Conway native McPherson returning to final stage of LPGA Tour Q-School

On her way to the LPGA Tour, Kristy McPherson set the standard for consistency on the Symetra Tour (it was then called the Futures Tour) by making the cut in all 60 tournaments she entered over four seasons from 2003-06.

An unwanted return visit to the LPGA Tour’s feeder circuit in 2016 did not garner the same results, but it gave McPherson a place to play and strengthened her resolve to get back to the highest level of women’s professional golf.

“It’s a grind. But if you’re out there you know you still love playing,” McPherson said.

So the Conway native is entered in the final stage of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament next week in the hopes of adding to the nine full years she spent on the LPGA Tour from 2007-15.

She is exempt into the five-round final stage from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., based on her lifetime LPGA earnings of more than $2.17 million. The top 20 will earn full status on the 2017 LPGA Tour, and players inside the top 45 will earn conditional status.

McPherson reached No. 14 in the Rolex World Rankings and was a member of the victorious U.S. Solheim Cup Team in 2009, when she had two runner-up finishes, including a major, three top-seven finishes in majors and a tie for third in the LPGA Tour Championship.

Injuries, particularly one to an elbow that was exacerbated by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, curtailed her success.

McPherson, 35, missed the cut in the five LPGA Tour events she entered this year between early May and late August.

She struggled through about two thirds of the Symetra Tour schedule with seven missed cuts in her first 11 events – though she had a third-place finish and consecutive top-15s in May – before finishing with three top-25 finishes among five consecutive cuts made, including a tie for 17th in the season-ending Symetra Tour Championship on Oct. 13.

She finished 56th on the 2016 Symetra Tour money list with $16,557.

“I never got into any kind of rhythm and never played well. I got in my own way, and that’s been the last few years,” she said. “You’re thinking score out there and grinding, and I never did any of that when I was playing my best. You just react, hit the ball and react.”

She said her play improved late in the year after she focused largely on her mental game rather than spending hours a day on the range. “I wish I had done it earlier in the season, but I think I did get better at that this year,” McPherson said. “The last three years or so I’ve been a mess mentally. It’s a hard enough game as it is, and if you can’t get your head right then you’ve got no chance.”

McPherson’s measured average driving distance of 233.1 yards ranked 126th on the Symetra Tour this year but she was sixth in driving accuracy, hitting 83.4 percent of her fairways in regulation, and 17th in greens in regulation at 70.8 percent. She was just 111th on tour with an average of 31.58 putts per round.

“For the most part I was happy with my driver. It’s not far at all but I’m happy with hitting it one way, for the most part being able to aim right-center of the fairway and turn it over and not missing it both ways,” McPherson said. “It looks like I hit the ball well, and I did, but I didn’t hit it close enough this year. When you’re hitting 14 to 16 greens but you’re 30 feet from the hole, your putts are going to go up. Eventually you have to hit it close and make a birdie.”

The Symetra Tour was a reality check for McPherson. She paid $500 per event with purses between $100,000 and $250,000 and carried her own bag about half the time. She had friends caddie or used a local caddie in a few events.

“It was fun. The best part about it was getting to travel and have my truck out pretty much all year. That’s something you don’t get to do on the LPGA when you’re playing in 13 different countries,” McPherson said, referring to her 2008 Cadillac Escalade.

She chose to play in the five LPGA events where her veteran status got her into the field, thereby missing some Symetra Tour events that could have helped her get into the top 10 on the money list and earn LPGA status again.

If she doesn’t gain full 2017 LPGA status, she doesn’t plan to return to the Symetra Tour. She plans to play in the handful of events she will be eligible for and hope to make a cut or two to earn better status with the tour status reshuffles. She’d likely get into events by May. “I’d try to be more focused on those and be more prepared,” she said. “One good week in those and all of a sudden you start to get into more events. I think you have to be all-in one way or the other.”

McPherson will be on the Grand Strand for Thanksgiving before heading back to her Tampa, Fla., area home Friday and continuing on to Daytona.

McPherson is interested in sports broadcasting after her playing career concludes. “I’m not sure they really want me on TV, if people could really understand me very much,” she joked, referring to her Conway drawl. “But my true passion outside of golf would be in sports, to talk sports all day. That’s something I could do all day, every day. But I’m not quite there yet.”

Holliday Jr. on tee

In its 48th year, the George Holliday Memorial Junior Golf Tournament being played at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club’s three courses from Thursday through Saturday has about a 20-percent increase in participation over last year.

The third-oldest junior golf tournament in South Carolina has 206 players from 16 states and Mexico.

Myrtle Beach National head pro and tournament director Brad Crumling said organizers upgraded tee gifts, marketed the tournament more heavily and contacted several junior golf associations to make sure the tournament would be accredited and part of their point structures, including the South Carolina Junior Golf Association, American Junior Golf Association, Junior Golf Scoreboard and Golfweek Junior Rankings.

“There were quite a few years where there were declining numbers and we’re very happy the extra work we put in has resulted in more participation,” Crumling said. “We’d like to get to about 225, but 206 is a really good start.”

The tournament was a sellout for many years, and Crumling said the three courses – King’s North, West and SouthCreek – can handle up to 252 players depending on the breakdown of the number of players in each division.

Players ages 10-18 who haven’t graduated high school are eligible, and there are four boys age divisions and three girls divisions. The boys 16-18 division is almost a sell out with nearly 80 players. Online registration has ended, but interested players can still register by calling Myrtle Beach National at 843-448-2308.

Last year’s winners Blake Taylor of Atkinson, N.C., and Ashley Czarnecki of Mauldin have both graduated from high school and are playing at East Carolina and Wofford, respectively. Runners-up Gracyn Burgess of Lexington and Michael Lubrani of Belle Vernon, Pa., are returning in attempts to capture titles.

States represented include the Carolinas, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alabama, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, West Virginia, Georgia, Massacusetts, Missouri, Florida and Kentucky.

There are more than 40 players entered from the Grand Strand including Patrick Golden of Murrells Inlet, Jackson Cole and Trey Salley of Pawleys Island, Matt Griego of North Myrtle Beach, Holden Grigg of Myrtle Beach, Charlie Wike of Surfside Beach, McClure Thompson of Little River, Tucker Vaughan of Calabash, N.C., and Spencer Faircloth of Shallotte, N.C.

In the girls competition, Mary Kate Richardson of Aynor, Katie Smith of Murrells Inlet and Samantha Spencer of Conway are entered.

Tee times run from about 8-10 a.m. each morning off the first and 10th tees and spectators are welcomed.

The tournament is held in memory of George Judson Holliday III of Galivants Ferry, who won a number of junior and college tournaments before being killed in a car crash at the age of 22 in November 1967. His sister, Russell Holliday, is expected to take part in the awards ceremony.

Sister act II

Brittany Henderson, who was the Big South Conference Women’s Golfer of the Year in her senior season at Coastal Carolina in 2012-13, has committed to caddie for her younger sister Brooke in her second season on the LPGA Tour in 2017.

The Canadian sisters had a sensational year despite Brooke being just a teenager in her rookie season. She played in more tournaments than anyone else on the LPGA Tour, won twice, including a major, notched 15 top-10s and finished third on the Race to the CME Globe.

Brooke confirmed Sunday to LPGA.com that Brittany will be back on the bag in 2017 after she closed the CME Group Tour Championship in a tie for 24th.

“After that, we’ll have to see. I’ll have to try to convince her again,” Brooke told LPGA.com.

Brittany has playing aspirations of her own, playing a full season on the Symetra Tour in 2015, and may want to get back to her playing career at some point.

Morris wins Mayor’s Cup

Lorcan Morris, the winner of the inaugural Mayor’s Cup in 2006, returned to the tournament for the first time this past weekend to capture the 11th playing of the tournament, which featured 55 players in six divisions. Morris, a native of Dublin, Ireland, and resident of Boiling Springs, N.C., shot rounds of 72, 70 and 75 Friday through Sunday at Whispering Pines Golf Club, Pine Lakes Country Club and the Grande Dunes Resort Course for a 3-over 217 total that was 12 strokes better than runner-up Phil Pfeiffer, the 2015 champion and four-time winner.

The tournament was played exclusively at Whispering Pines for its first 10 years.

Morris’ 75 Sunday at Grande Dunes included a two-stroke penalty because his caddie rolled the ball on a green using Morris’ putter.

Since his first win, Morris, 35, played professionally for three years and caddied for seven years on the PGA and LPGA tours before regaining his amateur status earlier this year.

Dodd Daniel of Florence won the men’s senior division by a shot over Gary Whitaker of Myrtle Beach with a 224, and Troy Hornberger of Myrtle Beach won the men’s super senior division by 12 strokes with a 223.

Beth Hunt of Murrells Inlet won the women’s title by nine strokes over Dianne Belair of Myrtle Beach with a 240, Elaine Johnson shot a 73 in the second round and won the women’s senior title by 29 strokes with a 234, and Karin Wolfe shot a 242 to win the women’s super senior title by eight strokes over Karen Zeip of Myrtle Beach.

Daniel believes the rotation of the three Myrtle Beach courses was well-received by the players.

“That made it more interesting and you give everybody a chance to play a couple courses they might not normally play,” Daniel said. “Everybody I talked to liked it that way.”

Daniel and other participants hope the tournament is marketed more heavily next year and gets back to attracting more than 100 players, as it has in the past.

GAA team second

A team of eight golfers from the Myrtle Beach campus of the Golf Academy of America finished second at the National Collegiate Club Golf Association’s Fall National Championship, and team member Jordan Quinn was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Earlier this year, more than 350 colleges across the country competed in 56 regional tournaments and 30 qualified for the national tournament.

The tournament was held Saturday and Sunday at Walt Disney World Golf Courses.

Quinn and classmate Daniel Childress tied for 13th in the individual competition. The other golfers representing the GAA Myrtle Beach campus were Ben Boyd, Andrew Harvey, David Kravies, Mark Mullery, Joshua O’Hearn and Michael Santavicca.

The GAA Myrtle Beach campus finished fourth in the NCCGA Spring National Championship earlier this year.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Conway native McPherson returning to final stage of LPGA Tour Q-School."