An Overtakes Roussin-Bouchard in LPGA Q-School Final Stage

December 16, 2021 | 6 min.
By Michael R Fermoyle


DOTHAN, Ala. -- Na Rin An had 11 top-10 finishes on the Korean LPGA Tour in 2021, but she didn't win. She saved her best for last, however, and got her first victory of the year at a good time -- last week in the Final Stage of LPGA Tour Q-School.

The Final Stage is a brutal test of golf, endurance -- and nerves. Four rounds are played the first week, and the field is cut to 70 players. The survivors have three days off, and they then have to play another 72 holes. 

An rallied to claim medalist honors with a 6-under-par 66 last Sunday in Round No. 8. That gave her a 144-hole total of 541, which was 33 under par. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, a two-time All-American in her two years at the University of South Carolina, was the 126-hole leader (how strange does that sound?), after a Saturday 67 that included a hole in one. But after breaking 70 in each of the first seven rounds of the Final Stage, she shot 72 in the final round -- and ended up one shot behind An at 542. 

Two of the top five finishers were under 20 years old. But the prodigy of prodigies in this tournamet was Atthaya Thitikul. The 18-year-old from Thailand, who became the youngest player ever to win a professional golf tournament four years ago, when she won the Ladies European Thailand Championship (at 14 years and 4 months) took third place at 548. She closed with a 69.

One of the two players who tied for fourth, at 553, was Ruoning Yin. She turned professional last year, when she was 18, and  won her first three events on the China LPGA Tour. Yin wasn't even in the top 50 when the last four rounds of Q-School began last Thursday. She made the 72-hole cut with only two shots to spare. But she proceeded to shoot 65-69-67-67 during Week 2.

Also at that number was Peiyun Chien, who at 31 was by far the oldest player in the top 5. Chien, who is from Chinese Taipei, spent most of 2021 on the Symetra Tour, basically the Challenger Tour for the American LPGA. She won once, but had only two other top-10 finishes, and she ended up No. 19 on the Symetra money list. (The top 10 on the money list at the end of the year graduate to the LPGA Tour the followeing year.) She was probably the most consistent player during the second week of the Final Stage, posting three 69's in four rounds on her way to 553.     

An is a 25-year-old Korean who has won twice on the KLPGA Tour. She came close to avoiding Q-School altogether this fall, which she could have done by winning the BMW Ladies Championship in October. The BMW is a tournament that is co-sponsored by the U.S. and Korean LPGA tours, and the winner gains exempt status for the next year to both tours, if she isn't already exempt. An was the first-round leader with a 64, but wound up tying for third.

She started Sunday's conclusive round of Q-School five shots behind Roussin-Bouchard, 21. The former world No. 1-ranked amateur from France increased her lead to six with birdies at the first and fifth holes on the combined Highlands-Marshwood course at Highland Oaks Golf Club. Nine holes at Highlands were used, and nine holes at Marshwood. Each nine was a par 36. (The first 72 holes were played on the Crossings and Falls courses at Magnolia Grove in Mobile.) 

An birdied the first hole, as well, but she parred the next five. Her comeback began in earnest with a birdie at the seventh, and she added a birdie at the ninth for a front-nine 33. Roussin-Bouchard bogeyed the sixth hole, but birdied the eighth before bogeying the par-5 ninth. So she still led by three, having turned in 35. Then came the back nine, and things tightened up, as both players birdied the 10th, but An made a second consecutive birdie at the 11th, and Roussin-Bouchard made a bogey -- her second bogey on a par 5 in three holes. 

Roussin-Bouchard got the lost stroke from the 11th back with a birdie at the 12th, but she followed that with a double bogey at the 13th. An bogeyed the 13th; so Roussin-Bouchard was now one ahead, and she increased her advantage to two shots with a birdie at the 14th. She finally made her first par of the back nine at the 14th, and she parred the 15th, as well.

The issue was decided on the next two holes. An birdied the 16th to pull within one, and she gained two shots -- and the lead -- when she birdied the par-3 17th and Roussin-Bouchard bogeyed it. Both of them parred the 18th.

For the effort, and the victory, An received $15,142. Roussin-Bouchard got $11,642. 

The magic number for admittance to the 2022 LPGA Tour was 570. Six players tied for 41st place with that total. 

Sarah Burnham, the former three-time MGA Women's Player of the Year from Wayzata, made it through Q-School in 2019, and she had status on the LPGA Tour for the last two years, which were combined into one season because the 2020 schedule was thoroughly disrupted by Covid 19. To retain that exempt status, LPGA members need to finish in the top 100 on the money list, but Burnham ended up No. 116 for '20-21, with $89,057 in 16 tournaments. 

As a result, she was back at Q-School this fall. She was exempt into the Final Stage, but she shot 290 (4 over) during the first four rounds on the two courses at Magnolia Grove and missed the 72-hole cut. So she will be on the Symetra Tour in '22, trying to get back onto the big tour by finishing the year in the top 10 on that money list.  


2021 LPGA Q-School

Final Stage

144 holes 

First 72 holes (Dec. 2-5)  at Magnolia Grove (Crossings Course, par 71 & Falls Course, par 72)

Mobile, Ala. 

Last 72 holes (Dec. 9-12) at Highland Oaks (9 holes from Highlands Course, 9 holes from Marshwood Course -- par 72) 

Dothan, Ala.

Final results (The top 70 finishers and ties from Magnolia Grove -- 74 in all -- advanced to play another 72 holes at Highland Oaks, and the top 45, plus ties, at the end of 144 holes gained status for the 2022 LPGA Tour.)


1. Na Rin An, Korea                               $15,142       67-67-72-66-64-69-70-66--541 (-33)

2. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, France   $11,742        69-67-66-65-68-68-67-72--542

3. Atthaya Thitikul, Thailand                    $9,142        73-65-66-69-66-69-71-69--548

T4. Ruoning Yin, China                           $6,892         69-69-74-73-65-69-67-67--553

T4. Peiyun Chien, Chinese Taipei           $6,892         66-72-66-70-69-72-69-69--553

What it took to make the top 45 -- 570 (6-way tie for 41st)

What it took to qualify for the final 72 holes -- 287 (13-way tie for 62nd)

88. Sarah Burnham, USA                                  71-72-74-73--290

Michael R Fermoyle

Mike Fermoyle’s amateur golf career features state titles in five different decades, beginning with the State Public Links (1969), three State Amateurs (1970, 1973 and 1980), and four State Four-Ball championships (1972, 1985, 1993 and 2001). Fermoyle was medalist at the Pine to Palm in 1971, won the Resorters in 1972, made the cut at the State Amateur 18 consecutive years (1969 to 1986), the last being 2000, and amassed 13 top-ten finishes. Fermoyle also made it to the semi-final matches at the MGA’s annual match play championship, the Players’, in 1982 and 1987.

Fermoyle enjoyed a career as a sportswriter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch before retiring in 2006. Two years later he began a second career covering the golf beat exclusively for the MGA and its website, mngolf.org, where he ranks individual prep golfers and teams, provides coverage on local amateur and professional tournaments and keeps tabs on how Minnesotans are faring on the various professional tours.

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