LPGA Q-School’s second stage loaded with college – and soon-to-be pro? – talent

Gina Kim can’t take more than a few steps this week at Plantation Golf and Country Club without seeing a staff bag. With 227 competitors in the field for Stage II of LPGA Q-School, the majority of them Symetra Tour or recent LPGA players, it’s no surprise.

However, Kim’s blue Duke University stand bag won’t stand out as much as one would think.

The Blue Devils senior is one of 14 current college players teeing it up at this week’s qualifying event in Venice, Florida. Like her peers, Kim is hoping to advance to the two-week Q-Series later this fall and earn an LPGA card.

Kim, who medaled at first stage this past August, will be joined at Stage II by six other All-Americans: Arizona sisters Vivian and Yu-Sang Hou, Florida State’s Beatrice Wallin, Vanderbilt’s Auston Kim, Houston’s Karen Fredgaard and Auburn’s Kaleigh Telfer. Arkansas senior Brooke Matthews, Golfstat’s top-ranked individual and already with two wins for the Razorbacks this fall, is also teeing it up, as are Virginia Tech’s Emily Mahar, Texas’ Brigitte Thibault, Alabama’s Polly Mack, Oklahoma’s Libby Winans, Cal’s Katherine Zhu and San Diego State’s Sara Kjellker.

“I’m just trying to…