Mobile: Three South Korean players are positioned to secure their LPGA Tour cards for the 2026 season with one remaining round at the weather-interrupted qualifying tournament. Korea LPGA (KLPGA) Tour standout Lee Dong-eun is leading the South Korean contingent at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Alabama. She stands alone in fourth place at nine-under at the LPGA Q-Series, with the final round suspended due to darkness on Monday at 4:15 p.m. local time.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee was leading the tournament at the end of the third round earlier in the day with a score of 10-under 204. However, she dropped from the top position after making two bogeys and a birdie over her first seven holes of the fourth round before play was suspended. The top 25 players and ties at the conclusion of the tournament will earn their LPGA cards for 2026. Adverse weather conditions caused disruptions, leading the LPGA to shorten the Q-Series from 90 holes to 72 holes.
Lee Dong-eun claimed her first KLPGA title at a major, the Korea Women's Open Golf Championship, in June this year. The 21-year-old led the KLPGA Tour with an average driving distance of 261.1 yards in 2025. Following Lee, Juniper Jang and Joo Soo-bin are the next-best South Koreans, tied for eighth place at seven-under. Jang, who previously went by her Korean first name Hyo-joon, was two-under through 10 holes in the fourth round, while Joo was one under through seven holes before the suspension.
Both Jang and Joo played on the LPGA Tour this year, having joined the circuit in 2023. Jang, 22, missed nine cuts in 15 starts without securing a top-10 finish. The 21-year-old Joo participated in 20 tournaments, also missing nine cuts without a top-10 finish.
No other South Korean player was within the top 25 at the time of the stoppage. The projected cutline was at four-under, with four players tied for 23rd at that score, including Hinako Shibuno of Japan, the 2019 AIG Women's British Open champion. Another major champion from 2019, U.S. Women's Open winner Lee Jeong-eun, was tied for 39th at one-under. She had been tied for 19th through three rounds but fell out of the top 25 after going three-over through 11 holes in the final round.