Savannah Vilaubi needed to make it feel like a Moving Day on the penultimate day of LPGA Q-Series. With six rounds under her belt, it would have been easy for Vilaubi to rest on her laurels and let any exhaustion overwhelm her with the pressure of earning her LPGA Tour card for the first time. And after hovering around the bubble of the top-45 and ties heading into Saturday, Vilaubi turned it up a notch, posting a 5-under 67 to sit in a tie for 34th with the final day ahead of her.
“I just keep telling myself this is not foreign, this is not anything that I haven't experienced before, so I think today it was just all about kind of transcending the emotions I was feeling so I could focus on the shot,” said Vilaubi, who carded five birdies in her bogey-free effort. “But now it's like, Oh my gosh, whew, I'm ready for a beer.”
This past June, Savannah Vilaubi edged out the competition at the Colorado State Open to win by five strokes. And, she did it in style. Vilaubi’s victory included a second-round 64, which tied the course record and was lower than any Epson Tour round she’s ever produced since becoming a Member in 2016. She said she’s using a similar mind-frame in Dothan as she did this summer, and it’s working in her favor.
“So I think the mind frame is very, very similar and I felt really prepared. Colorado State Open felt like a really big stage, I had a second-place finish on Epson this year which was the best one. I'm getting more familiar with kind of being closer to the top, which is what we want. So I feel like I'm really prepared going into these couple weeks.”
Vilaubi, who has won three Cactus Tour events in the last two years, earned her best finish on the Epson Tour this past season, a tie for second at the Mission Inn Resort & Club Championship. After finishing No. 31 in the Race for the Card standings this year, she’s hoping after tomorrow she’ll be earning CME Globe points in 2022 instead.
“Today was moving day and I did what I needed to do and tomorrow we're just going to play steady and be patient. Patience is the absolute name of the game for Q-School weeks,” said Vilaubi. “It's a grind. Like you said, everyone feels it and the one who is the most patient and can stay collected to hit shots wins. So patience is key.”