A first professional victory in the Epson Tour Championship was the only way for Heather Lin to get into the top 15 cutoff to earn an LPGA card for 2025. The Chinese Taipei golfer started the week 54th in the tour’s season standings but got off to a searing start, recording an ace in the first round, then carding a 63 on Friday to take the 36-hole lead. An even-par 71 on Saturday gave her a one-stroke lead with 18 to play.
Lin, 24, survived a sunbaked Sunday at Indian Wells Golf Resort near Palm Springs, California, where temperatures reached 46 degrees, with a back-nine charge after her first double-bogey of the championship on the 10th.
Lin’s conversation with her coach Ian Mellor on Saturday prepared her for that moment, imprinting that she would get nervous and take a deep breath when that happens. Despite Lin’s hands shaking down the stretch, she birdied the 12th and 13th to wipe away the error and return to 15-under-par, tied for first with Malaysian Olympian Ashley Lau, who was in the clubhouse. On the par-5 17th, Lin made birdie to take the outright lead, and with a par on the last, finished off a four-under 67 to earn her first career victory, snatching the 15th and final LPGA card the only way she mathematically could.
“Coming into this week, I was just trying to get out of Stage Two because with where my ranking is at and I knew I had a chance,” Lin said. “I was in contention. And I mean, I don’t even know if winning was good enough to get it, the 15 card. But everything worked out perfectly.”
Taiwan’s Heather Lin earned her LPGA card for 2025 the only way she could – she won the Epson Tour Championship in California [Photo: Alika Jenner].
Positions one to 10 on the Epson Race to the Card list, which mirrors the scoring system of the LPGA’s CME points list, will have the same Category 9 status on the LPGA’s priority list, which dictates the quality of status a player has for the year. Nos.11-15 effectively earned a safety net for limited LPGA status, joining Nos.101-125 on the CME points list after the Pelican Championship in November to form Category 15. In December, that entire group can go to the final stage of LPGA’s qualifying to improve their status. A top-20 finish there gets them into Category 14.
The Tour Championship winner was one of two Epson sophomores to play into the top 15 alongside Miranda Wang, whose T-3 leaped her from 23rd to 14th. No.14 entering the week, Kim Kaufman, who made her LPGA debut a decade ago, missed the cut to lose her card at the final event by a single spot. Epson rookie Valery Plata entered the week in 15th, but her T-42 wasn’t enough to defend her card, knocking her down to 17th.
Two players earned their way into the top 10 and its better status. Madison Young, the first former Kennesaw State player to make an LPGA start, posted a T-6 to jump from 12th to ninth. Australia’s Cassie Porter finished T-17 to improve from 11th to 10th. Missing the cut knocked Daniela Iacobelli and Ana Belac out of the top 10. Iacobelli, who was second in the Race to the Card with seven events remaining in July, dropped from 10th to 13th. Belac slipped from ninth to 11th.
They’re two of six players returning to the LPGA from the graduating class, alongside Lauren Stephenson, Fatima Fernandez Cano, Brooke Matthews and Pornanong Phatlum.
Five players locked up their cards before the championship began. Stephenson, who played the previous five years on the LPGA, won the Epson Player of the Year award with her first victory as a professional in the Twin Bridges Championship, a pair of runner-up finishes and a T-8 in the tour’s finale over her final seven starts of the season. Yahui Zhang, an 18-year-old rookie from China, finished second in the Race to the Card to secure rookie of the year honours.
Ingrid Lindblad. [Photo: Matthew Lewis]
Ingrid Lindblad, former No.1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, finished T-8 to earn the sixth card in only nine starts. The former Louisiana State University golfer finished her decorated five-year collegiate career in May and turned professional after the US Women’s Open in June. She already secured Epson membership thanks to winning Stage Two as an amateur last year despite having her bags stolen before the event. The Swede has already impressed on the LPGA stage as a professional, jumping to the 18-hole lead in the Evian Championship in July.
Lindblad is one of nine Epson graduates making their LPGA debuts in 2025, joined by Porter, Lin, Wang, Zhang, Jessica Porvasnik, Jenny Bae, Fiona Xu and Madison Young. The expanded class of 15 now marks 212 players who have graduated from the Epson to the LPGA in its 25-year history.
Malaysia’s Lau earned a hefty consolation prize for her runner-up finish – she moved from No.64 to 31st, inside the top 35 cutoff that earns a direct trip to Q-Series. She and everyone else from No.11-35 in the Race for the Card will have their $US2,500 entry fee paid for from the Epson Player Development Fund, which the Epson Corporation funds.
Here are the 15 players who earned LPGA cards for 2025:
- Lauren Stephenson
- Yahui Zhang
- Fatima Fernandez Cano
- Jessica Porvasnik
- Brooke Matthews
- Ingrid Lindblad
- Jenny Bae
- Fiona Xu
- Madison Young
- Cassie Porter
- Ana Belac
- Pornanong Phatlum
- Daniela Iacobelli
- Miranda Wang
- Heather Lin
