DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – China’s Simin Feng shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday on the Hills Course to take a five-stroke lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

The 20-year-old Feng shot had a 15-under 272 total at LPGA International. The top 20 finishers Sunday will earn full LPGA Tour cards, and Nos. 21-45 and ties will receive conditional status.

Cydney Clanton and South Korea’s Julie Yang were tied for second. Yang had a 71 on the Jones Course, and Clanton shot a 72 on the Hills Course.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc moved four spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 4th thanks to a 3-under 69 Saturday.

The top 20 at the end of Sunday’s fifth and final round earn full-time status on the tour. Five Canadians will take part in Sunday’s play after four missed the 72-hole cut after Saturday’s round.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had a 73 on the Jones Course to drop from a tie for 16th into a tie for 24th at 3 under.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the third consecutive night, Simin Feng (Beijing, China) will sleep on the lead at the Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament. After a bogey at the 17th hole, Feng finished with an exclamation point, an eagle at the 18th, to take the outright lead heading into the weekend.

“It’s a great feeling to play good early,” Feng said. “It feels great to be in the lead but there’s still two more days to go and many more holes to come so I just have to keep going.”

Feng, who finished in a tie for sixth at Final Stage of Qualifying Tournament in 2014 to earn her LPGA Tour card, sits at 12-under for the tournament to lead Cydney Clanton (Concord, N.C.) by two-shots.

“I kind of tried to tweak my practice a little bit before this tournament,” Feng said. “I decided to focus on my wedge game and the scoring part of the game which has really helped me here. I’ve been able to save some shots and make some birdies on par-5s.”

The new approach was keyed by Feng’s father who noticed some holes in his daughter’s game during LPGA and LET tournament rounds in China.

“My dad helped me with planning the practice a little bit before I came down here,” Feng explained. “He saw some weaknesses during my tournaments with the LPGA and LET in China. He made some suggestions to work and it turned out to be pretty good. I just need to keep it going and keep it as simple as possible. It will make life a lot easier if I can.”

Feng was the 2014 SEC Freshman of the Year at Vanderbilt before turning professional.

The top 20 players following fifth round play on Sunday will earn LPGA membership in category 12 on the priority list. There are currently 17 players at 4-under, 212, or better and eight players in a tie for 18th at 3-under, 213.

Of the 13 players T8 or better, six have had LPGA Tour status in the past including the top three and Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (T8). Of the remaining seven, four are 20 years old or under.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – China’s Simin Feng and South Korea’s Julie Yang shared the second-round lead at 9-under par Thursday in the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Feng had a 2-under 70 on LPGA International’s Hills Course, and Yang shot a 69 on the Jones Course.

The top 20 finishers Sunday will earn full LPGA Tour cards, and Nos. 21-45 and ties will receive conditional status.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I’m happy with how I’ve played so far,” Yang said. “My only bogey of the day came on the last hole so it was a good day.”

She tied for 21st in the event last season.

“I have the experience from last year and I know what to expect,” Yang said. “Last year was a tough year with conditional status and I feel like my game is ready to go back to the LPGA.”

Christine Song was third at 8 under after a 71 on the Hills Course. Cydney Clanton was another stroke back after a 70 on the Hills Course.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc and Thailand’s Benyapa Niphatsophon were tied for fifth at 6 under. LeBlanc had a 67 on the Hills Course, the best round of the day.

“Everything seemed to be working today,” LeBlanc said. “I didn’t make any putts on the front nine, but I made five birdies on the back and no bogeys so it was just a solid round.”

Niphatsophon shot a 70 on the Jones Course.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had a 69 on the Hills Course to top the group at 4 under. Mexican amateur Gaby Lopez also was 4 under after a 72 on the Hills Course.

“I’ve been giving myself a lot of opportunities for birdies and I’ve converted a lot of them,” Woods said. “I had six today, which was nice. Overall, it comes down to ball striking and I’ve been keeping it in play and giving myself a lot of chances on the greens.”

She tied for 11th last year.

“It’s nice to know that I’ve played well here before,” Woods said. “I’ve played this course a lot whether it was on Symetra Tour or Q-school. It’s nice to know that I have that history here and also mentally to know that I’ve done it before it’s nice to be able to fall back on that and take that confidence into this year.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament begins Wednesday, December 2 and concludes on Sunday, December 6 at LPGA International, Jones and Hills Courses.

There are 157 players in the field – including 10 Canadians – competing for LPGA Tour membership on the 2016 LPGA priority list.

The top 20 finishers (not including ties) come Sunday earn category 12 membership, while players who finish 21 through 45 plus ties will earn membership through category 17. In layman’s terms, the top 20 finishers will have “full” LPGA membership while those that finish 21-45 will have “conditional” status. For perspective, Alison Lee and Minjee Lee, who shared medalist honors in 2014, played in 23 and 29 LPGA events respectively in 2015. Julie Yang, who finished T21 at 2014 Final Stage, made 12 starts on the LPGA in 2015.

Players will rotate between the Jones and Hills courses over the first four days. There will be a 72-hole cut made on Saturday to the top 70 and ties. The final round will take place on the Hills Course. Play is expected to begin at 8 a.m. all five days.

Players that finish a minimum of 72 holes will earn Symetra Tour membership in category D.

Although secondary to earning LPGA membership, there is a $50,000 (U.S.) purse for the event with the medalist earning $5,000.

There are three ways that players could have earned entry into the field this week: by finishing in the top 80 at Stage II, by finishing 11-33 on the Symetra Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list or by having 2015 LPGA Tour membership (61 players had 2015 LPGA status).

Headlining the Canadians in the field is 4-time LPGA Tour winner Lorie Kane of Charlottetown (2000 Michelob Light Classic, 2000 New Albany Golf Classic, 2000 Mizuno Classic and 2001 LPGA Takefuji Classic). At 50 years of age, Kane is the oldest player in the field.

The other Canadians include:

• Augusta James (Bath, Ont.)
• Sara-Maude Juneau (Fossambault, Que.)
• Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Sue Kim (Langley, B.C.)
• Jennifer Kirby (Paris, Ont.)
• Maude-Aimée LeBlanc (Sherbrooke, Que.)
• Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Rebecca Lee-Bentham (Toronto)
• Samantha Richdale (Kelowna, B.C.)
• Anne-Catherine Tanguay (Québec, Que.)
• Jessica Wallace (Langley, B.C.)

NAPLES, Fla. – Lydia Ko had just been handed a $1 million bonus for the second consecutive year, and the first thing she thought about buying with those newfound additional riches was a new phone.

She’s had a bunch. She keeps dropping them.

“My mom doesn’t like it,” Ko said. “Phones are expensive.”

It’s moments like those that serve as the reminder that the New Zealander is only 18. The way she plays, no one believes she’s just a teenager. The LPGA’s rookie of the year from 2014 was the LPGA’s player of the year in 2015, and in golf – or any major pro sport – there’s never been anyone younger to end a season as the unquestioned best in his or her game.

Ko has 10 wins already, and there’s about 40 tournaments left to play before her teenage years are over.

“I don’t think she’s the age she is,” said Cristie Kerr, who at 38 is more than twice Ko’s age. “She’s such an old soul. It’s hard to believe she’s that young. … There’s that saying, ‘Youth is wasted on the young.’ They don’t know what they have until they are my age, right? But she has such a great, easy disposition about her. She puts everybody around her at ease. I think she’ll be that way for the rest of her life.”

Tiger Woods was 21 when he won his first PGA Tour player of the year award. Wayne Gretzky was 19 when he won his first NHL MVP. Jim Brown was 21 when he captured NFL MVP honors and neither Major League Baseball nor the NBA has ever had an MVP younger than 22.

Put in that company, she is a phenom among phenoms. Annika Sorenstam, for example, didn’t get her first LPGA Tour win until she was 24.

“Lydia is on a whole other level,” said LPGA veteran Brittany Lincicome. “It’s like an Annika level. To be 18 years old, I was trying to shoot somewhere close to even par when I was 18 years old. Now I’m 30 and she still kicks my butt every year. To be so young and so talented and to be so humble and so sweet, she’s really the whole package.”

Even though Ko is in the mix to win just about every time she tees it up, that’s another fascinating element to her story. The players that she’s beating every week, the players who’ve watched her collect nearly $5 million in earnings already and another $2 million by winning the “Race to CME Globe” bonuses in each of the last two years, they really like her.

“I heard her swear once,” Michelle Wie said.

So she’s not perfect.

“I don’t know how a person can be that nice,” Wie said. “I would probably explode inside.”

Ko tries not to let fame or fortune change anything. When her friends spot someone who they think recognizes her at the mall, Ko usually tries to get them talking about something else. And though she’s long been labeled a golf prodigy, many find her to be remarkably well grounded.

LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan talks with Ko often. It’s rarely about golf.

“I don’t know how to describe what Lydia Ko is doing,” Whan said. “I mean you know sometimes when you’re watching history and you sort of tell yourself, I’m watching history, but I don’t really grasp it when I’m standing in the range talking to her. And if you play a practice round with her or pro-am you grasp it even less. Because she doesn’t seem to be caught up in it at all.”

For Ko, that’s the key.

“I think I’ve been very fortunate to have a very supportive team around me,” Ko said. “I think they have definitely helped me keep grounded, always saying ‘Hey, even if I win one week, it’s a whole new week and let’s go in fresh, obviously confident.’ Not being like, ‘Hey, I’m the champion and world No. 1 and all that.’

“My team has really been helpful in that aspect. I don’t know if I could be in this position without them.”

NAPLES, Fla. – Cristie Kerr was the player of the week. Lydia Ko was the player of the year and pocketed another $1 million bonus. Inbee Park will be among the players of all-time.

One tournament, three women celebrating.

And just as the LPGA Tour intended, the season finale was dramatic until the end.

Kerr won the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday, taking the lead for good with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th and soon wrapping up her 18th career victory. Her $500,000 first prize, which pushed her career earnings past $17 million, almost seemed ancillary given the stakes that Ko and Park were playing for this week.

“Good golf is just good golf,” Kerr said. “It doesn’t really matter what age it is. I think I proved that.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was 13th at 9-under par, while Hamilton’s Alena Sharp tied for 46th at even par.

Kerr is 38, and says she doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. Ko is still just 18, and became the fourth player to go from rookie of the year one year to player of the year the next. The others on that list: Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel and Annika Sorenstam.

Greats all, and Ko is well on her way to that same status.

“I said if I could choose one of the awards, I would choose player of the year,” Ko said. “To know that I am the player of the year, it’s an awesome feeling.”

Ko won the $1 million bonus for winning the Race to the CME Globe, just as she did last year. And Park wrapped up a trip to the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning the scoring title, meaning the only step that now remains between her and induction is completing her 10th season on tour next year, a prerequisite for eligibility.

“It’s been a long season,” Ko said. “Up and down. Mostly ups.”

Kerr shot a 4-under 68 and finished at 17-under 271, one shot better than Gerina Piller and Ha Na Jang. Lexi Thompson was fourth at 14 under. She and Paula Creamer were among a group of U.S. Solheim Cup teammates who doused Kerr with champagne on the 18th green moments after she tapped home a 2-footer to end the season.

France’s Karine Icher was fifth at 13 under. Park was alone in sixth, good enough to beat Ko by three shots over the course of the entire season for the Vare Trophy and the 27th point she needed for her trip to the LPGA Hall.

“I said the Hall of Fame will be my last goal, but it really came early and I achieved pretty much everything I set so far in my career,” Park said. “There is plenty other goals to set.”

The pressure was obvious, all over the final back nine of the year.

Thompson had an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th, and never got it near the hole. Park missed a 2-footer for par on the 12th, then rallied with consecutive birdies. Stacy Lewis, one of three women who entered the week controlling their destiny in the $1 million race, gave her wedge a smack after needing two shots to escape a bunker at the 16th. Ko had a birdie try at 16 not long afterward, leaving it uncharacteristically short.

But in the end, Kerr, Park and Ko did enough to all come away with big prizes.

“Pretty cool,” Kerr said. “A lot of different honours.”

Kerr shot four rounds in the 60s, made a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 15 to tie for the lead, then the eagle at the 17th put her on top for good.

Park was second in the Globe chase, pocketing a $150,000 bonus. Thompson was third, taking home $100,000 in bonus money _ though she spent much of the afternoon in position to sweep both the $500,000 first prize and the $1 million bonus.

“It’s been a special year for the tour,” Ko said.

NAPLES, Fla. – Cristie Kerr and Ha Na Jang shared the lead going into the final round of the LPGA Tour’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, and Lydia Ko remained in control of the biggest year-end awards and a $1 million bonus.

Kerr shot a 4-under 67 on Saturday to match Jang at 13 under at Tiburon Golf Club. Jang had a 69.

Ko and Gerina Piller were tied for third at 11 under. Ko had a 69, and Piller shot 67.

Ko is trying to take the $1 million Race to the CME Globe bonus for the second consecutive year. A win also would lock up the world No. 1 ranking to end the year, along with player of the year honours and the money title.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson sits T29 at 3-under, while fellow Canadian Alena Sharp is at even par in a tie for 43rd.

NAPLES, Fla. – Everyone in the CME Group Tour Championship is playing for something.

Lydia Ko and Inbee Park are playing to win the LPGA’s biggest season-ending awards. There’s a group playing for a $1 million bonus. Some are playing to build momentum for 2016.

And then there’s Karine Icher. She’s playing for France.

Icher – the lone French player in the 71-woman field – shot a 5-under 67 on Friday in the second round of the LPGA’s season-finale, giving her a 36-hole total of 138 that has her within four shots of the lead. Icher has friends who knew some of the 130 people killed last week in Paris, when extremists attacked a concert hall, a soccer stadium and cafes and restaurants.

“France is in a difficult time right now,” Icher said. “All we can do is just think of them, pray for them and that’s it. It’s really sad, but unfortunately I think it’s only the beginning and it’s really scary. Especially for us, we travel all over the world and it can happen anywhere, any time. It’s just like being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you’re dead.”

South Korea’s Ha Na Jang shot 65 to get to 10-under 134 and hold the midpoint lead by two shots over world No. 1 Lydia Ko (67) of New Zealand. Americans Jennifer Song (69) and Cristie Kerr (69) were another shot off the pace, and Icher was in a group that also included Gerina Piller (70) and Brittany Lincicome (70) of the U.S. in a tie for fifth at 6 under.

“It’s a really good score, 65,” Jang said. “So I feel really good.”

Icher is from Chateauroux, about two hours south of Paris. She had visited some of the places that were targeted by the extremists, presumably members of the Islamic State group that has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Her husband was watching the France-Germany soccer match, which was taking place as the chaos began, on television.

Her friends and family, she said, are safe. Friends of friends were not so fortunate. And golf, she said, has been a needed sanctuary.

“When you’re on the golf course, you’re at work,” Icher said. “You try to forget everything else, you try to focus on your game and you’re 100 percent there.”

She’s 100 percent in the mix going into the weekend.

Jang leads the tournament, getting the top spot outright when Ko made double-bogey and bogey on consecutive holes late in her round. Still, Ko is in control of all the big year-end prizes that she’s chasing – like the LPGA’s scoring title, player of the year, a $1 million bonus for winning the “Race to CME Globe” and ensuring that she’ll finish the year with the No. 1 ranking.

“I still played pretty solidly,” Ko said. “So I’m happy.”

For Inbee Park, who’s battling Ko for all those big prizes, there was progress. Even after closing with a three-putt bogey and lamenting her lack of luck on Bermuda greens, she still shot 69 for her best score at Tiburon since 2013.

Ko has the edge going into the weekend in their head-to-head contest, but Friday may give Park reason for hope.

“I know she played well yesterday as well,” Park said. “She seems like she really likes this golf course. I’ve got to start liking it a little bit more for tomorrow.”

Jang shot the round of the day, with eight birdies and one bogey. Minjee Lee shot 66 and Icher had one of four 67s, along with Ko, Japan’s Ai Miyazato and Danielle Kang of the U.S.

Icher isn’t planning to return to France anytime soon. It’s not because of the attacks, but simply that she and her family spend the offseason at their Orlando, Florida, home.

Still, it’s clear what a win would mean this week.

“It would be nice,” Icher said, “just for France.”

NAPLES, Fla. – Purses on the LPGA Tour will rise by $4 million in 2016, and officials are aiming for a second event in China.

The tour released next year’s schedule on Friday, with 33 events – two of which will be in Canada. Purse money will rise from $59.1 million to $63.1 million, a tournament has been added in Michigan and the LPGA will take a three-week break to accommodate the return of golf to the Olympics in August.

“Stability with growth,” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said. “We’ve had some dramatic things we needed to address in the last six years … and the numbers, I think, kind of speak for themselves.”

In 2011, the LPGA had 23 official events and $40.5 million in purse money with 220 hours of television coverage. The TV hours will increase again to about 410 next year. The LPGA also announced Friday a partnership with the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin for a tournament that will start in 2017 and offer a $2 million purse.

“It’s an exciting time,” Whan said.

The 2016 schedule starts with five tournaments in five different countries, matching the layout of the past two years. The season begins in the Bahamas in late January, and the first event in the U.S. is the Coates Golf Championship at Ocala, Florida. It ends Saturday, Feb. 6, and won’t conflict with Super Bowl 50 the next day in Santa Clara, California.

The five majors are the ANA Inspiration ending April 3, the Women’s PGA Championship ending June 12, the U.S. Women’s Open ending July 10, the Women’s British Open ending July 31, and The Evian Championship ending Sept. 18. The Olympic field will be set the day after the Women’s Open, meaning a chance exists that the British Open champion might not be Rio-bound.

“The Olympics is making 2016 a little more crowded than a typical LPGA schedule in the middle of the summer,” Whan said. “But it’s a great problem to have when you have to get condensed because you’re about to play in the Olympics for the first time in 100 years.”

Golf Canada’s Canadian Pacific Women’s Open will be held Aug. 22-28  in Calgary, with a $2.25 M purse.  The other Canadian event – the Manulife LPGA Classic – will be held the following week from Aug. 29-Sept. 4 in Cambridge, Ont. with a $1.6 M purse.

China was expected to host two events in 2015, though one was canceled about two weeks before the start. The LPGA plans to return for an event that ends Oct. 2. Whan said he’s confident the second tournament – which is still listed as TBD on the schedule – will come together as planned.

Other nations on the 2016 schedule besides Canada and the U.S. include: Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico.

Next season ends again at the CME Group Tour Championship on Nov. 20 in Naples, Florida.

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NAPLES, Fla. – Austin Ernst leads the tournament, Sei Young Kim leads the race for $1 million and Lydia Ko has edged closer to everything else that’s at stake this weekend.

So as expected, the LPGA’s finale for 2015 is off to a hectic start.

Ernst shot a 6-under 66 Thursday to take a one-shot lead over South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee after the opening round of the CME Group Tour Championship. Kim, part of a group two shots off Ernst’s pace, would win the season-ending $1 million bonus if the tournament ended in its current order. Ko shot a 69 to move closer to earning player of the year honours, plus the scoring and money titles.

“I’ve just got to think of it as another tournament,” said Ko, the 18-year-old from New Zealand who holds the No. 1 ranking. “That’s what I said for all the majors. I’ve got to focus on one shot at a time and not think like it’s a major so it’s more special and all that. Obviously, it is, at the end of the day. But it’s another tournament. We’ve got the world’s best golfers here, the top players are here, it’s a great field, it does feel like a major.

“And with everything that might come along on Sunday, it might be more than that.”

She would know, after sweeping the tournament and the bonus a year ago. Ko opened with a 71 at Tiburon last year and was five back after the first round; she was two shots better, and two shots closer to the lead, after Thursday.

Meanwhile, Ernst – who has struggled mightily in her past trips to Tiburon – took a new and simple approach to the course this time. All she tried to do was stay out of trouble, and she made it look easy.

“I drove it pretty well today,” said Ernst, an American who hit 17 greens. “I’ve been hitting it well this year. It’s really just a matter of I needed to get myself in better positions. I didn’t really put too much stock in how I’ve played here the last two years.”

Lee was alone in second. At 68, Kim was in a six-way tie for third with five Americans – Jennifer Song, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome, Jaye Marie Green and Gerina Piller.

“It’s great to come in and have a good round on the first day,” Lincicome said. “My dad always told me, you can’t win it on the first day but you can definitely lose it. So I put myself in contention a little bit.”

Kim, a three-time winner this year, already has wrapped up rookie of the year honours and entered the week as one of the nine players with a shot at winning the “Race to CME Globe” and the accompanying $1 million bonus. Ko, Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis would all capture that bonus by winning the season finale; Park struggled with the Bermuda greens and shot 71, while Lewis opened her last chance at winning a tournament this year with a 72.

“Just wasn’t very good,” Lewis said. “Didn’t really hit the ball very solid and never gave myself a lot of good birdie chances. Just didn’t play very well.”

Ko and Park will decide the world’s No. 1 ranking this week, along with the scoring title, player of the year and the money crown. For Ko to ensure she goes into the off-season with all those, she needs to finish two shots ahead of Park.

“I don’t know how they are sleeping at night, to be honest with you,” said Lincicome, who isn’t one of the nine with a shot at the $1 million. “It’s a lot of pressure, especially Lydia, she is so young and she handles it so well. To have so many different prizes on the line, I don’t think I would sleep.”

Canada’s Brooke Henderson also opened with a 72, while compatriot Alena Sharp had a 74.