By Tony Webeck

Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou has stormed into the final stage of the LPGA Tour Q-Series with a stunning nine-under par 63 in the final round of Stage I in Alabama.

The top 74 players from Stage I have advanced to Stage II to be played at the Highland Oaks Golf Course starting Thursday where they will be trying to snare one of 45 cards up for grabs on the 2022 LPGA Tour.

Three Aussies remain in the mix after Kyriacou, Karis Davidson and Sarah Jane Smith all finished inside the top 25, Robyn Choi the only member of the Australian contingent to miss out.

Choi retains her status on the Symetra Tour for next year, status that the other three Aussies will also receive should they not finish inside the top 45 at the end of eight rounds.

Playing in her 22nd event since the start of the Ladies European Tour season in late May, Kyriacou showed no signs of fatigue as she flashed home on the Crossings Course with a back nine of six-under 30 to finish tied for fourth, six shots behind medallist Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.

The Sunday 63 and 13-under par total takes on even greater significance as the scores from week one carry forward to week two, putting the 21-year-old in a wonderful position to join the likes of Minjee Lee and Hannah Green on the LPGA Tour in 2022.

“It’s a marathon these two weeks,” Kyriacou said.

“It is a new week, new course. I don’t think the weather is going to be that great next week so honestly anything can happen. Just try and not get ahead of myself.”

Fighting through jetlag through the practice rounds after flying in from Spain, Kyriacou said it was her round of 69 on the more difficult Falls Course on Saturday that gave her the belief a low score was possible in her final round.

“In the practice rounds I found this course a bit easier than the other one,” she added.

“Then I had a good round on the other one yesterday and I just kind of thought, Oh, yeah, let’s go low today.

“Everything just clicked. Over the last couple days some things were working and some things weren’t, and then today they just both were in sync.

“It was just a really good day.”

A regular on the Japan Ladies Golf Tour the past two years, Davidson completed an extremely consistent week with a round of three-under 69 on Sunday to earn a share of 11th place, heading into week two at nine-under par.

Smith has been a regular on the LPGA Tour since graduating from the Futures Tour in 2009 and is positioned to keep that streak going in 2022 despite dropping two shots late in her fourth round of two-under 70, tied for 24th at six-under.

Scott Hend battled through a stomach illness on Saturday to lead the Aussie charge with a tie for 10th at the Asian Tour’s Laguna Phuket Championship, Wade Ormsby maintaining his spot at the top of the Order of Merit with a tie for 14th.

After a brilliant opening round of 63 Travis Smyth closed with a 69 on Sunday to squeeze inside the top 25 with Kiwi Ben Campbell tied for 30th and Victorian Ben Eccles tied for 34th.

There were two Aussies in action at the Argentine Open on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, Tim Stewart and Louis Dobbelaar both failing to progress to the weekend.

Results

LPGA Tour Q-Series

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Magnolia Grove, Mobile, Alabama

Winner Pauline Roussin-Bouchard         69-67-66-65—267

T4        Stephanie Kyriacou       69-72-69-63—273

T11      Karis Davidson  68-71-69-69—277

T24      Sarah Jane Smith          70-73-67-70—280

T94      Robyn Choi       77-74-71-70—292

Asian Tour

Laguna Phuket Championship

Laguna Golf Phuket, Phuket, Thailand

Winner Phachara Khongwatmai 66-65-69-70—270         $US180,000

T10      Scott Hend        71-63-70-70—274         $16,987

T14      Wade Ormsby   70-69-68-68—275         $13,550

T24      Travis Smyth     63-74-71-69—277         $9,250

T30      Ben Campbell   70-70-69-69—278         $8,033

T34      Ben Eccles        71-66-71-71—279         $7,500

T57      Andrew Martin 69-71-74-69—283         $3,550

75        Cory Crawford  70-71-78-77—296         $1,800

MC       Jake Higginbottom        73-69—142

MC       Sam Brazel        74-71—145

MC       Will Heffernan  71-77—148

MC       Kevin Yuan        71-78—149

MC       Evan Burford (a)            83-83—166

PGA Tour Latinoamerica

115 VISA Argentine Open

Nordelta Golf Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Winner Jorge Fernández-Valdés 70-70-67-70—277

MC       Tim Stewart      74-73—147

MC       Louis Dobbelaar            73-76—149

MC       Denzel Ieremia  78-73—151