by Dave Andrews
29 players have earned their rookie cards on the LPGA for the 2016 season. 14 of those LPGA rookies will have full playing status. 15 will have limited status. Reflecting the appeal of the LPGA as an international tour, only 6 of the 14 new rookies with full playing status are Americans.
The 29 rookie cards were earned three different ways this year… either by winning an LPGA event as a non-member, by finishing in the top 10 on the Symetra Tour money list, or through the final stage of LPGA Q-School.
In Gee Chun of South Korea (pictured above) earned her card by winning the U S Women’s Open back in June. The 21-year-old Chun, who was the leading money winner on the Korean LPGA this year and is currently the 9th ranked player in the world, could have claimed immediate membership on the LPGA right after her Open victory, but she opted to finish out her season in Korea and begin her LPGA career in 2016. Chun was a math wizard in school and has a genius IQ. Her nickname is “Dumbo,” not because of having big ears (she doesn’t), but because she is often distracted by hearing small sounds in the distance while she is preparing to hit a shot. I would call that “rabbit ears.” She will be considered the odds-on favorite to have the best season among all of the rookies in 2016.
Annie Park, Lee Lopez, and Rachel Rohanna; all from the United States; earned their rookie cards by finishing in the top 10 on the Symetra Tour money list this season. The Symetra Tour is the official developmental tour of the LPGA and is owned by the LPGA. This year it had 23 events around the country. For the past eight years, the ten leading money winners on the Symetra Tour have earned automatic full playing status on the LPGA for the following season.
