When it was over, Helen Briem was speechless. The 20-year-old German said he finished at the top of the leaderboard despite going into the final qualifying round with low expectations. The 6-foot-3 Briem posted a final score of 4-under 68 on RTJ’s Magnolia Grove Crossing Course, finishing the tournament at 13 under, one stroke behind South Korea’s Su Bing-Ju.
Breim said it would be “really awesome” to be playing on the LPGA next year.
Perhaps the extra day of rest worked out well for the former top amateur, who flew straight from Spain to Mobile, Alabama, for the final stage of LPGA qualifying. Either way, Briem knew how to deal with the week’s uncertainty given her recent experience on the European Women’s Tour. The tour’s October Taiwan leg was renewed and won by Yani Tseng, and was shortened to 36 holes.
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“The first day was immediately canceled or cancelled. We had a similar situation in Taiwan, so I was like, I mean, you can never prepare for something like that, but I mean, if you succeed once, you can succeed twice. So you have to know what works and what doesn’t.”
As the weather deteriorated further, the 90-hole event was shortened to 72 holes and the match was postponed to Tuesday, which was further delayed by morning frost.
Lauren Walsh, Carolina Lopez Chacala and Mimi Rose played college golf together at Wake Forest.
A total of 31 players earned their 2026 LPGA cards, with Briem leading a strong team of potential future European Solheim Cup contenders. Five of the top 10 players on LET’s Order of Merit list earned LPGA cards, including Mimi Rose (2nd place), Nastasia Nadeau (3rd place), Chiara Tamburini (5th place), Briem (9th place) and Lauren Walsh (10th place).
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“I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it or think about the week or the results or anything, so it was great to just move on right away,” Walsh said of the turnaround from LET’s season-ending event. “I think the rainy day, actually the first day, probably worked in my favor and gave me a little bit of a rest day.”
Spain’s Carolina López Chacala and Italy’s Carolina Melgrati also earned cards.
Walshe, Rose and Lopez Chacala all played college golf together at Wake Forest.
Stuttgart’s Briem won the 2024 La Sera Open, her first appearance on the LET as a professional and her first tournament on the European Women’s Tour. In 2025, Briem had six top-five finishes on that tour, including three runner-up finishes. The first German athlete to win the R&A Women’s Amateur in more than 100 years, Bream’s average swing speed of 165 miles per hour puts her at the top of the power list in the women’s competition.
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This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Check out the swing of 6-foot-3 LPGA Q-School winner Helen Briem
