Burnham Places Third with Final-Round 68, Moves on to Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying

National

 
 
  VENICE, Fla. – Rolling in five birdies against one bogey Thursday, Minnesotan Sarah Burnham saved her best performance for the final round of the second stage of the 2018 LPGA Qualifying Tournament, shooting 4-under par 68 at Plantation Golf and Country Club to finish in third place at 279, one shot off the top spot.
 
Burnham, a prep standout at Wayzata High School before playing her collegiate golf at Michigan State University, moves on with 40 other golfers from this week’s second stage to the Q-Series beginning Wednesday at Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C., where a minimum of the top-45 players and ties will earn LPGA Tour cards for the 2019 season.
 
Opening the tournament with a round of 71 Monday, Burnham followed it up with back-to-back rounds of 2-under par 70 to move into a tie for sixth place with 18 holes to play. Starting quickly during the final round Thursday, Burnham carded three birdies through her first six holes to move to 8-under for the championship.
 
Carding just her seventh bogey of the tournament at the par-3 12^th hole Thursday, Burnham dropped back to 7-under, but rebounded to finish with a pair of late birdies, carding a final round 68 to finish in third place at 279, one shot behind co-medalists Kyung Kim and Amy Boulden.
 
An accomplished amateur golfer, Burnham collected more than 15 state victories and was named Minnesota Golf Association Junior Girls’ Player of the Year three times and MGA Women’s Player of the Year twice. She qualified for eight USGA events, including the U.S. Women’s Open in 2015, and three consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships.
 
Named Big Ten Golfer of the Week six times, Burnham went on to win three collegiate events at Michigan State, where she ended her career as the program’s all-time leader in career average at 72.92. She recorded the lowest round in school history, and fifth-lowest in NCAA history, with a 63 at the Big Ten Championships in 2017.
 
Casey Danielson, an Osceola, Wis., native who played golf at Stanford University, posted back-to-back rounds of 73 during the final two days of competition to finish tied for 51^st at 290 to miss the cut by two strokes.
 
Former New Prague High School golfer Kenzie Neisen, a two-time Big 12 individual champion while at Oklahoma State University, overcame an opening round 76 Monday by shooting rounds of 71 and 67, respectively, to move inside the top-20 ahead of Thursday’s final round.
 
Neisen would struggle during the final round, carding six bogeys to shoot 6-over par 78 to finish tied for 61^st at 292, missing the cut by four strokes.
 
Natalie Roth, from Detroit Lakes, Minn., posted a 1-under 71 to open the tournament Monday, but stumbled during the second round by shooting 11-over par 83. Roth battled back by shooting a 69 during Wednesday’s final round to jump up into a tie for 101^st before a final-round 76 put her in a tie for 120^th at 299.

The final stage of qualifying, called Q-Series, consists of four rounds played at Pinehurst No. 6 beginning Wednesday, followed by another four rounds played at Pinehurst No. 7 beginning Oct. 31.
 
 
 
2018 LPGA QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT – STAGE II
PLANTATION GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
VENICE, FLA.
PANTHER COURSE
6,363 YARDS, PAR 72
 
BOBCAT COURSE
6,536 YARDS, PAR 72
 
 
THURSDAY’S FINAL RESULTS
T1. Kyung Kim, United States, 69-72-70-67—278
T1. Amy Boulden, Wales, 69-71-65-73—278
3. SARAH BURNHAM, MAPLE GROVE, MINN., 71-70-70-68—279
T4. Csicsi Rozsa, Hungary, 71-71-70-69—281
T4. Alison Lee, United States, 73-67-71-70—281
T4. Klara Spilkova, Czech Republic, 68-74-68-71—281
T4. Suzaka Yamaguchi (a), Japan, 67-73-69-72—281
T8. Sandy Choi, South Korea, 66-72-72-72—282
T8. Youngin Chin, South Korea, 69-68-70-75—282
T10. Alana Uriell (a), United States, 70-70-76-68—284
T10. Jennifer Hahn, United States, 68-74-73-69—284
T10. Lauren Coughlin, United States, 70-73-68-73—284
 
T51. CASEY DANIELSON, OSCEOLA, WIS., 72-72-73-73—290
T61. KENZIE NEISEN, NEW PRAGUE, MINN., 76-71-67-78—292
T120. NATALIE ROTH, DETROIT LAKES, MINN., 71-83-69-76—299
 
 
For complete tournament results go to:  http://leaderboard.symetratour.com/public/QSLeaderboard.aspx