By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(December 2, 2024)  - Yeji Kwon sailed through her first qualifying school test and now hopes she can ace the final exam.

That would be the final stage of the LPGA Tour’s Qualifying Series, which goes Dec. 5-9 in Mobile, Ala. The 18-year-old Port Coquitlam resident earned her spot in the final stage back in late October when she tied for 10th at second-stage qualifying.

That finish has earned her good Epson Tour status for 2025, but the former Canadian Junior Girls champion doesn’t want to settle for that.

“I guess there’s nothing to lose, but this is the closest I have ever been to playing on the LPGA Tour so I am going to try my best to play the best golf I can,” Kwon said in a telephone interview from Florida, where she has been warming up for the event.

“I am super-excited and I’m really looking forward to it. I have already played both of the courses. We drove up there recently to play some practice rounds.”

Kwon hopes she can draw upon the success she had at second stage in Venice, Fla., where a brilliant second-round 64 helped relieve some of that Q-school pressure. “Playing at the second stage was honestly a really good experience,” Kwon said. “I had the chance to compete alongside some really talented golfers and it really pushed me to get the best out of myself. I also learned a lot about myself and my game — areas of strength and areas I could improve on.

“Just being confident about every shot and being focused and being in the moment I feel were the important things I learned at second stage and being composed and playing your own game because sometimes you can start thinking about a lot of other things.”

Kwon and her parents spent a good deal of 2024 on the road. They travelled the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour circuit and Kwon played well enough to earn an exemption straight into second stage of Q-school. She also made a decision to turn pro and forgo a commitment she had made to play collegiate golf at Baylor University in Texas.

“Honestly, golf has been my passion ever since I first started playing the game and I have always had the dream of playing on the LPGA Tour,” she said. “Playing on the WAPT just helped build my confidence to pursue professional golf.”

The final stage is a 90-hole event with a cut after 72 holes. The top 25 players and ties will earn their LPGA Tour cards for 2025. Kwon knows it won’t be easy and neither are the two courses — the Crossings and Falls courses at Magnolia Grove Golf Club — playing host to the event.

“Both courses are pretty slopey, with lots of elevation changes. They kind of remind me of Pinehurst a little. They are tree-lined with a few doglegs and they play long, 6,600 or 6,700 yards, and in wet conditions they are very long. In dryer conditions it was do-able, but I still was hitting a lot of long irons into many of the greens.”

Kwon will have her dad, Andy, on her bag as caddie. “He helps me with a lot of my decision-making,” she said of her dad. “He has been really helpful measuring the wind and giving me my yardages, so I really rely on him for that. And he is also always trying to keep it positive after a bad shot.”

SECOND STAGE: While Kwon is chasing her LPGA Tour card, British Columbians A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver and Richmond’s Chris Crisologo will be attempting to advance to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school. Crisologo and Ewart are playing this week (Dec. 3-6) at a second-stage Q-school site in Valdosta, Ga., while Macdonald is competing at another second-stage site in Valencia, Calif. The final stage goes Dec. 12-15 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

MORGAN MOMENT: The 2025 PGA Tour Americas season will end in Surrey as Morgan Creek Golf Course has been awarded the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship, where 10 Korn Ferry Tour cards will be handed out at the conclusion of the event. The tournament is scheduled for Sept. 25-28 and is the 16th and final event of PGA Tour Americas season.

Tom Doull, Morgan Creek’s director of golf operations, said the club is delighted to play host to the tournament. “This prestigious event is the perfect match for our commitment to excellence in golf, and we are thrilled to showcase our course on an international stage,” Doull said. “We can’t wait to celebrate the season’s top players and create a memorable experience for everyone involved.”

The tournament will feature the top 120 players off the Fortinet Cup points list and the top 10 players following the Morgan Creek event will earn their 2026 Korn Ferry Tour cards. Morgan Creek can be stretched to just under 7,000 yards and will play as a par-70 for the tournament, with two of its par-5s converted into par 4s.

The 2025 PGA Tour Americas schedule has not yet been released, but the 10-event North American swing — with nine Canadian stops and one in the United States — will also include the annual Victoria event which will have a new place on that schedule. In recent years, the Victoria event has opened the North American swing, but in 2025 it will be played Sept. 18-21 at Uplands Golf Club, the week before the Fortinet Cup Championship at Morgan Creek.

HAPPY TRAILS: Muncie Booth’s imminent retirement was celebrated at a surprise lunch last week for the legendary club pro. Friends and colleagues gathered at Langara Golf Course, where Booth began his career with Vancouver Parks Golf in the early 1990s.

Before that, Booth was head pro at Mission and Chilliwack Golf Clubs. Booth joined Langara in 1992 as head pro and held that position until 2016. For many years he did double duty as head pro of Langara and McCleery. Booth has been head pro at McCleery Golf Course since 1998.

In 1999, Booth founded the ‘Inner-City Golf Program’ which operated every summer out of the McCleery Golf Academy and offered golf camps free of charge to underprivileged children from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

SEASON OVER: Jared du Toit’s Asian Tour season ended with a missed cut at last week’s International Series Qatar event in Doha. The Kimberley native did not qualify to play in the Tour’s season-finale, this week’s $5-million PIP Saudi International in Riyadh, and is 92nd on the Order of Merit. That means he will have to return to Q-school to attempt to regain status for 2025.

CHIP SHOTS: Vancouver’s Anna Huang (1st team), Amy Lee of Langley (2nd team), Clara Ding of White Rock (2nd team) and Clairey Lin of Langley (2nd team) were American Junior Golf Association All-American team selections for 2024 . . .Vancouver’s Liam Jackson has committed to join Simon Fraser University’s golf program in the fall of 2025. Jackson is a Grade 12 student at Magee secondary school.