LPGA to unveil PGA Tour University-type program for top college players, amateurs

The LPGA is creating its own version of PGA Tour University.

GolfChannel.com has learned from multiple sources that the LPGA plans to implement two programs that will provide top college players and amateurs pathways to the LPGA and Epson Tour. The tour has already shared the news with several stakeholders, including players, coaches and agents, and it plans to publicly announce ahead of next week’s season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship.

The first program will resemble the PGA Tour University’s Accelerated program, which awards PGA Tour cards to top underclassmen who reach a certain points threshold by achieving certain benchmarks. Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent was the first player to earn his Tour card by clearing the 20 required points. The LPGA’s version will be open to all amateurs, whether in college or not, and will have its own set of achievements that earn players points toward LPGA membership. The points can be accumulated over a three-year rolling period, meaning it can start at any time, even before a player reaches college age.

According to one source, only three female players would’ve achieved the 20 points in the past (Lydia Ko, Leona Maguire and Rose Zhang), and Florida State junior Lottie Woad would be the current high point-earner with 16 points if the program went into effect today.

The second program will be similar to the regular PGA Tour University rankings, which rank players based on their final two years of college and PGA Tour competition and then provides the top seniors access to various PGA Tour circuits, including giving the No. 1 player a PGA Tour card. It’s unknown how many seniors would earn status via the LPGA’s program, though it’s believed that the highest reward would only be Epson Tour status, not an LPGA card.

Other information was not shared, including how many Epson Tour cards would be up for grabs, the official names of these programs and when this would all go into effect.

An LPGA official confirmed to GolfChannel.com on Friday that the tour would announce next week the details to an amateur pathway plan.

College coaches on the women’s side have long pleaded the LPGA for a solution to the frequent departures of many of their sport’s stars midseason. Current LPGA rules allow college players to compete in the second stage of Q-School, now called LPGA Qualifying, and if they advance, either defer their Epson Tour status until the following summer or enter final stage, also known as LPGA Final Qualifying, provided they first turn professional.

“Whatever the LPGA is doing with college right now is not a good system,” said Laura Ianello, then the head coach at Arizona, in 2021, the same year that she lost her two best players, Yu-Sang Hou and Vivian Hou, to the LPGA midseason.

Added Ole Miss head coach Kory Henkes that same year: “It’d be nice to give the players a better option to finish college. I think [a version of PGA Tour U], that’d be a nice end goal for people to get their degree.”

At the time, GolfChannel.com asked then incoming LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan about the Q-School issue and whether the tour would collaborate with the college game on a better alternative.

“I think there’s been a lot of time spent on that over the years, and I think we’ve changed our policy a couple times,” Marcoux Samaan said. “But I think it’s important to think through opportunity because this is such a big opportunity. So, to think through all levels of how someone gets their card to be on the LPGA because it’s such a coveted place to be. So, we’ll go back during the offseason and look at that and evaluate it and see if there’s a better way than what we’re doing.”

The next year, the LPGA tweaked its Q-School rules to mandate that only professionals compete at final stage. But that hasn’t stopped the winter exodus. This year, five college players advanced to final qualifying, and so far, only Western Kentucky’s Catie Craig has committed to coming back to school. Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez will turn professional, as will fellow top-10 amateur Zoe Campos of UCLA. Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek, the reigning NCAA champion, is expected to announce her intentions on Monday, though she’ll have to inform the LPGA of her decision on Friday, as will UCLA’s Caroline Canales.