Sun Country Golf

A fundraiser for Katie Kempter, who won her LPGA Tour card last December, will be held March 7 at Arroyo del Oso Golf Course. Food and beverages will be served.

The event will be at the west end of the practice range from noon to 2 p.m. Kempter and her coach, Arroyo Head Professional Bill Harvey, will conduct a golf clinic. The event gives attendees an opportunity to learn about the financial demands of trying to compete on the LPGA Tour, said her father, Chris Kempter.

For more information, call 344-2450.

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Newly minted LPGA Tour player Katie Kempter won the Hawaii State Open with a birdie in the second hole of sudden death — an event she played in while “hanging out” and enjoying warm weather in Hawaii with her friend, University of New Mexico Lobo Women’s Golf Team member Britney Choy.

Kempter stayed with Choy’s family, who lives on Oahu, said Chris Kempter, Katie’s father. Choy caddied for Kempter over two days on the Fazio course and the final day on the Palmer Course. Kempter’s win was worth $1,000.

Kempter was second low medalist in the LPGA Q School in Daytona Beach, Fla., earlier this month. In Hawaii, she was tied for the lead after 54 holes of regulation play Sunday at the Turtle Bay Resort with Xyra Suyetsugu and amateur Cyd Okino, who was trying for her fourth consecutive Hawaii Open win. Kempter shot 75-71-74.

Choy was a standout at Leilehua High School in Waihiawa before going to UNM.

Kempter, who grew up in Albuquerque and now lives in Denver, was expected to return to Albuquerque for the holidays. Her finish at Q School means she’ll likely get into most 2010 LPGA Tour events, not counting invitationals or events based on world rankings. She’ll not likely play in overseas events her first year out, her father said.

(Photo Courtesy Norm Guenther, Hawaii Golf News & Travel)

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Sun Country Golf readers are asking who is Gerina Mendoza?

She’s the Roswell native who finished tied for 30th at the LPGA Q School in Daytona Beach, Fla., in early December and won partial status on the 2010 LPGA Tour.

It’s a fair question, since the New Mexico media largely seems to have ignored the achievements of both Katie Kempter and Mendoza, who battled a field of 106 players to compete for status on the 2010 LPGA Tour.

For just 24 years old, Mendoza has quite the star-powered resume.

She got her start at Goddard High School in Roswell and then played for and graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso. She played on the Duramed Futures Tour, official developmental tour of the LPGA, where in 2009 she played in 16 events, made 13 cuts and had three top-ten finishes.Her best performance was a tie for second. In 2008, she had four top ten finishes.

Mendoza was featured on the Golf Channel’s Big Break Prince Edward Island this year, where she gained a fan in the administrator of the website, “Chickipedia, the Wiki of Hot Women.”

(For a taste of the Chickipedia’s raison d’etre, click on this video, “Chickipedia vs. Wikipedia.”)

Mendoza was the individual winner of the 2003 New Mexico 4-4a golf championship, 2005 winner of the El Paso City Women’s Championship and the individual winner of the 2007 Conference USA Golf Championship.

Back in August, Mendoza was in a grocery store when her cell phone rang. It was LPGA Tour Legend Nancy Lopez, another Roswell native, calling to wish her luck. You can read an article about that phone call on the Futures Tour website.

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The website Zimbio has posted a series of photos of Albuquerque’s Katie Kempter at the LPGA Q School in Daytona Beach, Fla., where she finished second and qualified for her 2010 LPGA Tour card in early December. Caddying for her was Arroyo del Oso head Professional Bill Harvey.

Click here to go to the Zimbio photo page. Zimbio is an online celebrity “wiki” magazine focusing on celebrities.

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Unheralded Katie Kempter of Albuquerque finished strong in the final round of the LPGA Q School to tie for second, winning  full exemption to the 2010 LPGA Tour.

Kempter, a Denver University and Sandia High School graduate, finished with a final 68 to card a 353 (70-69-73-73-68) in the rain-delayed five-round event in Daytona Beach, Fla., two shots behind Amanda Blumenhurst. Roswell’s Gerina Mendoza, with at 362 (77-72-72-70- 71), finished 30th, winning limited exemption for the 2010 season. Albuquerque’s Dorothy Delasin had a horrendous Q School and won no status for the 2010 season. Click here for the LP GA Tour’s final 2009 Q School Leaderboard.

Kempter told the story of her quest for a card in the winter issue of Sun Country Golf. Click here for that issue of the magazine, and scroll to Page 15.

At the PGA Tour Q School in West Palm Beach, Fla.,  players with New Mexico connections did not fare as well. Shane Bertsch won his 2010 Tour Card, tying for 15th, but Tim Herron, D.J. Brigman and Madalitso Muthiya fell short. Bertsch rallied from a tie for 50th in the sixth and final round of that rain-delayed event to shoot 65 and leapfrog much of the field. Click here for the PGA Tour Q School Leaderboard.

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