Reagan Zibilski's main goal going into last week's Epson Tour Championship was to avoid having to go to next week's LPGA Qualifying Stage.
Zibilski crushed that goal and wound up skipping LPGA qualifying altogether, instead earning her LPGA card with the final round of life.
"It's everything I wanted and more," said Zibilski, five days after firing a 9-under 62 in the final round of the Epson Tour Championship in Indian Wells, California. The big move vaulted her up 27 spots in the Race for the Card standings to the coveted 10th spot. While the top 15 players earn LPGA cards for the 2027 season, those who finish in the top 10 earn the best status (i.e., more guaranteed starts).
The Springfield, Missouri, native and former Arkansas player graduated
to the LPGA after only 11 starts on the qualifying tour.
One week prior to Indiana Wells, Zibilski wrapped up the first LPGA start of her career at the tournament she grew up going to as a kid. Zibilski made the cut at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship and then channeled that confidence into a life-changing week in the desert.
Golfweek caught up with the powerful Zibilski, who, at 5-foot-11, towered over the rest of the card winners in the group photo. What follows are excerpts from the conversation:
Honestly, I think it's just one of those things where it was such a storybook finish and just couldn't have asked for it to go more perfectly. Things really do happen when you least expect it, and I knew that this was going to happen. I just didn't expect it to happen in four months.
I've played golf for my entire life since I was 4 years old. My dad strapped me in the car seat of a golf cart when I was still a newborn. I mean, I didn't really have a choice. But I loved going out with him and playing. I'm an only child, so we just thoroughly enjoyed doing that together. I did play other sports. I played basketball and softball, was not good at any of it. I'm tall, like I have the build for basketball. I just didn't love it.
I just have always had a lot of speed and people would always tell me that, but I kind of had to learn how to control it, if that makes sense. I always hit it far when I was younger and people are like, 'Ah, she hits it pretty far.' And so obviously, like, you want to swing out of your freaking shoes. I feel like once I was able to get it under control, have a super consistent swing … the smoother the better for me.
My junior year [at Arkansas] was kind of when I was like, OK, I want to do this for a living. I want to play professional golf when I'm finished with school, but I feel like I have no direction. Whether it be as simple as a routine or structure with my practice or all that sort of thing. And so I was able to really start honing in on that and working with, whether it be a mental person and just really like thumbing through the process of like, OK, whether it's a putting routine, pre-shot routine, visualization, just stuff like that. And then I was able to just kind of hit the ground running with all of that and honestly.
[Arkansas head coach] Shauna [Taylor] always told us like you're more than a golf score. Your identity is not rooted in the score that you post or the kind of golfer that you are, and really just hanging on to that and knowing that. … I've even had to hold on to that tighter now, more than ever, honestly, because it's literally my job. You sit here and it's like, yes, it's what I love to do, and it's truly my greatest passion. But it's so easy to get bogged down in that because you literally think about it 24/7, right?
You’re going to get a lot of opinions and voices coming at you, but you just have to know that yes, what got you here won't get you there, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you know? It's what I love to do and, at the end of the day, you can just hang on to that.
Not every day is going to be perfect. I've had plenty of days where I'm just like, you've got to be kidding me. Like this is crazy hard.
The opportunity, when you're in college, of being able to be a part of the LPGA event in Rogers, like that's crazy cool. Just to kind of be around and help, whether it's with [Coach Taylor’s] choose confidence stuff or be able to just like, hang around the clubhouse and like see people and learn how they operate. It’s super unique. I don't think it happens anywhere else.
Getting the opportunity to compete on the LPGA, like the timing is just so crazy and coincidental. But I think being able to make the cut out there gave me so much confidence just to know that I could compete with some of the best in the world. I didn't have my best round on Sunday, obviously, but I just was like, OK, yes, I need to sharpen some things up and I know what I need to do, and I'll get to make that next jump. But felt super good about, just what I was doing, how I'm hitting the ball. I can definitely compete out here. And I think going into the Tour Champ for Epson, I just had like a raised level of confidence. Just like, why not me? You know what I mean?
I tried not to really look at the leaderboard. But I birdied the par-5 13th, and then was out of position on 14 and missed the green and ended up chipping it in to go to 7 [under]. At that point, I was like, OK, I'm going to look whenever the next scoreboard comes around. And I saw, I was just like, I was right there.
I was like OK, don't freak out. Just follow your process.
The full picture can be very overwhelming, right? So it's like, how can I make things small? And how can I make my process small and just try to win moments. My team and I always talk about how can I win small moments, whether it's as small as a golf shot, or I followed my process, and my routine, and I executed it. Can I, you know, make the emotional cut for today? That's one of the things that I like to think about leaving each day. Did I make the emotional cut?
Let’s say the golf isn't going how you want. But did I still follow my process? Was my self-talk still acceptable? Did I feel like I was able to keep composed, whether it be internally or not. Just like that kind of thing. Instead of making the cut on the golf course, did I make the emotional cut?
My initial goal was to get enough points to not have to go to second stage [of Qualifying School]. … Even though, yes, I felt pressure and was nervous and wanted to play well, I was just like, whatever happens is going to happen, and just kind of take it and run with it, whatever that may be.
I ended up having the round of my professional career and probably my life on the right day.
Beth Ann Nichols is a senior writer for Golfweek covering the LPGA and all things women's golf. Follow her on X/Twitter (@GolfweekNichols).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: What's it like to shoot 62 and earn an LPGA card? Reagan Zibilski explains
