PRATTVILLE, Alabama, September 18, 2017 - The Epson Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, continues a six-week march to close the season with the inaugural Guardian Championship at the Capitol Hill location on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a former stop on the LPGA Tour. First-round play begins on Friday, September 22 and the 54-hole tournament wraps on Sunday, September 24. This is the 20th event of the 2017 season.
Play will begin at 7:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday from the first and tenth tees. There will be a cut made to the low 60 and ties following Saturday’s second round. The final-round will begin at 7:30 a.m. and a single-tee start will be used. The estimated finishing time is 4:00 p.m.
The top 132 future stars of the LPGA from the United States and 27 countries around the globe will compete for a $100,000 total tournament purse and a winner’s payout of $15,000. With only three tournaments left in the season, it is crunch time for players trying to earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2018 season.
The top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list at the conclusion of the season (Oct. 5-8, Epson Tour Championship) receive Tour cards.
The Tour arrives in Prattville on a grueling six-week stretch of tournaments that started in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on August 31. The players have logged significant miles of late. After Sioux Falls, the Tour went to Garden City, Kansas and then last week played in El Dorado, Arkansas. Following the Guardian Championship, the final two events take place in Florida (Longwood and Daytona Beach).
The chase for ten LPGA cards has reached the final stretch. No. 10 Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador) has a slim $1,590 cushion over No. 11 Sophia Popov (Heidelberg, Germany). No. 9 Lindsey Weaver (Bellefontaine, Ohio) is just $28 ahead of Darquea. Even No. 12 Katelyn Dambaugh (North Charleston, S.C.) is only $2,956 outside of the top 10.
The Tour has determined that the top four on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list (No. 1 Celine Boutier, No. 2 Benyapa Niphatsophon, No. 3 Nanna Koerstz Madsen and No. 4 Hannah Green) have earned enough money to secure cards for next year.
The field is strong this week with eight of the top 10 on the current money list including No. 2 Benyapa Niphatsophon (Bangkok, Thailand), who leads the Tour with ten top 10 finishes. Sixteen of the top 20 are in the field. There are 16 current LPGA Tour members in the field this week including 2007 winner Silvia Cavalleri, 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup team member Kristy McPherson and Montgomery native Karlin Beck.
There is a very distinct local feel in the tournament. Karlin Beck grew up in Montgomery and played in the LPGA event at Capitol Hill in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She went to college at Auburn. Beck has played in eight Epson Tour tournaments this year. Her former college teammate at Auburn, Carlie Yadlockzky is also in the field. Yadloczky, who now lives in the state, played at Auburn from 2009-2013 and has finished inside the top 15 in the last two Epson Tour events (T14 at Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout and T13 at Garden City Charity Classic). There are also a pair of University of Alabama alums in Emma Talley (Princeton, Ky.) and Janie Jackson (Huntsville, Alabama). Talley was the 2015 NCAA individual national champion and is having a strong second-year on the Epson Tour. She ranks seventh on the money list and was buoyed by a win at the Island Resort Championship and seven total top 10 finishes. Jackson, who won three Alabama state titles at Huntsville High School, has made 15 starts as a rookie on the Epson Tour and her best result is a T22 at the Garden City Charity Classic two weeks ago.
The two sponsor exemptions are both Alabama players. Elaine Wood (Spanish Fort), who is the two-time defending Alabama Amateur Champion, is in the field along with Brooke Sansom (Pike Road), who won the class 6A state championship this past year and will play at Auburn next year. Sansom is a senior at Park Crossing while Wood recently graduated from Montevallo where she was a 2016 first-team Division II All-American and the Peach Belt Conference Golfer of the Year.
The Epson Tour hasn’t play in the state of Alabama since since 1998 (SunTrust FUTURES Classic at Cypress Lakes Golf & Country Club).
Capitol Hill at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is a par-72 and will play a maximum 6,569 yards.
RECENT EPSON TOUR PLAYERS SUCCEEDING ON LPGA
While the top golfers in the world are not in Prattville this week, the future certainly is. There are several 2016 Epson Tour members that are having major success on the LPGA just a year removed.The most recent success story came Sunday at The Evian Championship when Brittany Altomare carded a 6-under, 66 to get into a playoff. While she fell short to Anna Nordqvist, she took second place at a major just a year removed from winning a Epson Tour event. Altomare won the Sara Bay Classic early in 2016 and wound up spending most of last year on the LPGA. She now ranks 26th on the LPGA money list and moved up 62 spots in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings to No. 40.
The 2016 Epson Player of the Year, Madelene Sagstrom, played well enough in her first LPGA go-round to get a captain’s pick for Team Europe at the Solheim Cup and she won her Sunday singles match. She ranks 61st on the LPGA money list with two top 10 finishes. Nelly Korda, who finished ninth on the Epson Tour last year, is 55th on the LPGA money list this year with three top 10 finishes.
Four 2016 Epson Tour graduates are in the top 70 on the LPGA money list this season (No. 67 Laura Gonzalez Escallon, No. 63 Ally McDonald, No. 61 Madelene Sagstrom and No. 55 Nelly Korda).
Brooke Henderson, who is fifth on the money list this year, won on the Epson Tour in 2015 at the Four Winds Invitational before obtaining her full membership on the LPGA.
QUOTES FROM THE LOCALS
We asked some of the locals there thoughts on getting to play in the state of Alabama this week.Carlie Yadloczky (Auburn, 2013)
“It’s always great to play so close to my new home especially having been gone most of the season. It is also great to be in a city where most people will be saying “War Eagle”. I feel like this event is a second home event and I’m excited to be playing.”
Emma Talley (Alabama, 2016)
“I’m really excited to play in Alabama this week. It is just an hour drive from my apartment and it will feel like a home event and I love the golf course. The Tour will get some southern hospitality this week.”
Elaine Wood (Montevallo, 2017)
“I am very grateful for the opportunity that the Epson Tour, Guardian and the Robert Trent Jones Trail have given me to pursue my professional playing career in my home state. I can’t wait to get started and enjoy a great week of golf with a very talented field this week.”
RECAP OF LAST WEEK IN ARKANSAS
Hannah Green (Perth, Australia) stormed from seven shots off the lead entering the final day to the winner’s circle with a personal-best tying 8-under, 64 to win by one shot Sunday at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout. The 64 set the Mystic Creek course record and the 11-under three-day total set the tournament record. Green moved from No. 6 to No. 4 on the money list entering the final three events. She has secured her LPGA Tour card for the 2018 season.Green has had a spectacular rookie season on the Epson Tour with nine top 10 finishes and a pair of victories (first win came at the Sara Bay Classic in April).
The 20-year-old finished 2nd to Lydia Ko at the 2015 New Zealand Women’s Open and will now join her mentor, Karrie Webb, on the LPGA in 2018.
“I set a plan and I wasn’t going to college in the U.S. or studying in Australia, I just said that I was turning professional and I wanted to be on the LPGA,” said Green. I’ve been dreaming about this for at least four years so to have it come true is awesome.”
ROOKIES LEADING THE WAY ON TOUR
The top four on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are all first-year players on the Epson Tour. Six of the top 10 on the money list are rookies. Further, ten of the top 20 on the money list are rookies.Rookies have accounted for nine of the 19 wins on Tour this season.
BACK-TO-BACK YEARS OVER $100K IN EARNINGS
The 2017 season is the 37th year the Epson Tour has been in existence. Purses has gone up drastically over the last five years and for the first time ever, two players have earned over $100,000 in each of the last two seasons. Only four players in the history of the Epson Tour have earned $100,000 plus in a single-season. In 2016, Madelene Sagstrom ($167,064) and Ally McDonald ($110,359) crossed $100K and this year, Celine Boutier ($107,876) and Benyapa Niphatsophon ($106,461) have eclipsed six figures in earnings.TEN YEARS OF LPGA GOLF AT CAPITOL HILL
Ten years ago (2007), Maria McBride, who then played as Maria Hjorth, won the inaugural LPGA Tour event at Capitol Hill. Some impressive LPGA names have won on the Capitol Hill course over the years (there was no event in Prattville in 2013). Two of the winners at Capitol Hill are Epson Tour graduates. M.J. Hur, who won in 2014, was a 2008 Epson Tour graduate and Lorena Ochoa, who won in 2008 and 2009, was a 2002 Epson Tour graduate.2016: Ariya Jutanugarn
2015: Kris Tamulis (10 career top 10 finishes on the Epson Tour)
2014: MJ Hur (Epson Tour graduate)
2012: Stacy Lewis
2011: Lexi Thompson
2010: Katherine Kirk (2 wins on the Epson Tour in 2003)
2009: Lorena Ochoa (Epson Tour graduate)
2008: Lorena Ochoa (Epson Tour graduate)
Professional golf has been played on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail since 1997. Steve Flesch was the first winner of the Nike Tour Championship at Grand National. Women’s professional golf was first played on RTJ courses in 1998. Past winners on RJT courses include Karrie Webb (2000, Magnolia Grove), Se Ri Pak (2001, Magnolia Grove), Epson Tour graduate Christina Kim (2005, Magnolia Grove) and Paula Creamer (2007, Magnolia Grove).
QUICK NOTES
- The youngest player in the field is Brooke Sansom (18) while the oldest player is Nicole Jeray (46).
- There are three Americans in the top 10 (No. 5 Erynne Lee, No. 7 Emma Talley and No. 9 Lindsey Weaver) and players from France, Thailand, Denmark, Australia, Canada, China and Ecuador in the current top 10.
- Keep an eye on Caroline Inglis (Eugene, Oregon), who has finished inside the top 15 in three straight starts to move to No. 19 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. It is her highest ranking this season.
- Four players have won multiple events this season and they are all ranked inside the top five.
- A total of 14 different players have won this season.
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