If the road to the LPGA is, indeed, through the Symetra Tour, as its slogan states, then Ashlan Ramsey is on the right path toward her goal. Ramsey, Golfweek’s top-ranked woman amateur for 10 months before turning pro in June, will make her Symetra debut next week in Albany in the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills. In what can be described as prudent use of a sponsor exemption, local tournament director Jim Miller invited Ramsey to be among 144 players, all pursing dreams of making it to the top level, in next week’s field. Ramsey left after her freshman year at Clemson to start her pro career. “I felt like I could get better, and get to where I wanted to be, the LPGA, a little bit quicker if I separated from Clemson,” she said Tuesday in a phone interview. “I wasn’t progressing the way I wanted to. I didn’t have as much time to commit to my golf.” A native of Milledgeville, Ga., Ramsey, 18, has packed a lot of golf into a tournament career that began when she was 8. She is a three-time Georgia junior champion, two-time American Junior Golf Association All-American and two-time Junior Solheim Cup member. Rasmey lost in the final of the 2012 U.S. Women’s Public Links and also played on the U.S. Curtis Cup team that beat Great Britain and Ireland last month. She made her pro debut by finishing second in both the Michigan and Texas Women’s Opens. “It hasn’t been too big of a transition because I’ve played against really tough fields here in the past,” said Ramsey, who also received a sponsor exemption to play a Symetra event in Syracuse the week after Albany. “It will continue to get tougher, but I’ve had professional experience before with the Kraft Nabisco (in 2013, making the cut and finishing 49th) and the Kingsmill Championship (in 2014).” The Golfweek ranking has enabled her to receive several exemptions — she was a sponsor’s invite for Kingsmill — but also has put her in the spotlight. “It was definitely cool to have that by your name,” she said of the No. 1 ranking, “but I don’t really follow it that closely. My dad told me, which was exciting. It looks good on a resume, but he thinks I can get better.” Her father, Al, also acts as her agent. He has an older daughter, Taylor, a redshirt sophomore at Clemson who has “been extremely helpful,” according to her younger sister. While Taylor tries to juggle golf with classwork, Ashlan has made the commitment to join the working world. “It’s weird,” Ramsey said. “I’ve been in school for as long as I can remember, but I’ve also wanted to be a professional golfer as long as I can remember, too. It’s still summer, so it hasn’t actually set in that I’m not going back to school. I’m dealing with some new stuff instead of school.” From http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Pete-Dougherty-Ramsey-hopes-Symetra-Tour-is-her-5624255.php#page-2