Decatur-Forsyth Classic presented by Tate & Lyle and Decatur Park District
Hickory Point Golf Course
Decatur, Illinois
June 11, 2015
Thursday Pre-Tournament Notes
DECATUR, Ill., June 11, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, tees off with the 31st annual Decatur-Forsyth Classic this week at Hickory Point Golf Course. The event dates back to 1985 and is the third longest running women’s professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour (non-major) or the Epson Tour.
The top 144 up-and-coming professionals will compete for a $110,000 total tournament purse with the winner earning $16,500.
Play begins at 7:30 a.m. from the first and tenth tees.
2-TIME CHAMPION AIMS FOR THIRD: Nicole Jeray didn’t know it, but she was the answer to a trivia question last night during Trivia Night at Hickory Point Golf Course.
The question? Name one of two players to win the Decatur-Forsyth Classic twice.
“Did they get the question right?” asked Jeray on the radio this morning with Aric Lee and Jeff Daly on WSOY.
Lee said that more than one team, including the team that won, correctly yelled “Jeray” to get the answer right.
“It is good to be back, I appear to be famous in Decatur,” said Jeray, who did not play in the Decatur-Forsyth Classic the last two years. “Decatur seems to have grown, there are a lot of new buildings and businesses and it seems like the tents and bleachers get bigger and bigger.”
Jeray won in Decatur in 1998 and 2000, two of her three career victories on Tour.
Jeray has taken it easy this week because the Decatur-Forsyth Classic will be her ninth consecutive week of play.
“I’ve done this for a long time so I don’t need a whole lot of time on the course pre-tournament,” said Jeray. “It took me awhile to find my routine, but I found what works for me. Since I’m on my 9th straight week, I’ve been taking a lot of days off in between. To go hard for nine weeks is impossible.”
How does someone that has played the course countless times size it up?
“You can make a lot of birdies, but if you don’t hit it straight you can get into some trouble,” said the Berwyn, Illinois native. “It will definitely come down to making putts.”
Jeray joked that she has been playing this tournament so long that she remembers playing Hickory Point before the Tour switched the nines, which was at least ten years ago.
“I still get mixed up, I can’t figure out which hole is which,” joked Jeray. “The first year you play a tournament, you rack your brain with all this information, so that is what mine still goes back to when I first played here 20 years ago.”
BRITTANY HENDERSON BACK ON EPSON TOUR: Last week, Epson Tour rookie Brittany Henderson played in her first LPGA Tour event as a sponsor exemption in the Manulife LPGA Classic.
“It was really awesome having my first LPGA Tour event in Canada and somewhat close to home,” said Brittany. “Having my sister there was also great and we had the hometown crowd feel.”
Brittany missed the cut, but still finished at 2-under for 36-holes.
Henderson was at the range at Hickory Point Golf Course on Thursday working a lot with her 5-iron.
“Everything feels really good this week so I’m excited to get going tomorrow,” said Henderson. “I’ve been working a lot on my knock down 5-iron shots this week because I think this course can get pretty windy.”
Henderson is a “range rat” and has worked on knowing when it is time to wrap up practice before a tournament.
“One of my problems has been trying to practice too much,” said Henderson. “I played the full 18 so I’ll just hit a few shots and then get out of here.”
Henderson also spoke highly of the golf course.
“The course is in great shape and the greens are rolling true,” said the 24-year-old. “If you hit good putts they will probably go in so it’s just a matter of reading the greens. Off the tee, this course is straight
forward.”
On the rare occasion when Brittany and Brooke are both off, they play together a lot. This week, Brooke is playing in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Westchester, N.Y.
“Whenever we both have an off week, we have some competitive matches where we will play for dinner or chocolate milk,” said Henderson with a laugh. “In the offseason, we are around each other all the time and we play and practice together which is great because we can push each other.”
CAROLINE WESTRUP AND HER WORK WITH COACH K: In the offseason, Caroline Westrup lives in Tallahasse, Florida, where she went to college at Florida State. While in college, she did an internship with the sports information department and now works as a part-time employee during all the home basketball games she can attend.
“I deliver statistics, I take care of the media and I do interviews after the games with players and coaches, said Westrup. “I love media and it is fun to be on both sides when you get to interview and be interviewed.”
Her favorite part of the job is when she gets to interview Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and work with ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale.
Westrup finished in a tie for 14th last week at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship and is ready for her 8:25 a.m. tee time on Friday.
“My game has felt very solid the last couple of tournaments,” said Westrup. “I’m just being patient and waiting for a big finish.”
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