Caldwell County High School grad Emma Talley is in Pinehurst, N.C., this week for the second annual LPGA Q-Series, which returns to Pinehurst Resort from Oct. 23-Nov. 2.
The event is highlighted by a 98-player field preparing for a 144-hole cumulative stroke play format in the Sandhills Region of North Carolina.
Talley will be looking to earn a spot on the LPGA Tour for the third straight season. She has a 7:34 a.m. Central time tee time Wednesday morning.
At Q-Series, players will compete in a total of eight rounds over two, four-day segments with the top-45 finishers and ties receiving Category 14 membership on the LPGA Tour Priority List for 2020. Competitors outside top-20 also earn Category C status on the Symetra Tour.
A cut to the top-80 and ties is set after the sixth round and the unofficial purse of $150,000 will be distributed at the event’s completion.
Talley, a three-time state champion at Caldwell County and an NCAA medalist while at the University of Alabama, just missed qualifying for the 2020 LPGA Tour season when she finished 103rd on the Official Money List this year. The Top 100 players automatically qualify for the following season.
The first week of competition will be held on the George and Tom Fazio-designed Pinehurst No. 6 from Oct. 23-26 and the second week will be staged on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pinehurst No. 9 from Oct. 30-Nov. 2.
The 2019 Q-Series field consists of 98 players with a breakdown as follows: 2019 LPGA Tour Members ranked 101 to 150 on the LPGA Official Money List; 2019 Symetra Tour Members ranked 11 to 35 on the season-ending Symetra Tour Official Money List; players ranked within the Top 75 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings as of Aug. 12, 2019, and 38 qualifiers from Stage II, which concluded on Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla.
(Information from LPGA.com was used in this story.)