After a clutch comeback in the final round, former Vandal golfer Kayla Mortellaro tied for 11th at the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament and sealed her spot on the 2013 LPGA Tour.
The five-round tournament spanned five days from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, at Daytona Beach, Fla.
“It’s pretty exciting, that’s for sure,” Mortellaro said of qualifying for the LPGA. “Still a little bit in shock that it all happened. It’s been a dream of mine to play on the LPGA Tour since I was 5 years old.”
Mortellaro started out in the back of the pack early in the tournament after a seven-over par 79 in her first round. She came back with two consecutive three-under par rounds of 69 to get back into contention. After a 72 fourth round, Mortellaro was in a good position but her best round was yet to come.
The former Vandal saved her best for last, moving from 39th to a tie for 11th after a five-under par 67 in the final round. She finished the tournament at four-under.
“I actually had no idea that I had jumped that many positions until I had finished my round and found my scorecard and the media was coming up and wanting to talk to me,” Mortellaro said. “I was not really sure why they wanted to talk to me until they told me what position I ended up in.”
Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto and Moriya Jutanugarn of Bangkok tied to win the tournament title at 13-under 347.
Qualifying for the LPGA Tour was a three-stage process for Mortellaro and the others. Stage one took place in September, also at Daytona Beach, Fla. There, Mortellaro qualified for stage two in October at Venice, Fla. That qualifying round brought her to the final round back at Daytona Beach where she earned her playing card for the 2013 season.
“I was just focused on playing golf, playing one shot at a time and just seeing the best I could do,” She said. “It ended up being good enough so that’s phenomenal.”
When she’s not playing in tournaments, Mortellaro trains at her home in Phoenix, Ariz., with her family. Her parents have been her biggest supporters and her father serves as her caddie.
“He’s the one who got me started in the game when I was 5,” Mortellaro said of her father. “He’s just been a great coach and caddie and a person to rely on when it comes to talking about the game. I also have to thank my mom. She’s been an incredible support as well.”
Mortellaro graduated in May as Idaho’s most accomplished women’s golfer. She holds Vandal records for career wins (10), career scoring average (72.80) and shares the record for the lowest round at 65. She was the WAC Champion in both 2011 and 2012 and won WAC Women’s Golfer of the Year honors three times. She was also 2009 WAC Freshman of the Year and two-time NGCA Honorable Mention All-American.
Now that she’s qualified for the LPGA Tour, Mortellaro has new goals.
“I definitely want to keep my card,” She said. “Now that I’ve earned it, I want to keep it, I want to play well. I just want to be the best possible player and person that I can be and represent myself positively in the standpoint of Idaho athletics as well as from the state of Arizona.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]
File photo Idaho Athletic Media Relations | Courtesy
Former Vandal golfer Kayla Mortellaro competes in Lakewood, Wash., at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in 2010. Earlier this week, Mortellaro earned a playing card for the LPGA Tour.