under 65 – under immense pressure to join Choi and the other Aussies on the LPGA Tour in 2024.

Photo: Isaiah Bell/LPGA

Results
LPGA TOUR
Q-Series
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove, Mobile, Alabama
1          Robyn Choi      69-68-64-64-68-68—401         $US15,000
15        Hira Naveed     72-67-71-70-70-65—415         $2,800
T56      Amelia Garvey (NZ)      73-69-70-71-71-70—424
MC       Su Oh              75-70-72-73—290

Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR/LPGA Tour
Grant Thornton Invitational
Tiburón Golf Club (Gold Cse), Naples, Florida
2:40am            Jason Day/Lydia Ko (NZ), Charley Hull/Justin Rose

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 5am-8am Saturday; Live 6am-9am Sunday; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.