This week’s Q-Series Final Stage at RTJ Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Ala., features a major winner, a former Solheim Cup member, a player who beat breast cancer, Epson Tour grinders, a virtual golf champion, and a long-hitting graphic designer.
Q-Series never fails to deliver compelling storylines. Here are some of the players to keep an eye on this week.
Hinako Shibuno
It’s shocking to see the 2019 AIG Women’s Open champion back at Q-Series. Shibuno finished runner-up at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster and added a T7 at this year’s national championship. Just six years after lifting one of golf’s most coveted trophies, she’s fighting for her job. It’s a reminder that no one—not even a major champion—is immune from a bad year in this sport. Watching a player built for major moments grind to save her LPGA status will be the week’s must-watch storyline.
Kim Kaufman
Kaufman made 15 of 19 cuts on the Epson Tour in 2024 and nearly won an event, but her career took a stark turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33. “Your whole world changes,” she said on Any Given Monday in September.
After months of chemotherapy, radiation, and time away from the game, Kaufman returned more motivated than ever. Now healthy and back competing, she’s already won the most important battle of her life. Compared to that, Q-Series might feel easy.
Amari Avery
Avery first hit the national radar in 2013 when she appeared in The Short Game documentary. Since then, the former USC star has been one of the most-watched young players in women’s golf. She’s already competed in three majors—including this year’s U.S. Women’s Open—and arrives at Q-Series with both momentum and massive expectations.
Avery finished 16th on the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card, six spots shy of earning her LPGA card, and recorded four T4 finishes this season. She has the pedigree and potential to dominate, but Q-Series can expose even the most promising players. Perhaps her time to make the leap to the big stage has come.
Ryan O’Toole
The 2021 Scottish Open champion and 2011 Solheim Cup team member returns to Q-Series at age 38. O’Toole made 16 LPGA starts this season, made half her cuts, and posted a best finish of T20. The question now: can the wily veteran scrap her way back and reclaim full status?
Ana Belac
Belac’s story is pure grit. She arrived in the U.S. from Slovenia with little more than her golf clubs. She grew up playing a “goat track,” and made a hole-in-one at a junior event in front of Duke’s coach, which proved to be perfect timing. Belac attended Duke, majored in statistics and helped the team win a national championship.
She earned her LPGA card right out of college but has struggled to keep it, despite becoming a two-time Olympian. This year, she made just five LPGA cuts and must fight her way back yet again.
“It’s all about statistics. Running averages. If you’re playing well, one day, it’s going to go well your way,” Belac told me earlier this year. “The coin has got to flip at some point.”
Kate Smith-Stroh
One of my favorite players in the women’s game, Smith-Stroh balanced her rookie LPGA season with operating a graphic design business alongside Shane Bacon. She grew up on a small Minnesota course where she mowed rough and changed pins, a long way from where she is now.
She made 8 of 17 cuts in her rookie year but shined under pressure at last year’s Q-Series, playing her way onto the LPGA. Her dad, Kris, teared up retelling the story of his daughter’s success. From stashing balls on the Epson Tour for fear of losing her ball and glove sponsorship, to hitting the shot of her life on the penultimate hole of qualifying—Smith-Stroh is impossible not to root for.
Hira Naveed
Naveed’s parents moved from Pakistan to Australia to give their children better opportunities, and Hira’s now fulfilling that promise. In only her second LPGA start, she finished runner-up in 2024. This year, she made 11 of 22 cuts with a best finish of T8 at the Mizuho Americas Open but fell seven spots short of keeping her card.
At Q-Series in 2023, she shot 65 on the final day to secure her card—and the 27-year-old has the talent and experience to do it again.
Gigi Stoll
Stoll’s journey has been one of consistent, steady improvement. She earned her LPGA card in 2024 after starting the final stage of Q-Series with a 74 to find herself 12 shots behind. She rallied with a second and third round 65, ultimately finishing 6th. Stoll opened 2025 with promise but made just 7 of 19 cuts during the season. Still, she’s remained patient, building her game one swing at a time. Q-Series is the final exam for a player who could become an LPGA regular.
Becca Huffer
Before the beginning of the 2024 season, I spoke with the Notre Dame alumna who has been playing golf professionally since she graduated in 2012. She’s a 35-year-old grinder who has spent most of her career on the Epson Tour and had just fought her way through Q-Series.
At the end of 2023, the Epson Tour awarded LPGA Tour cards to the top 10 on their points list. Huffer finished 11th. Becca had conditional status on the LPGA this season, but made just one of six cuts. On the Epson Tour she fared better posting two top-10s and finishing 33rd in the Race for the Card. No stranger to Q-Series, expect her to put up a fight.
Mohan Du
The 22-year-old Mercer graduate from China made noise last season by winning on the NEXT Golf Tour powered by Trackman, earning $30,000 plus a $5,000 ANNIKA bonus. She’s been a consistent force on the mini tours and now gets his chance to earn a spot on the LPGA Tour.
