Lucy Li and Alexa Pano have competed in a combined 22 LPGA events before teeing it up this week for the first time as LPGA members at the 2023 Drive On Championship. Sandwiched in between them at a pre-tournament presser sat Ellinor Sudow, a Swedish player who didn’t even seriously consider the LPGA until she got to college. This week marks her first LPGA start.
Of the 31 LPGA rookies this season, 23 are in the field this week for the first full-field domestic tournament. Li, who earned her card by finishing in the top 10 on the Epson Tour last season, hasn’t teed it up in an LPGA event since last October. Both Sudow and Pano qualified through Q-Series.
In between practice, Li, 20, got cranking on her schoolwork at the University of Pennsylvania. She will soon declare a double major in data analytics and psychology. Both 18-year-old Pano and Li turned professional out of high school.
“I’m taking one course now and pretty much just started my junior year in college,” said Li, “so I got a lot of good work done.”
Pano, who gained fame when she appeared in the Netflix documentary “The Short Game,” tied for 32nd at the LET’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International in February and then recently played two events on the Epson Tour. Pano made her first start on the LPGA in 2018 at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. She’s made the cut once in eight starts.
“It kind of feels like I’ve been working towards this for a really long time,” said Pano, “so been a very long time coming.”
While Pano and Li made headlines as pre-teens, Sudow took up golf rather late in life and never qualified for the Swedish National Team. After playing collegiately at UNC Charlotte and later Arizona for graduate work, Sudow signed up for qualifying school hoping to get Epson Tour status and wound up with an LPGA card.
“I was super stoked to be here yesterday,” said Sudow, “just coming down the range for the first time, see all the players and having Nelly (Korda) behind me and all that cool stuff.”
When asked about goals for the season, Pano talked about having an open mind and learning. Li echoed similar thoughts and talked about focusing on her process.
Sudow, however, didn’t hold back.
“I think we’re stupid if we don’t say we want to be Rookie of the Year and win a tournament,” said Sudow. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here to compete. That would be really cool to me. I usually set really lofty goals.
“I don’t know if they’re realistic, but that’s the dream and what we’re aiming for.”
Here are several LPGA rookies making their tour debut this week:
Sofia Garcia
A two-time South American Amateur champion, Sofia Garcia turned professional in 2021 after playing collegiately at Texas Tech. Garcia’s career-best finish on the Epson Tour is a T-2 at the 2022 Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic; she has five additional career top-10 finishes. She finished 30th on the Epson Tour money list this season.
Riley Rennell
Riley Rennell earned Epson Tour status for 2022 and made seven cuts in 16 starts. Her career-best finish on the Epson Tour was a solo second at the 2022 Epson Tour Championship; she has one additional career top-10 finish on that tour. Rennell has $42,437 in career earnings and travels the country with her family and beloved pets pulling an RV trailer.
Polly Mack
Former Alabama player Polly Mack made eight cuts in 11 starts on the Epson Tour with two top-10 finishes in her rookie season. A member of the German national team, Mack’s career-best finish on the Epson Tour was a solo third at the 2022 French Lick Charity Classic.
Ines Laklalech
Everything Ines Laklalech does this season will be noteworthy as she’s the first player from North Africa and the Arab region to earn LPGA status. Laklalech, who played collegiately at Wake Forest, hails from Casablanca and Morocco. The 25-year-old advanced through all three stages of LPGA qualifying.
Earlier this season she won the LET’s Lacoste Ladies Open de France, becoming that tour’s first Moroccan, Arab and North African champion.
Hyo Joon Jang
This 19-year-old rookie from South Korea entered the Epson Tour Championship ranked 11th on the money list with $74,202, just $1,076 behind No. 10 Pano. Hyo Joon Jang’s T-11 finish was enough to push her into the 10th spot, forcing Pano to head to Q-Series to earn her LPGA card.
Jang travels with her mom, leaving her 11-year-old sister at home in South Korea. The sacrifice serves as motivation for the talented teen.
Kiira Riihijarvi
Kiira Riihijarvi won the Epson Tour’s Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA in June and finished in a share of fourth at the Tour Championship to clinch her card. The 2020 Finnish Amateur champion played Division II collegiate golf at the University of Tampa, winning 12 times.
She led the tour in greens in regulation at 79.6 percent.
Ellinor Sudow
Ellinor Sudow played collegiate golf at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, helping to launch the program. The 24-year-old Swedish player turned professional earlier this year. She finished second at the 2021 Danish International Ladies Amateur Championship and solo third at the 2021 German International Amateur.
Bailey Tardy
Bailey Tardy will be a rookie on the LPGA in 2023. After several close calls, including an 11th-place finish on the 2022 Epson Tour money list, the Georgia grad finally earned her card. Tardy’s lone victory on the Epson Tour came at the 2021 Copper Rock Championship.
Gabriella Then
Gabriella Then, a former USGA champion who quit golf and then won LET Q-School last year, triumphed early on the Epson Tour at the Garden City Charity Classic and then added a runner-up finish in French Lick, Indiana. The 26-year-old played collegiate golf at USC and took a job in marketing and sales at Le Mieux skin care after deciding to take a break from the game in 2019.
