Princeton University Athletics
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Kelly Shon '14 Earns LPGA Tour Card, Completes Q-School Gauntlet
December 07, 2014 | Women's Golf
Princeton alumna Kelly Shon '14 achieved LPGA Tour status Sunday, battling through three stages of qualifying and five rounds in the final stage.
Shon is the first Princeton alum to earn LPGA Tour status and only the third in Ivy League history, according to the LPGA. The tour card she earned by finishing in the top 20 of the Stage III tournament Sunday will gain her access to most LPGA events for 2015.
Shon's journey through the qualifying school process began in August 2013 when she tied for 98th at the Stage I tournament in Rancho Mirage, California, just enough to meet the top-100 cut line to move on to Stage II.
In October 2013, Shon finished tied for 56th in the second stage in Fort Myers, Florida, ahead of the top-80 cut line to move on to the final stage. Though Shon missed the cut at the 2013 Stage III tournament in Daytona Beach, she was back on the same course a year later at the LPGA International golf facility aiming for the prize.
Shon was in the hunt after Wednesday's first round, standing in a 24th-place tie after a 1-under 71. A 3-over 75 dropped her to a tie for 65th at +2 for the event, but with three rounds remaining, Shon had time to make up some ground.
Over the weekend, Shon did just that, using a 4-under 68 to climb up to a 31st-place tie at 2-under for the tournament. Saturday, she duplicated the 68, and that put her in a 17th-place tie at 6-under for the week. Sunday, Shon kept moving in the right direction from the top-20 cut line to receive LPGA Tour status for the coming year, firing a 72 on a day when no player inside the top 20 broke 70, finishing in a tie for ninth place.
Once Princeton's 2014 spring season wrapped up, Shon played nearly every event on the Symetra Tour, the developmental tour for the LPGA, culminating with a 27th-place tie at the Symetra Tour Championship in Florida in September.
While at Princeton, Shon played in three NCAA East Regionals, advancing to the NCAA Championship as a junior to become only the second Princeton player and Ivy Leaguer to make it to the NCAA finals. Shon was a four-time All-Ivy League honoree including three first-team honors and was twice named the Ivy League Player of the Year. She was the fifth Tiger to win the Ivy League individual title, doing so as a junior in 2013.