By Doug Hare EBS Staff
BIG SKY – On Aug. 27, Big Sky resident Dorsey Addicks moved one step closer to her goal: competing on the LPGA Tour. Against a field of some of the best amateur and professional golfers in the world, she made the cut at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, advancing to the second of three stages of the LPGA Qualifying School.
The LPGA Q School began with 362 golfers this year, the most ever. After three days and with the temperature nearing 120 F on the last day, Addicks made the cut of 125 golfers with a score of 5-under-par. By making the cut, Addicks gained Symetra Tour status, which is one notch below the LPGA Tour.
During her senior year of college as team captain, Addicks decided that she wanted to try to make it as a professional golfer. Still only a few months removed from an impressive career at Seattle University, Addicks says she is now focused on advancing to the third and final qualifying stage.
“Senior year, it was like: ‘Why not give it a try? You’re only this age once,’” she said during a quick break from a practice session. “If I don’t try it now, I might regret it later. So for me it was just, ‘Let’s give it a shot and see where it takes me.’”
Addicks will continue to polish her game for the next month on Big Sky courses and practice areas in preparation for stage two. “Stage two is down in Venice, Florida, in the middle of October—four days, no cut,” she said. “[The] top 80 and ties advance to the stage three. That’s where they hand out LPGA cards.”
Addicks practices and plays at Spanish Peaks, The Reserve at Moonlight, or the Big Sky Resort course.
“They’re all nice and generous about letting me do whatever I need to work on,” she said. “I spend the morning working on foundation and doing drills. I usually play in the afternoon, and hopefully grab a workout after my round.”
Addicks says that she doesn’t feel much pressure to make it onto the LPGA this year. “If I make it, great. If not, I have Symetra Tour status, which is more than I’d expected to get at the beginning of year. I just want to keep playing well, just to get the learning experience at stage two … I’m learning more about myself outside of the college golf environment every day.”
The final stage of Q School is slated for Nov. 27 through Dec. 3 at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida. Only the top 20 finishers from the final stage earn LPGA Tour membership.
Addicks was quick to give credit to the many people in her life who have helped her on her quest to become a professional athlete. “My parents have been my biggest supporters throughout this journey. One of the two of them were at every event in college. That support has been huge. [Also] my college coach Marc Chandonnet, who took a chance on me four years ago, helped me grow on and off the course.”
She also credits the current team that she works with in St. Simons, Georgia—her coach Gale Peterson, Craig Allen and Mike Shannon with the Sea Island Performance Center, as well as Dr. Harry Sese and Shawn Farmer-Sese with the sports performance clinic Golfletica in Washington state.
When asked if she has any advice for casual golfers to take a few strokes off the scorecard, she recommends staying patient. “Golf is such a hard sport that if you get frustrated you basically admit defeat. If you put the work in, the results will show eventually.”
