PRIDDIS — Adrienne White showed her emotions as she left the scoring tent following her final hole of the LPGA Canadian Open at Priddis Greens Friday.
The 25-year-old from Red Deer appeared to wipe away a tear before stopping to sign autographs as she walked past the fans.
It was a disappointing day for White, who shot a four-over par 75 for a 36-hole total of 146, three strokes over the cut line.
It was the second straight year she played well, but came up just short of qualifying for the weekend. Last year in Ottawa she had rounds of 73-76 to miss the cut by one.
“It’s disappointing as I can here with the idea of getting a cheque and I didn’t do that, but I’ll have to use this as a stepping stone and move on,” said White.
But this year’s field is one of the strongest on tour this year with all the top competitors on hand.
“It’s a tough field, but I feel I’m ready to be out here, but I couldn’t get anything going,” added White, who started on the back and once again got off to a tough start, bogeying three of the first four holes and four of the first seven.
“It’s become a bad trend in my game,” she said shaking her head. “It was the same thing yesterday and in the Monday qualifying round. If I get that out of my game I’ll be fine.”
White bogeyed the par-4 10th and par-3 11th before registering her only birdie of the day on the par-5 12th. She then had a five on the par-4 16th before putting together a string of nine straight pars before taking a four on the par-3 eighth, which eliminated any hope of making the cut.
“I knew I was hovering around the cut line all day, but I seemed to be battling it all day and couldn’t get any putts to drop,” she said. “I hit the ball well, but my (putting) stroke was just off. Some of my old bad habits crept back into my game, but you can’t think about that on the course. I’ll have to get back on the practice green to fix it.”
Despite the tough start, and knowing she needed to make a charge to make the cut White didn’t try to change her game.
“I tried to stay with my game plan and for the most part I did.”
White was the lone Albertan in the field, which may have put some pressure on her.
“A little I guess as there were a lot of people out to watch me, but really I put a lot of pressure on myself as to where I want my career to go and where it’s at now,” she said. “I have higher expectations of myself than anyone else does.”
White’s pro career is going a bit slower than she would like, but every day is a learning process, she says.
“Some players go out and excel right away while 95 percent of the rest of us grind it out and learn a little bit each day. It’s such a slow path you have to be so patient and sometimes that hard to do.”
White hopes to use what she learned over the last two days at the LPGA Q school, which begins in a couple of weeks.
“I have to take the experience from the highs and the lows and use them. I have to try to continue to grow and mature and handle my nerves a bit more.”
She feels if she could qualify for the LPGA, or even the Future’s Tour, it would be a huge boost in her development.
“Absolutely,” she said. “It’s a different routine out here. The crowd and the services provided is different than what I’m used to. If you get used to that and get into a rhythm it would help tremendously.”
None of the Canadians made the cut with LPGA regular Alena Sharp leading the group of 12 with a two-over 144. She missed the cut when her birdie putt on the final hole lipped out.
Meanwhile South Korea’s Song-Hee Kim shot a course record nine-under par 62 and grabbed a share of the lead with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen at nine-under 133. Pettersen had a 68 Friday.
Kim was the story of the day as she had a string of six straight birdies on the front nine, which tied an LPGA record.
Catriona Matthew of Scotland (68-66) and Lorena Ochoa of Mexico (66-68) are tied for third at 134 while M.J. Hur of South Korea (68-67), Angela Stanford of Texas (70-65) and Sun Young Yoo of South Korea (69-66) are tied at 135.