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Ex-Vandy Stars Earn LPGA Wings 12-6-04 12/6/2004 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Former Vanderbilt All-Americans Nicki Cutler and Courtney Wood spent Monday in orientation classes after earning non-exempt status at the LPGA’s Qualifying School last week. “We are overwhelmed with the amount of information we have been given in the last two days,” Wood said of the orientation sessions. We met members of the LPGA staff and heard tour veterans cover a wide variety of issues such as travel, sponsors and life on the tour.” “I am very proud of Nicki and Courtney as they are the first representatives of our program to make the LPGA Tour,” said Commodore Coach Martha Richards Freitag. “They both had great college careers and have worked incredibly hard on their games and have earned their place in the game of golf.” Cutler and Wood are learning first-hand that the life of the professional golfer is far from simple. The two Commodores first had to play their way into the Q-School after performing on the Futures Tour. The Q-School tournament was grueling. There were two days of practice rounds, followed by five straight days of competitive play against the best young talent in the nation. The top 30 finishers earned exempt status, meaning they can play in any LPGA event during the year. The next 39 finishers were given non-exempt status, meaning they must wait to see if there are open slots in a given event’s field. Non-exempt status golfers earn the right to compete in Monday qualifying rounds for each LPGA event when there playing status is in question. “Both Courtney and I are excited to be able to play on the LPGA Tour,” Cutler says. “But at the same time we are in a bit of a tough spot because our opportunities are difficult to define. Non-exempt players never know how many places will be open at a given event.” Both Cutler and Wood say they will likely divide their playing time in 2005 between the LPGA Tour and the Futures Tour. “The top five members of the Futures Tour automatically receive an LPGA card,” Cutler explains, “so it will take some thought to determine who to divide your time between the two tours. To finish in the Futures top five you obviously have to play in a lot of its events.” Wood, who helped Vanderbilt to the 2004 Southeastern Conference championship, said the Q-School’s competitive pressure wasn’t her biggest challenge. “There were some players who mentioned the pressure,” Wood says, “but I didn’t find the pressure overwhelming at all. However, I did get tired as we played seven straight days, something you just don’t do in college. In fact, I am still a bit weary.” Cutler had rounds of 74-71-75-73-76 while Wood was one shot better at 73-71-72-75-77 (+8). Paula Creamer ran away from the field to win the Q-School at 11-under par. Former Commodore May Wood made the Q-School playing field but failed to qualify. Wood and Cutler will both take some time off from their game during the holidays before getting back to work in January. The LPGA Tour schedule resumes in February and the Futures Tour gears up in March. Cutler now resides in Phoenix while Wood will return to the Nashville area in the off-season. |
