Dec. 4, 2009

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Third round action of the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at the LPGA International was cut short because of heavy rains hitting the Daytona Beach area on Friday, forcing four former Lady Vols to halt their quests to secure or continue their LPGA membership until Saturday.

The tournament will restart at 11 a.m. Saturday, as rain storms are expected to continue through the morning.

Young-A Yang, Angela Oh, Jessica Shepley and Nicole Smith, all moved up the leaderboard on Thursday, and continued to put themselves in position to make the final round's 70-person cut before play was called just before 10:30 a.m.

Yang remains in the best position of the former UT stars, as she is tied for 20th. The Tae-Gu City, South Korea, native was 2-over through six holes on Friday, but is just 1-over-par for the tournament.

Shepley was also 2-over at the start of the third round, but the Ontario, Canada, native is through just four holes. She is 5-over for the tournament and tied for 59th.

Oh has slowly worked her way up the leaderboard after firing a 79 on the first day, and was 1-under-par through six holes before the delay to tie with Shepley at 5-over heading into the fourth day.

Smith dropped to tied for 77th after shooting 2-over-par through seven holes of the third round.

The top 70 players and ties among the 106-player field will move on after 72 holes to Sunday's final 18-hole round.

The top 40 finishers in the tournament will earn membership on the 2010 LPGA Tour.

The top 20 players will earn Priority in Category 11 membership, while players finishing 21st through 30th will receive Priority in Category 16 and places 31st through 40th will receive Priority in Category 20.

Oh, Shepley and Yang all played in the tournament last season with Oh tying for 40th to earn her LPGA Card.

Shepley also gained membership on the 2009 Tour after finishing seventh on the Duramed FUTURES Tour money list in 2008.

Yang has played on the LPGA Tour since 2003, making 72 cuts, while earning nearly $700,000 in prize money.

Smith is taking her first shot at the LPGA after wrapping up her UT career in 2009.

For more information or to follow live scoring of the tournament go to LPGA.com.