Former Moc chasing pro dream

Former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer Emma de Groot will continue on the path to membership of the Ladies Professional Golf Tour next week.

The reigning Southern Conference golfer of the year will play in the second stage of LPGA Tour qualifying school Sept., 27-30 at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice, Fla.

"It will be tough handling the nerves by myself and not having anybody to talk things through," de Groot said. "Regardless of the result, I need to learn to travel alone and do things by myself."

De Groot, who has six career victories in 45 college events, tied for fourth in the first state of Q-School.

The top 70 and ties advance to the final stage from which the top performers (a specific number to be determined later) will earn status on the LPGA Tour.

"The only thing I lack compared to them is a little bit of distance," de Groot said. "I feel that if you put me head-to-head, I have the ability to beat them and I've never really had that belief before. My game is good enough to be out there."

See Wednesday's Times Free Press for more.

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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