Lauren Stephenson ran into a rare roadblock in her golf career in 2023 and ended the year in the final portion of the LPGA Q-Series. That’s about the last place aficionados of the game would expect to find the South Carolinian who blazed a trail of triumph through high school, junior and college competition.
But there she was, tied for 27th at the event’s end. She received dual status on both the LPGA and Epson tours. Realistically, LPGA opportunities would be scarce.
Challenged, she responded in the best possible way. She won the 2024 Player of the Year honors on the Epson Tour and earned a return to the LPGA for 2025 .
“It was a very special season; I’m super proud of myself,” Stephenson told Epson Tour publicist Luke Otto after wrapping up the honor. “I wasn’t sure starting the year what tour I was even playing on because I had dual status. Finishing the year out here being No. 1 is more than I thought at the beginning of the year.”
But those who watched her dominate at Lexington High, on the junior golf trail and in college at Clemson and Alabama figured her finding success in the pros was only a matter of time.
In her first four years of the LPGA Tour (2019-22), Stephenson collected five top-10 finishes and added another 12 top 25s in tournaments. The highlight: a tie for ninth in the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, one of the tour’s majors.
Then came the struggles of 2023 and the renaissance of 2024. Although she had status on both tours, she concentrated on the Epson, winning once and claiming eight top 10s in 15 tournaments en route to leading the competition in earnings and, of course, adding the Player of the Year award to her trophy case.
She took the lead in points that decide the player of the year into the final event and secured the honors with a solid eighth-place finish.
“I never got ahead of myself,” Stephenson said afterward. “I didn’t watch the Race for the Card at all. I barely even looked at the leaderboards this week; I just focused on what I could control and enjoyed wherever we were playing.
“It’s a long season, and I’m really happy to be where I am. To make it back in a good fashion ... it feels really good. I feel really confident and happy in myself.”
In this era that players focus on bombing the ball off the tee, Stephenson illustrated the truth of a golf adage from yesteryear: Drive for show and putt for dough. She finished far off the pace in driving, placing 106th, but she ranked eighth in putting and third in scoring with a 69.7 average.
Now, next season will find her back where everyone expected her to be, on the LPGA Tour armed with renewed confidence.
“I’m just excited to be out there (on the LPGA Tour) and play again. I know I can compete, and I know I’m good enough,” she said. “So, I just kind of feel like I will have my best foot forward next year and really enjoy it.”
Chip shots . USC’s men’s team added another high finish in its first season under coach Rob Bradley, taking second in the Everett Buick GMC Classic in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sophomore Brock Blias, a transfer from Texas-San Antonio, tied for ninth individually to lead the Gamecocks. USC, which had placed third in their previous two fall tournaments, make a quick turn-around and begin play Oct. 21 in the Fallen Oak Invitational in Saucier, Mississippi. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 23 in the season’s first poll. ... USC’s women, No. 2 in the national rankings, complete the fall season in the Jackson T. Stephens Cup, which begins Oct. 21 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Gamecocks have three players ranked among the nation’s top players — Hannah Darling at No. 5, Louise Rydqvist at No. 9 and Maylis Lamoure at No. 31. ... Chris Eassy (Simpsonville) edged Kurt Waldthausen (Simpsonville) in a playoff to win the SCGA’s 40 Plus Series event at Holly Tree CC in Simpsonville.
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