As the Thanksgiving holiday season approaches, I will be spending my time in Daytona Beach, Florida preparing and playing in the third stage of LPGA qualifying school at LPGA International.

For those who don’t know, the format for this final stage held Nov. 28- Dec. 2 consists of 4 rounds of golf in 4 days alternating between the Legend and Champion courses. After the 4^th round my score must be within the top 70 and ties to advance to the 5^th and final round played on the Champion course. Based on previous year’s results, players who finish in the top 20 earn a full exempt card on the LPGA tour for the 2013 season. Players finishing 21-40 earn a conditional status on the LPGA. By competing in this third stage, I have earned full status on the Symetra Tour which is a feeder system to the LPGA.

The Symetra Tour is a wonderful opportunity to have a full tour to play on and earn status to the LPGA tour for the 2014 season.

Entering this final stage I feel excited with the opportunity to play for a chance at a dream of mine since 5-years-old. But most of all I am truly thankful for the numerous family members, friends and fans who have believed in me and helped me along the way to have this chance.

You can follow my progress and events of the tournament on kaylagolf.com or on my twitter account @KaylaMortellaro