Both University of Denver teams will be in action before the month ends, and by this time in Feburary all nine NCAA Division I programs based in Colorado will have started their spring schedules. The DU women, recently picked to finish No. 1 in the Summit League by its coaches, will be the first local team to tee it up in competition as the Pioneers will face Arizona State and Georgia in a three-school match on Sunday (Jan. 27) in Gold Canyon, Ariz.

This spring will be notable in several respects from a Colorado perspective, including:

— Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster will be defending her NCAA Division I women’s individual title in May as a Wake Forest senior before she begins her LPGA Tour career. This week, Kupcho regained the No. 1 spot in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, a position she held for 15 weeks in 2018.

— Former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi, who qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open in the Centennial State the past two years, likewise earned her LPGA Tour card in November through her performance in the Q-Series. But, unlike Kupcho, Choi elected to forego her remaining college eligibility to join the LPGA circuit as soon as possible. That will leave CU without its top player going into the spring.

“That’s a tough one to lose, but it’s exciting she gets to start her LPGA career,” CU coach Anne Kelly said recently on CUBuffs.com regarding Choi.

Junior Kirsty Hodgkins, like Choi an Australian, will likely take over the No. 1 position for the Buffs.

— Dawn Shockley, who grew up in Estes Park and played her college golf at DU, seems to be making an impression as the women’s coach at Oregon State. At midseason, the Beavers are ranked No. 25 in the nation, according to Golfstat.

While there are plenty of college veterans that figure to shine for Colorado-based DI teams, several freshmen demonstrated great promise in their first semester as college golfers, in the fall. That includes Colorado State University players Oscar Teiffel and Davis Bryant, who had the Rams’ top two scoring averages in the autumn. Another promising freshman is former Coloradan Elizabeth Wang, who posted a 71.25 scoring average in her first semester at Harvard.

Looking ahead to the spring, here’s a brief preview of the Colorado-based DI programs, broken into several categories:

SPRING SEASON OPENERS

— DU Women: Jan. 27 dual match vs. Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz.
— DU Men: Jan. 28-29 at Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Ariz.
— CU Women: Feb. 3-5 at Northrop Grumman Invitational in Palos Verdes, Calif.
— CU Men: Feb. 7-9 at Amer Ari Intercollegiate in Waikoloa, Hawaii.
— UNC Men: Feb. 11-12 at Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational in St. George, Utah.
— CSU Women: Feb. 18-19 at The Rebel Beach in Las Vegas, Nev.
— CSU Men: Feb. 20 dual match vs. Denver in Palm Desert, Calif.
— UNC Women: Feb. 23-24 at GCU Invitational in Phoenix.
— Air Force Academy Men: Feb. 23-25 at Loyola Invitational in Goodyear, Ariz.

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS

Men
47. Colorado State (Golfstat; 51st Golfweek)
73. Colorado (Golfstat; 81st Golfweek)
118. Northern Colorado (Golfstat; 122nd Golfweek)
137. Denver (Golfstat; 149th Golfweek)
203. Air Force Academy (Golfstat; 204th Golfweek)

Women
36. Colorado (Golfweek; 42nd Golfstat)
69. Colorado State (Golfstat; 74th Golfweek)
79. Denver (Golfweek; 81st Golfstat)
149. Northern Colorado (Golfstat; 150th Golfweek)

NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (in top 250)

Men
91. Former Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah (Golfweek; 202nd Golfstat)
111. Daniel O’Loughlin, CU (Golfstat; 139th Golfweek)
118. Oscar Teiffel, CSU (Golfweek; 145th Golfstat)
120. Coby Welch, UNC (Golfstat; 160th Golfweek)
150. Davis Bryant, CSU (Golfstat; 189th Golfweek)
241. Trevor Olkowski, CU (Golfstat)

Women
11. Robyn Choi, CU (Golfstat; 20th Golfweek; will not compete in spring as she’s become an LPGA Tour member)
57. Coloradan Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest (Golfweek 72nd Golfstat)
72. Kirsty Hodgkins, CU (Golfweek; 73rd Golfstat)
87. Mary Weinstein, DU (Golfweek; 121st Golfstat)
97. Former Coloradan Elizabeth Wang, Harvard (Golfweek; 179th Golfstat)
190. Katrina Prendergast, CSU (Golfstat)

TEAM VICTORIES IN FALL
— CU Men (2): Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational; Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational.

— CSU Men (2): Ram Masters Invitational; Paintbrush Invitational.

— CSU Women (1): Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate.

INDIVIDUAL VICTORIES IN FALL
— Former Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah (2): Showdown in the Rockies; Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational.  

— Ellen Secor, CSU (1): Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate.

— Daniel O’Loughlin, CU (1): Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.

— Oscar Teiffel, CSU (1): Paintbrush Invitational.

— Trevor Olkowski, CU (1): Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational (tied for title before losing to Dunkle in a playoff, though both are officially credited with a win.)

TOP INDIVIDUAL FALL STROKE AVERAGE FOR EACH TEAM

CSU Men: Oscar Teiffel 70.77
UNC Men: Coby Welch 70.83
CU Men: Daniel O’Loughlin 71.2
CU Women: Robyn Choi 71.44
DU Women: Mary Weinstein 72.42
CSU Women: Katrina Prendergast 72.67
DU Men: Jun Ho Won 73.22
Air Force Academy Men: Luke Trujillo 74.4
UNC Women: Beah Cruz 75.0

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

CU Women: Pac-12 in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., April 15-17.
CSU Women: Mountain West in Rancho, Mirage, Calif., April 15-17.
UNC Women: Big Sky in Boulder City, Nev., April 19-21.
DU Women: Summit League in Newton, Kan., April 21-23.
CU Men: Pac-12 in Eugene, Ore., April 22-24.
CSU and Air Force Men: Mountain West in Tucson, Ariz., April 26-28.
UNC Men: Big Sky in Boulder City, Nev., April 26-28.
DU Men: Summit League in Newton, Kan., April 28-30.

NCAA REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Women: May 6-8, sites TBD (must earn selection).
Men: May 13-15, sites TBD (must earn selection).

Two months after Denver native and former University of Denver women’s golf coach Sammie Chergo stepped down as women’s coach at Oregon State, her former OSU assistant, Dawn Shockley, was named the Beavers’ head coach on Monday.

Shockley was born and raised in Colorado and played golf under Chergo at DU. While competing for the Pioneers, they placed sixth and fifth, respectively, in the 2008 and ’09 women’s NCAA finals. Individually, Shockley won twice while at DU, including the 2009 NCAA East Regional as a senior. She finished 21st individually in the 2009 NCAA finals.

“Dawn is a proven winner and a steely competitor,” Oregon State athletic director Todd Stansbury said in Monday’s announcement. “Her ability to instill confidence in student-athletes and teach course management set her apart from other candidates. I’m excited to watch our program develop under her leadership.”

Shockley, a regular on the Symetra Tour or Ladies European Tour for several years before going to Oregon State, had been serving as interim head coach at OSU since Chergo departed.

Oregon State competes in the Pac-12, the same conference as the University of Colorado.

“Being a head coach is a privilege,” Shockley said. “I’m very grateful (and) thankful and look forward to the opportunity to lead this team and continue what we’ve been doing for the last two years. … I look forward to becoming one of those teams that’s a powerhouse. The challenge and excitement about being the head coach is leading this team to something that is pretty cool and pretty unique.”

Oregon State set — or re-set — program scoring average records the last two seasons under Chergo, with Shockley’s assistance.

Besides excelling at golf while she attended Estes Park High School, Shockley won the Class 3A state cross country title as a freshman, was named Miss 3A Colorado Basketball as a senior, and served as her school’s student body president as a senior.

As she told coloradogolf.org in 2009, “I’m pretty competitive in everything.”

Chergo, who coached DU for 15 years before departing in 2013, said in an email Monday that she opted to leave Oregon State “to get back home closer to my family. … It was a difficult decision to make as we have really been having some fun growing the program and changing the culture.”

Except for the last two years, Chergo (pictured) has lived her entire life in Colorado.

Oregon State, which recently placed 10th in the 11-team Pac-12 Conference women’s tournament, posted two top-three team finishes this season. In 2014, the Beavers won Chergo’s first tournament as the OSU head coach. They are currently ranked 67th among the nation’s Division I teams, according to Golfstat.

As for the future, Chergo, a Denver native and former Colorado State University golfer, wrote Monday, “I will always be a coach and administrator at heart and I am sure those skills will lead me somewhere in Colorado.”

Former DU golfer Dawn Shockley, a Colorado native who grew up in the Centennial State, will serve as the interim head coach for Oregon State while the school conducts a search to find Chergo’s replacement.

Meanwhile, current DU coach Lindsay Kuhle announced Monday that Sonya Knebel of Germany will join the Pioneers’ roster for the 2016-17 season. Knebel is transferring to DU from Augusta (Ga.) University.

Chergo and Shockley, who built their sports reputations with the University of Denver women’s golf program, will have a homecoming of sorts next week when the top women’s golf conference in the nation holds its league championships at Boulder Country Club April 20-22.

Now in her first season as head coach at Oregon State — and having hired Shockley, one of her standout players at DU, as an assistant coach — Chergo will bring her OSU Beavers to her old stomping grounds. (Chergo is pictured in black above, alongside Shockley.)

“I’m excited to bring the team out — a lot of them have not been to Colorado before,” Chergo said in a recent phone interview. “We’ll have a whole bunch of family and friends there. I think we’ll have one of the biggest galleries out there, so there will be a lot of energy. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Chergo, the DU women’s head coach for 15 years before resigning in early 2013, indicated at that time that she was retiring from coaching. But she changed her mind when Oregon State came calling in the middle of last year.

“I thought I was” done coaching, Chergo said. “I felt I had done everything I could do there (at DU). Other schools called, and I didn’t even think about it. There were only a handful of places I wanted to go. But Oregon State called out of the blue, and I fell in love with the place. We have so much fun working to grow the program, and the community really wants to help. It was a perfect fit.

“One of the reasons I got back in was I missed the student-athlete. I missed the competition.”

Chergo worked wonders during her years at DU, taking the Pioneers to heights never seen in Colorado women’s college golf history. They finished sixth in the NCAA Championship finals in 2008, and fifth in 2009. All told, Chergo was named Sun Belt Conference coach of the year six times.

Shockley, a former state high school cross country champion from Estes Park, won the individual NCAA East Regional title in 2009, helping the Pioneers claim the regional team championship. Stephanie Sherlock and Katie Kempter also were key players during those years.

Shockley turned pro in 2009 and played on the Symetra Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Just last June, the former All-American finished fourth in the Symetra Tour’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

“Even when she played for me, she said she wanted to be a coach,” Chergo said of Shockley. “After playing professionally, she was ready to do something else. She’s a great player, she loves the game of golf, loves coaching and she’s energetic. It’s great to watch her grow.”

Chergo is trying to do at Oregon State what she did at Denver — steadily build the program into a team which regularly advances to the NCAA finals. But she has some work in front of her as the Beavers are currently ranked 73rd in the nation, according to Golfstat, and 75th, according to Golfweek.

In the stellar Pac-12 Conference, which has three teams ranked in the top three nationally (Southern Cal, Washington and UCLA), Oregon State is either No. 10 or No. 11 out of 11 teams, depending on which rankings you use. (Utah doesn’t have a women’s golf program.)

“It’s similar to where we were with DU seven or eight years ago when we were starting to build,” Chergo said. “The culture we created at DU, we’re looking to create here.

“We have a lot of work to do to grow this program. We just opened a $600,000 indoor training center and every week we’re playing against the best teams. Hopefully we’ll be in the top 25 in a couple of years. Corvallis is a very supportive community. They love the Beavers. You can’t walk down the street without hearing, ‘Go Beavers.’ It’s a wonderful place, a beautiful college town.”

Before moving to Corvallis in the late summer, Chergo had lived her whole life in Colorado. She attended Arvada West High School and Colorado State, then served as an assistant coach at the University of Colorado before going to DU.

“I didn’t go away for college; this is kind of like my going away for college,” said Chergo, who succeeded Rise Alexander at OSU after Alexander coached the Beavers for 27 years. “But I’m a Northwesterner now. I’m close to my family, but I probably see and talk to them more now than ever before” in her professional career.

Though Chergo is two years removed from her days at DU, her influence on the golf programs there is still certainly being felt. Two of her former Pioneer assistant coaches now head the teams, with Lindsay Kuhle leading the women’s program and Erik Billinger the men’s.

“Those two are my peeps. I couldn’t be more proud,” Chergo said.

———————————————————————————————————

Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championships in Boulder: The Essentials

What: Pac-12 Conference Women’s Golf Championships, with the University of Colorado serving as the host school.

Where: Boulder Country Club, 6,437 yards, par-71.

When: Championship rounds, Monday through Wednesday (April 20-22); practice round, Sunday (April 19). Ralphie the buffalo is tentatively scheduled to be on hand during Sunday evening’s team banquet. The Sunday practice rounds are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. On Monday and Tuesday, play will start at 9 a.m. On Wednesday, it will begin at 8:30 a.m.

Format: 54 holes of stroke play, with team and individual competitions. The best four individual scores from each school each day will count toward the team total.

Admission/Parking: Both free.

Participating Schools (with national Golfstat ranking): 1. Southern California; 2. Washington; 3. UCLA; 8. Arizona; 19. Stanford; 25. Arizona State; 32. Oregon; 34. California; 39. Colorado; 73. Oregon State; 76. Washington State. (Note: Utah doesn’t have a women’s golf program.)

Top Individuals (with national Golfstat ranking): 4. Bronte Law, UCLA; 7. Kyung Kim, USC; 10. Jennifer Yang, Washington; 14. Erynne Lee, UCLA; 17. Ying Luo, Washington; 20. Eimi Koga, Washington; 22. Monica Vaughn, Arizona State; 26. Esther Lee, Colorado; 28. Noemi Jimenez, Arizona State; 29. Lauren Kim, Stanford; 30. Manon Gidali, Arizona.

Defending Team Champion: Stanford.

TV: Final-round highlights will be carried on a tape-delayed basis by the Pac-12 Networks, on May 10 from 11 a.m.-noon (MT).

Streaming of the Event: Some of the action during the first two rounds will be streamed live by CU on Pac-12 Digital.
 

Colorado-based fans of big-time women’s golf have had the opportunity to see LPGA Tour events up close and in person twice in the last three years and three times since 2005.

In the coming week, several Coloradans would like nothing more than to join the big show and be inside the ropes in 2014.

The third and final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying for this year will be held Wednesday through Sunday (Dec. 4-8) in Daytona Beach, Fla. A field of 153 players will tee it up on two courses, with the top 20 finishers after five rounds earning Category 12 status on the 2014 LPGA Tour, and the next 25 and ties gaining conditional status.

The field will be cut to the low 70 and ties after four rounds, with all those who make the cut being guaranteed of at least Symetra Tour status in 2014.

Four players with strong Colorado ties will be in the field: Kelly Jacques, who grew up in Longmont; Dawn Shockley, who grew up in Estes Park; Ashley Tait (pictured above), who grew up in Littleton; and Stephanie Sherlock, who, like Shockley, is a former University of Denver golfer. Also competing is Birdie Kim, who won the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club just south of Denver.

Two of the four local players have held LPGA Tour cards. Sherlock just completed her third straight year on the circuit, but she made just five cuts in 2012 and ’13 combined. She had a solid rookie campaign in 2011, surviving five cuts and earning almost $38,000.

And Jacques (pictured at left) was a rookie on the LPGA Tour in 2013, but only competed in five events because of her conditional-status finish in last year’s Q-school. (She tied for 17th place, but lost out in a playoff.) In her five LPGA Tour events, she made one cut, finishing 58th in the Marathon Classic.

Meanwhile, Shockley and Tait made it to the final stage of Q-school by virute of top-80 finishes in stage II, which featured 194 players. Shockley placed 45th in that tournament, while Tait was 56th.

Shockley, winner of the 2009 NCAA East Regional title while at DU, has split her time between the Ladies European Tour and the U.S.-based Symetra Tour the last couple of years.

Jacques and Tait had stellar records in junior golf in Colorado a decade ago. Jacques won two 5A state high school titles while at Skyline, and swept the major CWGA junior championships in 2002. Tait claimed three 4A state high school titles at Mullen, and won the 2003 CWGA Junior Stroke Play and the 2008 CWGA Stroke Play.

Among the other players in the LPGA qualifying tournament field this week are North Dakota State graduate Amy Anderson, the all-time victory leader in women’s college golf with 20, and Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece. Anderson won the second stage qualifying tournament by six strokes.
 

Q-school, that is.

After a few weeks off since the initial stages of qualifying for the 2014 LPGA Tour and Web.com Tour, things heat up again starting Tuesday.

The LPGA Tour is at stage II of the three-stage qualifying process, with a single tournament set for this week — Tuesday through Friday — in Venice, Fla.

The Web.com Tour, now the top U.S.-based men’s tour that still features a Q-school, completed pre-qualifying tournaments late in the summer and now is ready for the “first stage” of the three remaining.

In both cases, numerous golfers who made a name for themselves in Colorado are pursuing their dreams of reaching some of the top levels of competitive golf.

Here is what’s upcoming this week, with the local players in the field:

LPGA Stage II Oct. 8-11 in Venice, Fla. — A total of 195 players will take part in this 72-hole, no-cut event. After four rounds, the top 80 finishers and ties will advance to the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying, set for Dec. 4-8 in Daytona, Beach, Fla.

Players with significant Colorado ties in the field are Ashley Tait of Littleton (pictured above), Dawn Shockley of Estes Park, and former University of Colorado golfers Jessica Wallace, Alex Stewart and Emily Childs. Childs and Stewart, who each played just one season at CU, competed in the stage I qualifying tournament to earn a berth in this week’s event.

As for the first stage of Web.com Tour Q-school, it’s being contested at a dozen sites over the next three weeks. The fields for later in the month haven’t yet be announced, but this week’s are finalized. Likewise to be determined is the exact number of players from each site that will advance to stage 2, but a total more than 20 is expected.

The second stage of Web.com Tour Q-school will be held at six sites in mid-November, while the final stage is Dec. 12-17 in La Quinta, Calif. The top 45 finishers and ties in La Quinta will receive priority status on the 2014 Web.com Tour, with the other finalists being conditionally exempt.

Here are the players with strong Colorado ties scheduled to compete in 72-hole first-stage tournaments this week, Tuesday through Friday:

Maricopa, Ariz. Oct. 8-11 — Tom Glissmeyer of Colorado Springs, Jim Knous of Basalt, former Colorado Springs resident Justin Spray, former CSU golfer Kirby Pettitt, former Castle Rock resident Jamie Marshall.

Lantana, Texas Oct. 8-11 — Riley Arp of Fort Collins, James Love of Denver, former CSU golfer Dustin Morris, former Fort Collins resident Drew Stoltz.

Vero Beach, Fla. Oct. 8-11 — Former CU golfer Kevin Kring.

Lakeland, Fla. Oct. 8-11 — Former CU golfer Jason Burstyn.
 

This week, eight golfers with significant Colorado ties hope to take the next step on the path to fulfilling their LPGA Tour dreams. The second of three stages of Tour qualifying will take place Tuesday through Friday (Oct. 9-12) in Venice, Fla.

A total of 157 players are in the stage II field, and the top 70 and ties after four rounds — with no cut — will advance to the final stage. That final qualifying tournament, set for Nov. 28-Dec. 2 in Daytona Beach, Fla., will determine the players who earn LPGA Tour cards for 2013.

The number of exemptions available hasn’t been set, but last year the top 40 finishers and ties in stage III earned some status on the LPGA Tour.

The eight local players vying to advance to the final stage are Kelly Jacques (pictured) of Longmont, Dawn Shockley of Denver, Ashley Tait of Littleton and Kristin Walla of Aspen, along with former University of Denver golfers Katie Kempter and Sue Kim (Shockley is also a former Pioneer), and ex-University of Colorado players Emily Talley and Jessica Wallace.

The group includes two 2012 U.S. Women’s Open qualifiers (Kim, who made the cut, and Jacques), three top-10 HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open finishers this year (Jacques, Kempter and Tait; champion Joy Trotter of Chino Hills, Calif., is also entered), and two former CWGA Stroke or Match Play champs (Tait and Walla). In addition, Kempter earned a spot on the 2010 LPGA Tour, but lost her card after that year.

Jacques and Talley have already survived one stage of LPGA Tour qualifying this year, finishing 18th and 30th, respectively, last month to advance. Jacques has posted three top-20 finishes on the Symetra Tour since Aug. 1, while Talley won the California Women’s (Amateur) Championship over the summer just before turning pro.

Kim, who played golf at DU for just one semester before going pro, recorded four top-10 finishes on the Symetra Tour this year. And Kempter recently placed a season-best fourth in the Symetra Tour’s 2012 finale.

Shockley was exempt this year on both the Ladies European Tour and the Symetra Tour. She had a fourth-place showing in the spring in a Symetra event, but she’s made only two cuts on the LET this year.
 

It’s very costly, and the chances for a big payoff are close to nil.

But it’s also the holy grail for golfers who aspire to be top-level playing professionals, so it’s no wonder why the Q-school process for the elite U.S.-based tours lasts for months on end.

This is the time of year when qualifying for those major tours gears up considerably, especially for the PGA and LPGA. The Champions Tour Q-school will get rolling next month. In each case, there’s no shortage of Coloradans involved.

Entry fees will put a dent in the wallet, running from roughly $2,500 to more than $5,000, depending on the tour and where a player starts in the process. And that doesn’t even count potentially thousands in travel and related expenses.

In addition, the odds are stacked heavily against most players, especially those who are forced to go through multiple stages of tournaments. At the end of the day, roughly 25-30 players will earn their 2012 playing privileges for the PGA Tour, with a similar number making the LPGA Tour. A dozen players gain some status on the Champions Tour, though only five are fully exempt.

Nevertheless, hopes are very high at this point, given that it’s early in the process.

Here’s the rundown on the various tours, and which local players are competing in PGA and LPGA Tour qualifying tournaments this month.

PGA TOUR

There are four stages in Q-school, including Pre-Qualifying. In all, there will be 27 qualifying tournaments played — seven in Pre-Qualifying, 13 in First Stage, six in Second Stage, and one in the Final Stage. Pre-Qualifying runs Sept. 13-23, First Stage is Oct. 18-29, Second Stage Nov. 15-19 and Final Stage Nov. 30-Dec. 5. In that final stage, the top 25 finishers and ties earn 2012 PGA Tour cards, with the rest of the players receiving some level of Nationwide Tour status.

No players with major Colorado ties competed in the four Pre-Qualifying tournaments already held, but more than 10 will be involved in the coming week. The list includes the last two CGA Players of the Year, Gunner Wiebe of Aurora (2010, pictured above) and Steve Ziegler of Broomfield (2009). Wiebe has finished second and third in the last two HealthOne Colorado Opens, while Ziegler was sixth this year.

Here’s what’s coming up in PGA Tour Pre-Qualifying, where roughly half the field at each site advances to the First Stage:

— Sept. 21-23 in Dallas — Local participants: former CSU golfer Dustin Morris, Gunner Wiebe of Aurora.

— Sept. 21-23 in Nebraska City — Local participants: former CU golfer Justin Bardgett, Tommy Carpenter of Englewood, Tom Gempel of Parker, Grant Jackson of Aurora, Jonathan Shaver of Parker, Luke Symons of Aurora, Steve Ziegler of Broomfield.

— Sept. 21-23 in Maricopa, Ariz. — Local participants: Riley Arp of Fort Collins, Nicholas Hodge of Littleton.

First Stage sites include Kannapolis, N.C.; Lakeland, Fla.; McKinney, Texas; Dayton, Nev.; Kingwood, Texas; Auburn, Ala.; Pinehurst, N.C.; Lantana, Texas; St. Augustine, Fla.; Hollister, Calif.; Valdosta, Calif.; Port St. Lucie, Fla.; and Beaumont, Calif.

Second Stage will be held in Humble, Texas; Brooksville, Fla.; McKinney, Texas; Panama City Beach, Fla.; Murrieta, Calif.; and Plantation, Fla.

This year’s Final Stage is scheduled for La Quinta, Calif.

LPGA TOUR

LPGA Tour qualifying consists of three stages this year, and Futures Tour qualifying is now incorporated, instead of being separate, as in the past. The First Stage was July 26-29, the Second will be Sept. 27-30 in Venice, Fla., and the Final Stage is set for Nov. 30-Dec. 4 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The number of 2012 LPGA cards available has yet to be determined, but last year the top 20 finishers in the Final Stage were fully exempt, with the next-best performers earning partial exemptions. The rest of the finishers in the Final Stage will earn some level of Futures Tour status.

Among the players already in the Final Stage is Coloradan Dawn Shockley, who earned her spot by finishing 13th on the 2011 Futures Tour money list. Also expected in the event are former University of Denver golfer Kimberly Kim and part-time Denver resident Alison Whitaker, who have LPGA Tour cards for 2011 but have yet to make a cut.

Here is what’s upcoming in the LPGA Tour qualifying process:

— Second Stage Sept. 27-30 in Venice, Fla. (the top 70 finishers and ties out of a field of about 240 advance to the Final Stage) — Local participants: former DU golfer Ellie Givens (competing as an amateur); Kelly Jacques of Longmont (pictured above); former DU golfer Katie Kempter, who played on the LPGA Tour in 2010; Ashley Tait of Littleton; Kristin Walla of Aspen; and CU golfer Jessica Wallace (competing as an amateur). Jacques, by the way, will be one of the contestants on Golf Channel’s Big Break Ireland. The taped program premieres Tuesday (Sept. 20) at 7 p.m. (MT)

— Final Stage Nov. 30-Dec. 4 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

As in the past, there will be two stages of Champions Tour qualifying — the regionals and finals. Regional tournaments will be held Oct. 25-28 in Montgomery, Texas, and Oct. 26-29 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and Primm, Nev.

The top players will advance to the Final Stage Nov. 15-18 in Scottsdale, Ariz. There, out of a field of 78 contestants, the top five finishers will be fully exempt for 2012, with the next seven conditionally exempt.

As of earlier this month, HealthOne Colorado Senior Open champion R.W. Eaks, a Colorado Springs native, was deciding whether to enter the Final Stage, which will be played at his home course in Scottsdale. Eaks has won four times on the Champions Tour.