Meadow Loses LPGA Play-Off

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Stephanie Meadow missed out on a LPGA card after a dramatic 12-hole play-off ended when America’s Carlin Beck chipped in for a birdie on the 18th hole at Final Qualifying in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The 22-year-old from Jordanstown was also in the rough close to the 18th green but her attempt to follow Beck and hole out failed.

It means Beck gains Category 12 status along with 19 other golfers, while Meadow will play on next year’s LPGA Tour with the more limited Category 17 status.

Meadow had a chance on the second play-off hole of the morning, the eighth in total after six were played on on Sunday, but she just missed a birdie putt from 10 feet after Beck and Casey Grice both missed their putts.

Grice was eliminated at the fourth hole they played today when she made bogey at the 10th, a hole where Meadow played a brilliant bunker shot to make par and continue on to the 18th, the 100th hole she played in the tournament.

Meadow looked set to earn Category 12 status without the need for a play-off before she made bogey at the 16th and 17th holes during the fifth and final round of regulation play on Sunday.

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Meadow Makes Qualifying Moves

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Stephanie Meadow remains well-placed for a place in the top order in the fourth round of the final stage of the LPGA qualifying tournament in Daytona Beach.

Meadow shot her second 72 of the week on the course yesterday, sandwiching a 66 on the Hills Course where she will tee off today five shots off the pace set by South Korea’s Ha Na Jang on 11 under.

Meadow began with nine straight pars before a birdie at 10, but back-to-back bogeys saw her drop to one over for the day before picking up that shot at the last.

She’ll look forward to a return to a layout more suited to her game.

“I’ve had some good history on this course,” she said of her 66 at Hills. “I played in a tournament here and won my freshman year so I really like this course and feel like it’s good for my game. I’m accurate and that’s what you need out here.”

Her target, first and foremost, is a place in the top 70 to make Sunday’s play, again on the Hills Course, and that looks to be all but secure with her current score of six under good enough for a share of seventh.

In the fifth and final round, Meadow will need to finish in the top 20 to claim “full-time” status on the LPGA Tour while players who finish between 21st and 45th will have “conditional” status.

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