Cruel school — Final hole double costs Mehaffey LET card
An archive picture of Olivia Mehaffey
Olivia Mehaffey agonisingly came up one stroke short of clinching a full Ladies European Tour card when she double-bogeyed her final hole at the gruelling 90-hole Q-School in Spain.
The Co Down star (24), who only lost father Philip to cancer on December 3, was three-under for the day and two strokes inside the crucial top-20 and ties at La Manga Resort with just two holes to play.
But she bogeyed the par-three 17th on the South Course, then took seven at the par-five 18th, carding a level par 73 that left her on two-over-par, one stroke shy of the 23 players who won full cards.
“It was Just a bad swing and bad shot,” said Mehaffey, who laid up but then hit her third fat into the water protecting the 18th. “Overall pretty tough given the circumstances but I’m proud of myself for traveling to Spain and giving it my everything despite how hard the last months and weeks have been personally!”
Despite making a tremendous effort to get ready for the Q-School in very difficult personal circumstances over the past few months, the former Arizona State University star had to settle for conditional LET status as American Gabriella Then fired a six-under 67 to win the Final Qualifier by four shots by Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson on 12-under.
It was a cruel end to a brilliant effort from Mehaffey, who only decided to tee it up after her father joked with nurses and doctors shortly before losing his battle with cancer that their mission was to “get that girl to Spain.”
The former Arizona State University star played nine competitive rounds in 12 days, finishing third behind Pettersson in last week’s 72-hole Pre-Qualifier.
But she ran out of steam in the five-round final stage and after opening with rounds of 71 and 70, she rounded off with scores of 74 75 and 73 to finish tied 24th on two-over.
Tournament winner Then (26) spent two weeks at La Manga Club getting to know the North and South Courses as she came through Pre-Qualifying in a tie for 10th place.
The USC graduate had a consistent week in the Final Qualifier with rounds of 70 (-1), 73 (E), 68 (-3) and 71 (-2) to put herself on six-under-par and in a share of third place heading into the final round on the South Course.
The American made a hot start with three birdies in four holes on her front nine and continued that form with three more birdies on the back nine to seal victory.
“I was just taking it one shot at a time, so I had no idea where I stood, and I was very surprised,” said the 2011 PING Junior Solheim Cup winner.
“I had some really good moments on the front nine. I gave myself a lot of great birdie chances and was keeping it steady, and on the back nine when the wind picked up, I kept playing my shots and giving myself chances.”
Then stopped playing golf in August 2019 after failing to make it through the first stage of the LPGA Tour Q-Series but decided to pick up a golf club at the start of 2021 and has restarted her professional career.
She continued: “It feels amazing, I can’t believe that this is happening right now! This is my first time playing in Spain and playing in Europe, so I’m excited for next year.”
Pettersson finished in second place on eight-under-par having shot rounds of 73, 71, 67, 70 and 72.
“I’m very happy and tired, it’s been two very long weeks,” said the 26-year-old. “I didn’t know what to expect coming in, I’ve never played on the LET so I didn’t know what the competition was going to be like.
“After last week I had some expectation on my game. I tried to go out and not look at the leaderboard and take one shot at a time and it worked. I came here with the goal of securing a card so I’m very happy with it, I’m super excited to be playing on the LET next year.”
France’s Agathe Laisne ended the tournament in third place on seven-under-par having shot a final round of 72 (-1).
The two-time LET Access Series winner said: “I’m very happy, it feels like a Christmas gift, I’m very proud of myself as the good work with my team paid off, so I’ll definitely enjoy the holidays.”
France’s Manon Gidali and England’s Meghan MacLaren finished in a share of fourth place on five-under-par with Czech amateur Sara Kouskova in sixth.
Sweden’s Linn Grant and Germany’s Sophie Hausmann finished a shot further back in tied seventh with Spain’s Paz Marfa Sans, Wales’ Becky Brewerton and Switzerland’s Anais Maggetti rounding out the top 10.
German amateur Sophie Witt finished 12th alongside Spain’s Marta Sanz Barrio and Finland’s Emily Penttila, with Elena Hualde (Spain), Charlotte Liautier (France), Ines Laklalech (Morocco) and Hazel MacGarvie (Scotland) in T15 on level-par.
Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta ended the tournament on one-over-par as did Germany’s Leticia Ras-Anderica, France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora, Sweden’s Josefine Nyqvist and Scotland’s Laura Beveridge.
