After she won the LPGA Tour’s Qualifying Series last November at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Jeongeun Lee6 was identifiable to most golf fans because of her unique surname. Five other Korean players share the same name, so she distinguishes herself by adding a 6.

The 23-year-old – who had won six times on the LPGA of Korea Tour –broke through to international stardom with her two-stroke victory in the 74th U.S. Women’s Open in June at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.).  Lee6 capped her stellar 2019 campaign in October by earning the Louise Suggs Award, given to the LPGA Tour’s top rookie.

Could the next U.S. Women’s Open champion or Louise Suggs Award winner come from the latest version of the LPGA’s Q Series that concluded on Nov. 2 on Pinehurst Courses 6 and 9? The group of 98 competitors featured a number of players who have enjoyed success in USGA championships.

Among those who earned their LPGA Tour cards are Yealimi Noh, the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, and two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up Albane Valenzuela. Two-time USA Curtis Cup competitor Andrea Lee, a Stanford teammate of Valenzuela who won the 2019 Mark H. McCormack Medal for being atop the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™, also earned LPGA Tour status. Lee advanced to the semifinals of the 119th U.S. Women’s Amateur in August at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., losing to eventual champion Gabriela Ruffels.

Noh finished third in the 144-hole event at 15-under 557, six strokes behind winner Muni He, of the People’s Republic of China, and three strokes back of runner-up Hee Young Park, of Korea. Noh, 18, of Concord, Calif., enjoyed a dominant 2018 as a rising high school senior, punctuating it with a victory in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, Calif.

In early July, Noh tied for sixth in the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in Green Bay, Wis., after Monday qualifying. It was her first LPGA Tour event as a pro.

Noh is hoping to become the latest U.S. Girls’ Junior champion to enjoy success as a pro at a young age. Inbee Park (2002), a two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, Lexi Thompson (2008), Minjee Lee (2012), Jenny Shin (2006), Julieta Granada (2004), I.K. Kim (2005) and 2018 U.S. Women’s Open champion Ariya Jutanugarn (2011) have all won on the LPGA Tour. Thompson, Lee and Jutanugarn are currently among the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s Rankings, while Park is a former world No. 1.

The last U.S. Women’s Amateur champion to win on the LPGA Tour is Lydia Ko, who won the Women’s Am in 2012. In fact, only three U.S. Women’s Amateur champions since 2000 (Ko, Danielle Kang and Morgan Pressel) have registered LPGA Tour wins (all three have won majors). Runners-up have also enjoyed success, with Jessica Korda, Azahara Munoz, Moriya Jutanugarn and Brooke Henderson entering the winner’s circle.

Valenzuela has seen her U.S. Women’s Amateur run end in heartbreaking fashion with defeats in the 36-hole championship match two of the last three years. With her father, Alberto, on the bag at Pinehurst, Valenzuela tied for sixth with 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Emma Talley. Talley has played the LPGA Tour the past two years, but finishing 103rd on the money list in 2019 sent her to the Q Series.

Valenzuela and Andrea Lee, who tied for 30th, both face difficult decisions over the coming weeks. They entered Q School as amateurs, but they have the option of playing as professionals when the LPGA Tour season begins in early 2020 or deferring their membership until after the college season ends in May. Either way, Valenzuela plans to graduate from Stanford in June. “I’m going to get my Stanford degree,” she said. “That’s something I’m very fortunate and grateful for.”

Jiwon Jeon, the runner-up to Kristen Gillman in the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of Tennessee, turned professional earlier this year with a year of eligibility remaining at the University of Alabama. Jeon tied for 16th in the Q Series to earn 2020 LPGA Tour playing privileges. Gillman, who also won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2014, successfully navigated the Q Series last November and immediately turned professional. The Austin, Texas, native is currently 38th on the money list ($473,768) and finished second to Lee6 for the Louise Suggs Award.

Jennifer Kupcho, who played with Gillman on the victorious 2018 USA Curtis Cup Team, is another 2018 Q Series success story. While she deferred LPGA Tour membership until June, the Wake Forest graduate is 43rd on the money list and assured of 2020 LPGA Tour status.

Three past U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champions also survived the Q Series to earn 2020 LPGA Tour cards: Mina Harigae (2007), Brianna Do (2011) and Kyung Kim (2012). The Women’s Amateur Public Links was retired by the USGA in 2014.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.