Oct. 19, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former South Carolina women’s golfer Sarah Schmelzel looks to move one step closer to earning LPGA Tour membership when she competes in Stage II of the 2016 LPGA Qualifying Tournament this week at Plantation Golf and Country Club.

Schmelzel, one of 193 golfers in the field in Venice, Fla., opens play at the 72-hole event on Thursday. There will be no cut throughout the tournament, and the top 80 finishers and ties will move on to Stage III, set for Nov. 30-Dec. 4 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Stage III will feature 90 holes of stroke play with a cut after the fourth round, and the number of players who will receive LPGA Tour membership will be determined after the completion of the final round.

Schmelzel shot under par in three of her four rounds at Stage I and held the 36-hole lead after carding a 67 (-5) on each of the event’s first two days. The Phoenix, Ariz., native posted a final-round 71 (-1) to finish one stroke off the tournament’s medalist in a tie for second (279, -9) at Mission Hills Country Club in California.

A 2016 Golfweek All-American, Schmelzel ended her collegiate career this spring with the program’s fourth-lowest stroke average (73.12). She tallied four top-five finishes while at South Carolina, including medalist honors at the 2016 Bryan National Collegiate.