Amanda Doherty was one of the last players on the range Wednesday afternoon at Pelican Golf Club, fine-tuning her swing before The Annika driven by Gainbridge. The LPGA’s penultimate event kicks off Thursday morning, but unlike the day’s earlier pro-am participants – WNBA star Caitlin Clark and 18-year-old Kai Trump (the President’s granddaughter and one of three sponsor exemptions) – Doherty doesn’t have a guaranteed spot in the field.
“I’m preparing like I’m in,” said Doherty, currently first alternate for the 108-player tournament. “And then it’s just, you know, kind of waiting. I thought there was a decent chance, but now, probably pretty slim.”
For Doherty, this week’s uncertainty feels all too familiar. The 22-year-old Florida State product earned her LPGA card through the Epson Tour in 2021 and posted respectable finishes her first two seasons (90th and 102nd in CME points). She even tied for 15th at this very tournament two years ago, though it wasn’t enough to keep her full card.
She managed to secure Category 15 status for this season by tying for 24th at Q-School’s final stage, but that’s meant spending most of 2024 on the bubble.
Doherty began her year as an alternate at Bradenton Country Club, just south of this week’s venue. She didn’t make her first start until March in China. Though she made her first two cuts, a missed weekend in Los Angeles cost her a spot in the year’s first major by about half a point.
Her season has been defined by such narrow margins. Of her six missed cuts across 11 more starts, four came by just a single shot. She started working with stats analyst Alex Huang midway through the year, which helped produce three straight top-30s this summer – though those results were spread across more than two months.
Bad luck has played a role too. When the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship was shortened to 18 holes due to weather, Doherty was T-34 after the first round. But the tournament was deemed unofficial, meaning she and the rest of the field received no points.
“It’s just been one of those years where my game feels like it’s solid and it’s just not there on the course,” she said, calling her season “very underwhelming.”
After missing the cut at the Lotte Championship in early October, Doherty figured she wouldn’t come close to qualifying for The Annika, especially with the event cutting 12 players from last year’s field.
“No chance,” she said.
She put the clubs away for two weeks and didn’t bother requesting a sponsor exemption, having tried that route repeatedly last season without success.
“You have to know the right people, either be already sponsored by them or an amateur or something special particular to that event,” Doherty explained. “And I just don’t have anything.”
Some have suggested The Annika should function more like the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship – a true playoff event with a smaller field (around 90 players) and no sponsor exemptions or alternates. Doherty prefers the current field size but thinks the exemptions should go to amateurs.
She notes that turning this into a playoff event would just move the cut-off point for Q-School qualification (currently Nos. 101-150 in points after this week qualify for LPGA Final Qualifying on Dec. 4-8).
“It really doesn’t matter where that last event is where it’s this last ditch for people to save their status,” Doherty said. “But I like that this is as late as it is so you’re not quite as rusty going into Q-Series.”
Doherty hopes she won’t need Q-School at all. She’d love to secure a Thursday tee time and play her way into at least the top 100 in points.
But for now, she’ll wait.
