Hyo Joon Jang, a 19-year-old rookie from South Korea, entered the Epson Tour Championship ranked 11th on the money list with $74,202, just $1,076 behind No. 10 Alexa Pano. Jang’s T-11 finish was enough to push her into the 10th spot, forcing Pano to head to Q-Series to earn her LPGA card.
The top 10 players on the Ascensus Race for the Card earned LPGA status for the 2023 season. The top three players – Linnea Strom, Xiaowen Yin and Lucy Li – had their cards locked up coming into Daytona Beach, Florida.
For the second time in three years, Bailey Tardy missed her card by one spot. In 2020, Tardy missed her card by $343. She held the lead on Sunday at the Tour Championship on the strength of five birdies in six holes on the front nine. A back-nine 37, however, dropped her down to third place. This time, the former Georgia standout missed the 10th spot by $1,765.
Jaravee Boonchant birdied the 18th to win her first Epson Tour title at LPGA International and moved up to 12th on the money list. While it wasn’t enough to earn her LPGA card, the former Duke player will get to skip the second stage of Q-School.
Find out more about the card winners for the 2022 Epson Tour season:
1
Linnea Strom
Linnea Strom was Rookie of the Year on the Epson Tour in 2018 but lost her LPGA card in 2021. The Swedish player will return to the LPGA next year, however, with her confidence brimming after topping the money list with $119,190 to earn Player of the Year honors. The 25-year-old, who played collegiately at Arizona State, won once this season and posted five additional top-5 finishes.
2
Xiaowen Yin
At 17, Xiaowen Yin is the youngest player to earn her LPGA card through the Epson Tour. The Chinese native turns 18 in December. Yin won back-to-back events on the Epson Tour over the summer en route to securing her card. She jokes that her father is her good luck charm as she won the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship the first week he came out to watch. Her highest World Amateur Golf Ranking was seventh.
3
Lucy Li
Former child prodigy Lucy Li made history when she competed in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at age 11. Currently ranked 137th in the world, Li focused on LPGA starts after wrapping up her card early on in the Epson season. Li, 20, won twice on the Epson Tour this year and tied for 16th at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. She finished T-4 at the LPGA’s Dana Open, playing in the final group. She led the Epson Tour in scoring at 69.389 and will be a rookie on the LPGA.
4
Kiira Riihijarvi
Ranked as high as 18th as an amateur, Kiira Riihijarvi earned her card in her first full season on the Epson Tour. Last season, Riihijarvi made only three starts on the development circuit. Riihijarvi won the Epson Tour’s Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA in June and finished in a share of fourth at the Tour Championship to clinch her card. She led the tour in greens in regulation at 79.6 percent. The 2020 Finnish Amateur champion played Division II collegiate golf at the University of Tampa.
5
Grace Kim
Rookie Grace Kim, 21, notched five top-10 finishes this season, including a victory at the IOA Golf Classic. Kim won the 2017 Australian Girls’ Amateur and the 2021 Australian Women’s Amateur. She has five professional wins, including two on the ALPG.
6
Celine Borge
Celine Borge, 24, was a rookie on the Epson Tour in 2019 and finished 62nd on the money list. Last season, she finished 40th on the money list and this year, made the leap into the top 10. Borge’s steady progress culminated in her first Epson Tour victory last week at the 2022 Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic. She also tied for second in mid-September at the Guardian Championship, peaking at the right time.
7
Gabriella Then
Gabriella Then, a former USGA champion who quit golf and then won LET Q-School last year, triumphed early on the Epson Tour at the Garden City Charity Classic and then added a runner-up finish in French Lick, Indiana. The 26-year-old played collegiate golf at USC and took a job in marketing and sales at Le Mieux skin care after deciding to take a break from the game in 2019.
8
Gina Kim
This former Duke star earned her LPGA card at last year’s Q-Series and teed it up 12 times on the LPGA in 2022. While she missed more cuts than she made on the big tour, Gina Kim shored up her card for the 2023 season (better status than last year) with a win on the Epson Tour at the Inova Mission Inn Resort & Club Championship and a runner-up finish at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship. Kim, who played a pivotal role in Duke winning the 2019 NCAA title, played in only 13 Epson Tour events this season.
9
Yan Liu
China’s Yan Liu won her first Epson Tour event, the Four Winds Invitational, in August to vault herself into position for an LPGA card. Consistent play followed for the 24-year-old, whose worst finish was a top 30 over the next six starts. Liu played in all 21 events on tour.
10
Hyo Joon Jang
Hyo Joon Jang entered the Epson Tour Championship ranked 11th on the money list with $74,202, just $1,076 behind Alexa Pano. A check for $4,409 on Sunday for a share of 11th, however, put Jang into that coveted 10th spot. The 19-year-old rookie travels with her mom, leaving her 11-year-old sister at home in South Korea. The sacrifice serves as motivation for the talented teen.
