Wie, Lewis Headline Start of LPGA Q-School

Class begins today at LPGA Q-School with one of two sectional qualifiers that lead up to the Final Qualifying Tournament Dec. 3-7 in Florida. This week's sectional takes place at Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Course (where the Kraft Nabisco Championship is played), and runs through Friday. The Top 30 finishers plus ties advance to the finals. (A second sectional takes place Sept. 30-Oct. 3).

No doubt about who the headliners are at this sectional: Michelle Wie and Stacy Lewis. No reason to belabor Wie's participation; she's here and her presence gains this tournament far more publicity that it would otherwise get.

Lewis deserves plenty of publicity, too: She posted a Top 10 finish in the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship played on this course, and tied for third at the 2008 U.S. Women's Open. A dominant player at the University of Arkansas, a Curtis Cupper ... Lewis will be a very, very good player on the LPGA Tour.

Wie and Lewis aren't the only players to watch, of course. Among the other notables:

• JLPGA players: Shiho Oyama is the 43rd-ranked player in the world and Miki Saiki is the 49th-ranked player in the world. No, it's not common for golfers ranked inside the Top 50 to have to go to a sectional qualifier. But it's good to see a couple of Japan's top players trying to make the jump to the LPGA.

• LET players: The Ladies European Tour contingent is led by Martina Eberl, who won the Nykredit Masters a couple weeks ago and the Ladies Italian Open earlier this year, and who has five other Top 6 finishes on the LET in 2008.

  Other notable players from the LET are Melissa Reid, a hotshot youngster; Becky Brewerton, a Solheim Cup team member in 2007; Kiran Matharu and Henni Zuel (formerly known as Henni Brockway).

• College/Amateur stars: American Curtis Cupper Alison Walshe is already finished with college, but won't turn pro until after the World Amateur Team Championships in early October. Anna Nordqvist of Sweden and Arizona State is one of the best players in the NCAA, an All-American in each of her first two seasons. Dewi Schreefel and Paola Moreno, both late of Southern Cal, are other top amateurs players.

• Big Break alums: And finally, a slew of "Big Break" alums are playing - Adrienne McDonald (nee Gautreaux), Courtney Erdman, Amber Prange, Christina Lecuyer, Andrea Vanderlende, Ashley Prange, Briana Vega, Elizabeth Stuart, Dana Bates, Bridget Dwyer and Ashley Gomes. Amber Prange and Vanderlende are contestants on the upcoming "Big Break X."

Live scoring from this week's sectional isn't available. But the LPGA will be updating this scoreboard as players finish their rounds.

See also:

• LPGA Q-School winners