Meadow blooms in Shanghai as she targets Tour Championship spot

Stephanie Meadow has clicked into gear at just the right time as the 31-year-old Northern Irishwoman aims to secure her place in the big money CME Tour Championship on the LPGA Tour.

Only the leading 60 players on the LPGA Tour order of merit make it into that tournament in Florida in December, but a tied-eighth place finish in the Buick LPGA tournament in Shanghai on Sunday has lifted Meadow to within touching distance of breaking into the limited field.

Meadow is also in the field for this week’s BMW Ladies in Seowon Hills in South Korea and will also play in next week’s inaugural Maybank Championship in Malaysia where Solheim Cup star Leona Maguire will also be playing.

A bogey-free weekend, with rounds of 66 and 65, propelled Meadow to her second top-10 finish of the season and brought her season’s earnings to a career best $598,857 with the rest of the Asian swing providing her with the chance to move into the top-60. Meadow moved from 71st to 66th on the back of her performance in Shanghai.

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“I just hit really solid iron shots, hit the fairways, gave myself a ton of opportunities. Just stayed really patient, trying to get comfortable about being way under par and doing the same thing and not being too perfectionistic,” explained Meadow of her final round mindset, describing it as “stress free”.

The upward move in the order of merit has given Meadow a chance to bring momentum into this run of events. “Hopefully I can keep lucking along and make my way in,” said Meadow.

Mullarney looking to go out on a high note at Alps Tour finale

The developmental Alps Tour has proven to be a stepping stone to greater things for many fledgling professionals – Matt Wallace, a winner on the European Tour and the PGA Tour probably the most notable example – and this week’s Grand Final in Italy has the added prize of five cards for the Challenge Tour on offer.

Galway’s Ronan Mullarney – a two-time winner on the circuit this season – currently heads the order of merit and is already assured of a full Challenge Tour card for next season.

Mullarney is not the only Irish player in the field, with Paul McBride (17th on the rankings) and Paul Murphy (35th) also hoping to make impacts in the final event, which is limited to 49 player.

Word of Mouth

“I start out pretty mellow, kind of flatlining. Nothing was happening. I was like, ‘you know what, I’m going to draw on my emotions’. It’s funny because we’ve been talking about this a lot for the past few years. I’ve been speaking to Juli Inkster about it. I don’t really feel much emotions on the golf course. She was like, ‘no, that’s not good. I want you to get mad again’ ... growing up everyone taught me to be stone faced, no emotions, poker face. I don’t think that fits me. What’s fitting me right now is I’m doing to express myself.” – Angel Yin on changing her mental approach for the final round, which earned her a breakthrough win on the LPGA Tour when beating world number one Lillia Vu in a playoff in Shanghai.

By the Numbers: Uno

Tom McKibbin is the sole Irish player in the field for this week’s Andalucia Masters at Sotogrande on the DP World Tour.

On this day: October 17th, 1993

The old Dunhill Cup was a three-man team event played over the Old Course at St Andrews and existed from 1985 to 2000 before it morphed into the Dunhill Links.

As a team event, it was popular with players and the 1993 edition – its ninth staging – gave the United States its second win in the competition, where Fred Couples won five out of five matches.

The USA topped its group with wins over Wales (3-0), Paraguay (2-1) and Scotland (3-0) before defeating Sweden 2-1 in the semi-final. In the final, the Americans faced England and, although Payne Stewart lost to Mark James, Couples’s 68 enabled him to beat Nick Faldo by one stroke and then John Daly clinched the title in posting a 70 to Peter Baker’s 73.

“I’m extremely proud of my team. I didn’t play that well and I’m thankful I had John Daly and Freddie Couples on my team,” said playing captain Stewart with the three players sharing the $450,000 pay-day as champions.

Social Swing

Pádraig Harrington, who watched the match in the locker room at the SAS Championship in North Carolina. Harrington remains on the Champions Tour for this week’s Dominion Energy tournament in Virginia.

Justin Rose, who also managed to get in some sightseeing when in Madrid for the Spanish Open.

Short and sweet message from Australia’s Min Woo Lee after closing out a wire-to-wire win in Macao Open on the Asian Tour.

In the Bag: Tom Kim (Shriners Children’s Open)

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees)

3-wood: Titleist TSi3 (15 degrees)

Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 (19 degrees)

Irons: Titleist T200 (3), Titleist T100 (4-9), Titleist Vokey SM9 (PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (53 degrees), Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks (60 degrees)

Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Tour Type Timeless GSSS tour prototype

Ball: Titleist ProV1x

Know the Rules

Q: In match play, a player’s ball is in a penalty area in some shallow water, but he decides to play it as it lies. He deliberately touches the water in the penalty area on his backswing. What is the ruling? 1: There is no penalty; 2: The player gets one penalty stroke; 3: The player gets two penalty strokes.

A: 1: There is no penalty.