Reigning NCAA champ among six college players in LPGA Qualifying field

Among the 19 amateurs teeing it up at LPGA Qualifying, formerly known as second stage of LPGA Q-School, are six current college players, including the reigning NCAA individual champion.

Texas A&M senior Adela Cernousek, who last May won the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa, will tee it up Tuesday-Friday at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida, as will Mississippi State senior Julia Lopez Ramirez, UCLA senior teammates Zoe Campos and Caroline Canales, Wisconsin senior Chloe Chan and Western Kentucky senior Catie Craig.

All players who complete 72 holes will earn at least conditional Epson Tour status with the top 35 and ties receiving full Epson Tour status, which the college players can defer until next summer, and advancing to Final Qualifying, where LPGA cards will be on the line. The amateurs, however, must turn professional before competing in the final stage, which means the college players must also forfeit the remainder of their eligibility.

At least Cernousek and Ramirez would defer their Epson status and return to school this spring.

The college game has lost several of its players to the pros midseason, including most recently Oregon’s Briana Chacon, Clemson’s Savannah Grewal and Tulsa’s Lilly Thomas last year. Five players, including top-ranked amateur Ingrid Lindblad of LSU, deferred their Epson status last year.

The rest of the 195-player field includes Christina Kim, Sandra Gal, Sophia Schubert, Mariah Stackhouse, Amari Avery, Megan Schofill, Rachel Kuehn, Julia Johnson, Beatrice Wallin, Gina Kim, Yana Wilson, sisters Yusang and Vivian Hou, and Bobbi Stricker, daughter of Steve Stricker.