We get the question a lot, “So what tours do you play on?” Well, it can be complicated. We usually reply with the fact that we’re on two tours, the Cactus Tour and the Symetra Tour. It is a fact, we pay membership and have status on both tours. The Cactus Tour you just pay membership to and anyone can join. The Symetra Tour, you need to go through qualifying school in order to come out with status for the next year. The thing is…we don’t have full status on Symetra. We only made it so far in the qualifying school process and how we ended up in the field determines our status. Because of this, we walk away with partial status and we play the waiting game.

So what does partial status mean?

Partial status to a golfer means that because you didn’t finish high enough in the field, you may or may not get into tournaments depending on how many people ahead of you decide to play. So for example: let’s say that your status number is 230. If there is a Symetra event coming up, 2-4 spots are reserved for sponsor exemptions out of a 144 person field. So that means that 140 spots are open and you need only 139/229 people in front of you on the status list to choose to go to the event. That can be tough! The odds of getting into that tournament can be extremely challenging.

Later in the year, it can be easier to get into events. Mainly because other things may overlap or because others will take off weeks when the tour schedules 4-5 tournaments in a row. This would be our chance to get in and play.

This status will also affect if we get into LPGA Monday Qualifiers.

When do we find out if we get into an event?

This is the toughest part honestly. So for a Symetra event, you could end up getting into the tournament the morning of the first round. If you’re high enough on the alternate list, and players either withdraw or don’t show for their tee time, you could make it in. This is awesome if you’re able to travel to the location, get your housing and wait around to see if you make it in.

Now, if you aren’t high enough on the alternate list to justify flying out right away sometimes you just wait. You wait on the alternate list until you think you can make it in the event and get out there or you withdraw.

For example, just recently Armana was trying to get into the LPGA Monday Qualifier in Los Angeles. She drove to LA and watched her name on the entry list move from 19th on the alternate list to 3rd the night before the qualifying round. Unfortunately, it stopped there. She didn’t get in. Armana did get into the LPGA VOA Texas Monday Qualifier without an issue though, most likely because a lot of full-time Symetra players are on their way to Atlanta, Georgia for the next event. So it’s just a hit or miss kind of situation where you can plan on it sometimes and others you can’t.