LPGA Tour | Sun Country Golf

Fundraiser at Arroyo del Oso for LPGA Tour Rookie Katie Kempter

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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PGA Tour Faces Tough Sell in 2010

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the PGA Tour is learning a bitter lesson that the LPGA Tour has already learned — that sponsorships are going to be a hard sell in 2010.

Now that it’s clear the economy will remain in the tank and Tiger Woods will be somewhere other than on TV, the Journal reported that title sponsorship for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines this week — what used to be called the Buick — went for half of what it did last year. Three 2010 PGA Tour events still don’t have lead sponsors.

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Kempter Could Make it; One More Round

Katie Kempter of Albuquerque was tied for 6th going into the final round of the PGA Q School in Daytona Beach, Fla., following a day in which she briefly led the 103-player event.

Competitors are vying for 20 spots with total eligibility on the 2010 LPGA Tour and 20 more with some eligibility.

Gerina Mondoza of Roswell was in a tie for 32nd after steadily moving up the leaderboard through four rounds of the five-round event, which has dragged out over six days because of heeavy rains that made the LPGA International Course unplayable at times. LPA Tour pro Dorothy Delasin rallied for a fourth-round 79, following three disastrous rounds in the 80s and 90s, but remained in last place going into Round 5.

Kempter goes off at 7:15 a.m. (MST). Mendoza goes off at 5:45 (MST).

Click here for the LPGA Q School Leaderboard.

At the PGA Tour Q School in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tim Herron looked unlikely to keep his card, ending Round 5 in a tie for 68th, in a competition in which only 20 players gain eligibility. Other players with New Mexico connections, Madalitso Muthiya, D.J. Brigman and Shane Berstch lost ground and needed to rally strongly in the sixth and final round.

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Lobo Ewart Makes Futures Tour

University of New Mexico senior women’s golfer Jodi Ewart last week finished in a tie for sixth place at the Duramed FUTURES Tour 2010 Qualifying Tournament in Winter Haven, Fla.

She finished the five-round Q School at 4-under 356 (69-73-73-67-74) and gained full exemption to the 2010 Futures Tour. Ewart will be able to turn pro in spring 2010 after completing her collegiate eligibility.

After leaving UNM, Ewart will play on the Futures Tour for the remainder of the 2010 season. If she finishes in the top-10 of the money list on the Futures Tour, she could earn her LPGA Tour card without having to go to Q-school in December of 2010.

Another Albuquerque golfer, former Denver University Pioneer Katie Kempter, who turned pro during the summer, missed the cut in the fourth round of the Futures Q School after shooting 82. However, she will attend the final stage of the LPGA’s Q School in December by virtue of finishing in the top 30 in an earlier stage in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Kempter’s quest for her LPGA Tour card is the cover story for the winter issue of Sun Country Golf magazine, about to hit newstands.

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LPGA Selects New Commissioner

LPGA Board of Directors Chairman Dawn Hudson announced that the LPGA Board has named Michael Whan the LPGA’s new commissioner.

Whan, most recently president and CEO of Mission-Itech Hockey, has a personal and professional background in golf, including serving as executive vice president and North American general manager for Taylormade-adidas Golf. The appointment follows a three-month international search led by an LPGA search committee comprising LPGA Board player-members Juli Inkster and Helen Alfredsson, along with fellow LPGA Board members Bill Morton and Leslie Greis, who chaired the committee.

Whan will replace retired Navy Admiral and Acting Commissioner Marty Evans. Whan’s charge will be to rebuild popularity and audience for LPGA events and stem the exodus of sponsors, which has led to a curtailment of LPGA events. Whan, 44, officially takes over Nov. 16.