Trio hoping to stick at LPGA Q-School

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Pernilla Lindberg was $8,300 away from capping what most would consider a successful rookie season. Lindberg, a former Oklahoma State standout, finished No. 107 on the money list during her LPGA rookie campaign, but was seven spots away from receiving enough status to skip qualifying this year.

Lindberg has played the Q-School game before, finishing T-16 at LPGA International last year to secure priority I status for this year. Lindberg spent the year traveling with fellow rookie Azahara Munoz, awarded the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award at last week’s LPGA Tour Championship, where Lindberg also ended her season when she missed the 54-hole cut.

With 72 holes left this week, there is plenty of golf to play. And for Lindberg, full status on the Ladies European Tour, and some status on the LPGA, are good mental fall-backs. Ideally, Lindberg wouldn’t have ended up at Q-School again so soon – if at all. The course is familiar, however, and a few days of light practice gave the Swede a chance to settle in for another long week of golf.

“I had to reload on Sunday after I missed the cut on Saturday and just tell myself that I have to come in here excited about this week, see it as another opportunity and not as a disappointment that I have to be here,” Lindberg said.

Lindberg certainly looked recharged during Wednesday’s first round as she shot a 4-under 68 to move into second place right out of the gate. Without sand trouble at Nos. 16 and 17, Lindberg would be in even better shape. Decked out in a lavender argyle sweater and hot-pink wind pants to battle the weather, Lindberg was all fist-bumps and smiles Wednesday. This cleary is a player who relishes the competition, wherever she may find it.

Among most players, Q-School gets a bad rap. It’s long and grueling, and with only 20 tour cards available at the end of the week, often unrewarding. Of the 20 players who advanced out of Q-School last year with full status, Lindberg, Nicole Jeray and Katie Kempter are right back where it all began this week. It’s Jeray’s 10th trip to Q-School finals.

Kempter, a 2009 graduate of Denver, is just as new to this whole professional thing as Lindberg, however. Kempter finished runner-up here last year, which is just about as good a confidence boost as anything. Despite the memories, Kempter has wiped the slate clean this week.

“I actually talked about this with my coach on Sunday,” Kempter said. “He goes, ‘It’s a different year, it’s different weather, it’s a different field. There’s nothing the same about last year and this year.’ ”

But then again, there was just a bit of deja vu as Kempter stepped up to the 17th tee Wednesday afternoon. She remembered the hole location from last year, and this year was able to make birdie there. She added another birdie at 18 to finish at even-par 72 and land in a tie for 31st after the opening round.

With a year of LPGA experience under her belt, Kempter has learned how to deal with what can be an exhausting way to make a living. She spent the first half of the season without a travel companion, teaming up with Libby Smith midway through the summer – a move she calls her “saving grace.”

Kempter also found out first-hand why the LPGA’s thin schedule can amount to such a bummer. She earned 12 starts in full-field events, which is roughly one-third of the tournament experience a rookie might have expected to receive seven or eight years ago.

“At least I’m playing,” Kempter said.

To keep her rhythm during what could at times become a monthlong dormant stretch, Kempter found state opens to play in, and even spent six weeks in Asia with Smith, where the two played three events.

“My mindset is different; I’m not just a fresh, wide-eyed rookie,” Kempter said of her return to Q-School. “I have no number in my head. I’m just going to go play golf, and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough.”

This year, at least, Kempter knows she’s got the game to do it.

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Conway Notebook | Race promoter hoping runners fill up ranks

CONWAY -- Race organizer Mike Shank said he's hoping enough people will register for this year's Conway Race Fest to pay the $2,975 in prize money he'll be awarding.

The Fest on Saturday will have three races: The Sun News 10k, a 5k and a one-mile. All races will start and end at or near the Conway Marina at the Waccamaw River end of Elm Street. Registration is $23 for the one-mile, $30 for the 5k and $33 for the 10k, Shank said.

Shank said 200 runners showed up for last year's event, so he should be OK financially.

All three courses will use Elm Street. The longest race, the 10k, will go from downtown Conway and through the downtown residential district to Twelfth Avenue to Lakeland Drive to Long Avenue to Country Club Drive and back. Those runners in it as much for the exercise and outdoor experience will be entertained by views of the historic downtown and live-oak canopied streets if not by dreams of taking home the prize money.

The one-mile race begins at 8 a.m., with the 5k scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. and the 10k at 9:15 a.m.

Shank said this year's race has been revised from the 2009 version, which featured a half marathon as the premier run.

The prize money will be divided among the top finishers in each race, with overall and master's categories in the 10k. Top prize in the 10k overall division is $1,000.

"I don't want to lose money," Shank said of the business end of the Race Fest, "but I'm looking at it as a long-term investment."

Fun on the farm

Racers looking to replace some of the energy they used on the streets of Conway or those who prefer less arduous exercise can get a boost from the cane syrup Minnie the Mule will be squeezing from stalks Saturday at Larry Paul Living History Farm.

Saturday is the farm's first anniversary and annual Fall Festival, farm manager Wayne Skipper said, which means there will be a whole lot more to do than to watch Minnie walk in circles as she squeezes syrup from the farm-grown sugar cane. Tobacco will be tied, fields will be plowed, grits will be ground, lye will be soaped and meat will be smoked. There will also be blacksmith, treadle sewing and wood stove cooking demonstrations at the event, which stretches from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There will also be music in the farm's church.

Skipper said the farm grows about four rows, or about 1/16th of an acre, of sugar cane that is cut, with the stalks placed between two stone wheels that Minnie's movement squeezes together, extracting about 60 gallons in two hours. The syrup is refined as it's cooked for five to six hours over a wood fire.

Skipper said the amount of syrup that'll come from the stalks depends on the heat and moisture of the season in which it was grown.

The finished product, which will be bottled and available for sale to visitors, can be used for cake baking and pecan pie making, Skipper said. But back in the day, farm owners and workers would pour it almost every day over hot-off-the-griddle pancakes or warm-from-the-oven biscuits.

Skipper said farm-produced grits and lye soap also will be for sale.

No admission will be charged to the anniversary day. The farm is on U.S. 701 just beyond the HTC office north of Conway.

And with those cane syrup pecan pies ...

People who leave the farm with syrup and children before 1 p.m. could head over to Conway Elementary School, where the Conway Parks and Recreation Department will give them an opportunity to win a turkey to go with their pecan pies on Thanksgiving.

The department will be sponsoring a parent/child Basketball Turkey Shoot for kids from ages 5 to 15 and their parents. Competition will be in five age groups of kids in a free throw/hot shot contest. Boys and girls will compete separately with the winning team in each age group winning a certificate for a turkey.

The competition, like the day of the farm, is free. Registration begins at 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Conway Elementary School is at 1101 Snowhill Drive.

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