Ex-Lobo Sammi Stevens Wins in First Try on Cactus Tour
You could say as a professional golfer ex-Lobo Sammi Stevens is on a faster pace than she was as a Lobo. And also a better pace because in pro golf you need paychecks. If you win, you get bigger paychecks.
And pro golf is not usually a team event like in college. You win as an individual. You lose as an individual.
As a Lobo, it took Stevens until her senior year to win a collegiate event. As a pro, she won a Cactus Tour event in her first try at that level. Her paycheck was not of LPGA standards, but $2,600 always comes in handy for budding pro golfers.
Stevens, who works on her game out of Albuquerque and over on the UNM Championship Course, fired a 54-hole card of 72-68-72=212 to win the Wigwam Blue event by five shots. The tourney was held in Litchfield Park, Ariz.
The 68 was the top 18-hole card among the top 12 finishers and put Stevens in the driver’s seat heading into the final round where she cruised in at even-par. Second place was worth $1,600 and went to Shannon Fish of Spring, Texas.
The Cactus Tour was formed in 2005 as an alternative challenge for professional women to work on their game – and make a little money – outside the LPGA and The Symetra Tour, which is a step below the LPGA. Stevens also has exempt status on The Symetra Tour. The top 10 money winners on The Symetra Tour earn LPGA cards for the 2016 season.
The Cactus Tour works to keep travel expenses down by holding events in Phoenix, Las Vegas and occasional events in Texas. Most events are played in Phoenix. All Cactus tournaments are 54 holes with no cuts.
The Symetra Tour begins Feb. 20-22 with the 54-hole Gateway Classic in Mesa Arizona. That event has a purse of $100,000. Alena Sharp won that event last year with a three-round card of 67-66-71=204. The second Symetra event is Feb. 27-March 1 in Beaumont, Calif., with another $100,000 purse.
Stevens has exemption on the Symetra Tour, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she can just walk up to any Symetra event and get a tee time. Each Symetra tournament has a set number of spots available and there is a ranking system to fill those slots. Stevens, a first-year player, has to work her way up that ranking – or just hope that slots are not filled by golfers above her in Symetra status.
If Stevens can not get into a Symetra Tour event, she will play Cactus tourneys and look for LPGA events that have qualifying rounds on Monday. Stevens says the LPGA qualifiers are challenging because there are usually only two qualifying spots available.
The Cactus event that Stevens won had a purse of $15,000 which went from $2,600 to $280. The top money winner on the Symetra Tour in 2014 pocketed $75,348 and No. 20 had $31,294 in winnings.
In August, Stevens came in third in Stage 1of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. That helped propel the former Lobo deeper into qualifying and to eventual exemption on The Symetra Tour.
Stevens left UNM with the reputation as one of the steadiest Lobos ever and earned the nickname “Steady Stevens”. The former All-Mountain West golfer recorded her first win as a Lobo during the 2014 season. She also won honors as a Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCAA) Academic All-American and won Mountain West All-Academic and MW Scholar-Athlete awards.