Försterling, who led after round four, has got to know La Manga Club pretty well after progressing through the European Pre-Qualifier last week.

The 23-year-old produced a round of level par on the South Course with three birdies and three bogeys to secure LET playing rights for 2023.

“I feel really good,” she said. “I’m a little bummed about 18 as I missed a short putt to win outright but that’s how it is sometimes.

“All in all, if someone would have told me before that I would have finished here, I wouldn’t have believed them. It’s really nice.

“It means a lot to get my LET card. I’m extremely excited for next season and I can’t wait for all of the tournaments. I can’t wait to get started.”

A final round of 71 (-2) saw Mack draw alongside her compatriot, after she rolled in four birdies and two bogeys in Spain.

It has been a busy end to the year for the 23-year-old, who secured both her LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour cards for 2023 in December.

“It feels great,” said Mack. “These last couple of week couldn’t have turned out any better and I’m honestly just really, really happy with this outcome and going into the off-season with this feeling is really nice. I’m ready to get some rest.

“It means a lot to get the LET status. I am German and it’s nice to have both and have the options and more opportunities. I’m really looking forward to 2023, I think it’s going to be exciting.”

French amateur Nastasia Nadaud rounded off her excellent week with a 71 (-2) on the final day to finish in third place on 14-under-par and the teenager plans to turn professional and compete on the LET in 2023.

“I don’t think I can put into words how I’m feeling,” she said “I can’t believe it’s over. I’m still thinking that there’s a sixth-round tomorrow. I feel really great, and it’s done, finally.

“This is the perfect end to my amateur career. If someone would have told me that I would be top three at Q-School, I would have already turned pro. It’s really nice. I’m super motivated and I can’t wait for the season to start.”

Slovenia’s Ana Belac ended the tournament in fourth place after firing the round of the day with a 67 (-6) which included an eagle on 18, to get to 13-under-par.

“It has been a great week,” said Belac. “Q-School can be really tough and mentally challenging; we try to have fun out here and enjoy the beautiful views and weather as much as I could.

“It was great. I started the week bogey-free and finished the week bogey-free, that’s always a huge positive. My game is coming together.

“[On the eagle] I had a comfortable 5-hybrid into the green and my dad nearly talked me out of going for the green in two. I hit it in the bunker — not the best shot — and then I holed out from the bunker.

“It’s really crazy because that shot would’ve intimidated me a couple of months ago but I really spent a lot of time working on my game especially around the greens so that’s paid off.”

The final leaderboard after 90 holes @LaMangaClub ??#RaiseOurGame | #LETQSchool pic.twitter.com/jaWLTPASza

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 21, 2022

Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab was fifth on 11-under, while Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela finished in a share of sixth place alongside Austria’s Emma Spitz with Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels in outright eighth place.

Rounding out the top 10 on six-under-par were Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley and England’s Annabel Dimmock with Germany’s Sophie Hausmann and Sweden’s Emma Nilsson in T11.

Czechia’s Tereza Melecka, who also carded a 67 on the final day, ended T13 with Norway’s Maiken Bing Paulsen plus Swiss amateur Tiffany Arafi and Danish amateur Amalie Leth-Nissen.

Spain’s Paz Marfa Sans finished in a share of 17th place on three-under alongside Sweden’s Linnea Johansson, Germany’s Aline Krauter, Norway’s Madelene Stavnar, Wales’ Lee-Anne Bramwell, Scotland’s Louise Duncan, Japan’s Yuri Onishi and Italy’s Alessandra Fanali.

The post Mack and Forsterling finish top at epic LET Qualifying School appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Within minutes of each other, the PGA Tour and LPGA issued statements Wednesday announcing the cancellation of tournaments scheduled to be held in China in October. Both cited guidance from the China Golf Association about ongoing COVID-19 related restrictions.

The WGC-HSBC Champions was slated for Oct. 27-30 at Sheshan International in Shanghai. It was one of two remaining World Golf Championship events on the PGA Tour schedule. This is the third straight year the event has been cancelled due to COVID. The last playing came in 2019 when Rory McIlroy beat Xander Schauffele in a playoff.

“We have worked with all Tours, as well as the China Golf Association, on the viability of hosting the WGC-HSBC Champions this fall, but unfortunately the logistical implications forced the difficult decision to cancel the event,” said Christian Hardy, PGA Tour Senior Vice President, International. “We are thankful for HSBC’s partnership during these trying times as we continue to navigate the changing COVID-19 climate.”

That same week, the PGA Tour was planning to play the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. The tour announced that the Bermuda event at Port Royal Golf Course will now be a full FedEx Cup points event with a purse of $6.5 million.

The Buick LPGA Shanghai was set for Oct. 13-16 at Qizhong Garden G.C. in Shanghai. This event has also not been held since 2019, when Danielle Kang defended her title. It was to be the first of four straight weeks that the LPGA would be playing events in Asia; the tour still has tournaments in South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan slated.

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The post WGC, LPGA fall events in China cancelled due to COVID restrictions appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
The Buick LPGA Shanghai will not be played in October, marking the second consecutive year the event has been cancelled. In 2020, COVID-19 travel restrictions also prevented the event from being played. Danielle Kang won the event in 2019, as well as the inaugural event in 2018.

A month prior to this announcement, the Taiwan Swinging Skirts at Taipei, which was scheduled to be played at the end of October, was also cancelled. Two of the four events in the Asia Swing still remain on the calendar: the BMW Ladies Championship and the TOTO Japan Classic. In 2020, all four events on the Asia Swing were cancelled due to travel restrictions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The LPGA Tour said in its statement that the Buick LPGA Shanghai will return to Qizhong Garden Golf Club in 2022.

The post LPGA announces cancellation of Shanghai event due to travel restrictions appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
The LPGA Tour announced the cancellation of the Buick LPGA Shanghai, which was scheduled to be played Oct. 15-18. Tour officials cited not only health concerns but also strict travel restrictions in place as the reasoning for the decision. The event has been on the LPGA Tour schedule since 2018. Danielle Kang has won both playings of the tournament.

After playing two events in Ohio since their restart, the LPGA Tour has left the United States to compete in Scotland. After two events there, the tour will return to the United States. The government has exempt LPGA Tour players from having to quarantine for two weeks after returning from international travel.

The next time the tour was supposed to leave the United States was to go to the Shanghai event, which was to be the start of a four-event swing in Asia. The other tournament in Asia, set for play in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, currently remain on the schedule.

With the cancellation of the Buick LPGA Shanghai, the 2020 LPGA Tour schedule has 21 events. The tour said in their statement that they will return to the Shanghai event at Qizhong Garden Golf Club in 2021.

The post Buick LPGA Shanghai cancelled due to concerns over spreading of COVID-19 and travel restrictions appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
Some wins come easily, with the steady confidence of knowing the tournament is yours for the taking. Danielle Kang’s one-shot victory over Jessica Korda at the Buick LPGA Shanghai was not one of those wins, by her admission.

“There wasn’t a single hole that I thought I won until the last putt dropped,” Kang said after earning her third career LPGA title.

Kang, the tournament’s defending champion, birdied the first hole of Sunday’s final round at Qizhong Garden Golf Club to take the lead over Korda, her teammate in the recent Solheim Cup. It was a good way for Kang to start the round, which happened to fall on her 27th birthday, but she didn’t make another birdie until the 15th hole. A steady stream of pars in between, and on the final three holes, gave her a two-under-par 70 to finish at 16-under 272 for the tournament. Mind you, she had to work for each one of those pars. Kang’s usually strong ball-striking disappeared on Sunday. She missed six greens, and three times found herself in greenside bunkers. Aggressively aiming at pins left her with difficult short-sided chip shots. To her credit, she converted them all.

Yifan Ding

The result was instant feedback from work Kang did the week before the tournament with golfers close to her. Her swing coach is Butch Harmon, but Kang also works on her game with her brother, Alex, who plays Korn Ferry Tour events, and her boyfriend, Maverick McNealy, who is on the PGA Tour. A week before, McNealy cited advice from Kang as the reason he shot the best round of his young tour career. He repaid the favour shortly after.

“I went home last week, flew all the way back [to Las Vegas] from Korea and worked on my short game with my brother, and I’ve been working on my short game with Maverick,” Kang said. “My mom told me I needed my chipping to get better, and it’s definitely better.”

Yifan Ding

Relying on making up-and-downs from everywhere can be an exhausting way to win a tournament. It’s also an infuriating style to try to beat.

“She didn’t make any mistakes,” said Korda, who coincidentally wore the same outfit as Kang (above) on Sunday as she shot an even-par 72. “Every up-and-down, she made. She played flawlessly. If she made a mistake, she was right there almost chipping out. I just didn’t have an opening, and when I did have one I just didn’t capitalize. That’s just how sometimes it goes.”

Korda tried to create an opportunity on the 17th hole when she made birdie and Kang made par, bringing Kang’s lead down to one. On the par-4 18th, however, Korda wasn’t able to make birdie. Kang lagged her birdie-putt attempt, leaving three feet for the win.

“I’ve never been more nervous than the last putt, for some reason,” Kang said, “but I made it.”

The post Danielle Kang defends her title in Shanghai with a scrappy Sunday finish appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
At the end of her press conference after winning the Buick LPGA Shanghai by two strokes on Sunday, her second career tour victory, Danielle Kang was asked a simple but somewhat uncomfortable question: Why haven’t you won more?

It’s a question Kang probably wasn’t too surprised by, one that must be lurking in her own competitive mind, too. Kang qualified and played in the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open as a 14-year-old, just a year and a half after picking up golf. She’s one of the four players to win back-to-back U.S. Women’s Amateur titles since World War II, doing so in 2010 and 2011. Her first LPGA win was a major, the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She’s competitive, tough, loves the spotlight, is athletic and powerful. So why, after joining the tour in 2011, is this just LPGA title No. 2?

Simple questions don’t always have simple answers. But Kang took the question face-on.

“I had to go through swing changes. I had the swing yips, the putting yips, to everything possibly you could think of,” Kang said. “Overcoming the mentality of the anxiety you feel over the shots, it’s so much that golf does to you. And the things that I had to deal with over the course of time that I’ve been on tour. You know, I’m just so happy to be where I’m at today. I’m just happy that I won.”

For this win in Shanghai, two big factors were her coach and her caddie.

Kang began the final round in a tie for third, one shot off of Carlotta Cigana and Sei Young Kim’s lead. After making the turn with a one-over 37, Kang needed a total reset. Her caddie, Ollie Brett, stopped her after the ninth hole, pulling her aside for a chat.

“He told me, Whatever you need to do to let your anger out and restart and refresh, you need to do that now,” Kang said. “I told him, Cameras are everywhere. I just want to hit the bag really hard. He said, Here’s a wedge. Just smash it. Honestly, I thank him for that. He told there are a lot birdies out there. I regrouped and we pretended we started the round brand new on the 10th hole.”

The strategy worked. Kang shot four under on the back for a closing 69, leaving her with a 13-under 275 total at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, two shots ahead of seven players tied for second. Included in that tie were five players who have won on the LPGA Tour in 2018.

When Kang, who turned 26 on Saturday, last won on tour in June 2017, she was working with David Leadbetter. Recently, she’s started working with swing coach Butch Harmon.

“I was actually very frustrated even yesterday,” Kang said on Sunday after the round. “Things just weren’t going my way. The biggest thing that Butch tells me is to stay out of my own way. I just couldn’t do that. If I had a short putt I just kept doubting myself. I couldn’t putt freely.”

That line about getting out of her own way, that’s something that Kang has been working on a lot. She talks about feeling anxious on the golf course. Obviously, that’s a difficult place to play from mentally. It’s also not an overnight fix. She’s been battling it this season and even struggled with it during the front nine of the final round.

“The front nine was a little bit rough,” Kang admitted. “For me, it wasn’t about the result; it was more so about what I was feeling on the inside and how I was dealing with things. I just needed to overcome all my insecurities and my anxiety.”

For as complicated as all of that can be—the swing changes, the anxiousness—Kang was able to talk through it and boil it down to make the complicated simple in her last words to the press before leaving Shanghai:

“I’ll win more. I’ll play better.”

The post Danielle Kang wins Buick LPGA Shanghai by two, her second career victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.