For the first time in her golf career, Amelia Garvey felt the sting of being benched due to injury. And while she considers herself lucky to make it this long without getting hurt, it doesn’t lessen the frustration of having to sit out during professional events – another first for the 24-year-old.

At the halfway point of the Epson Tour season, her game was feeling good, and she was trending in the right direction to possibly secure an LPGA Tour card after the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells. But a rib injury turned her season around, forcing the New Zealand native to miss two tournaments coming down the stretch at one of the most important points of the season.

“Even as an amateur, I was never injured before, and I had never skipped an Epson Tour event, so it was tough,” said Garvey. “I think mentally going into the back end of the year, I felt like I had started playing better. To have to take a couple of weeks off is really tough, but it is what it is.

“I know so many people fight a lot of injuries all the time, so I've been lucky in that regard. I just wanted to make sure at that point, that I was going to be fit and healthy coming into Q-School.”

And that’s where she is now, preparing to tee it up at LPGA Q-Series’ Qualifying Stage (formerly known as Stage II) at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla. Having played in Qualifying before and knowing that it could lead to another chance at her LPGA Tour card if she makes it to Final Qualifying, Garvey decided to skip those Epson Tour events to nurse her injury rather than risking it all by playing through the pain.

A T13 result at the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells saw the former University of Southern California Trojan ultimately finish at No. 47 in the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card and miss the top-35 exemption into Final Qualifying by just 202 points. Despite adding an extra tournament to her slate of events on the Road to the LPGA in 2024, Garvey’s decision to rest and recover is giving her the best and healthiest chance at earning LPGA Tour membership for the 2025 season.

“I could have maybe tried to play through it, but I didn't think there was much of a point risking it going into this, and hopefully Final Qualifying,” she said.

In 2023, Garvey missed out on earning a spot in the field at Final Qualifying via the Race for the Card by one spot, finishing 36th in the season-long standings, a result that instead sent her to Qualifying. Undeterred by that near miss, she finished the Qualifying Stage at 5-under, ultimately advancing to Final Qualifying anyway. Garvey is leaning on those past experiences at Q-Series this week, and they have helped her prepare, set a game plan and get into a good mindset with so much on the line.

“There are a lot of holes out here that are risk and reward, so the mindset will change over the four days, I think, depending on where I'm at,” said Garvey. “I'll definitely start out just wanting to put pars on the card. I think this week is really about who can make the most pars, not birdies.

“I had to come back here last year, and I think I'm playing really well, so taking that and knowing that I can play on this solid golf course and have fun. At the end of the day, my career is not over come the end of this week, no matter what, so I'll just be kind to myself.”

Garvey tees off the first hole of Plantation Golf and Country Club’s Bobcat Course at 12:44 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Fans can follow live scoring here.

Amelia Garvey Battles Back From Injury to Compete at LPGA Q-Series

Related Articles