Event will combine Legends and Epson Tour players for first-time ever to benefit Stand Up To Cancer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., March 26, 2015 – The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, is excited to announce that one of the greatest and most recognizable female golfers of all-time, Nancy Lopez, is in the field and expected to play in the 2015 Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial at Cypress Lake Country Club, April 16-19.
“I knew Patty Berg well and she was a great ambassador for the LPGA Tour with her personality and energy,” said Lopez. “I think it’s great that Chico’s has stepped forward to put her name on the event. The Epson Tour is exciting because it is the future of the game and I am looking forward to playing with them. It’s important to give the Epson Tour players an opportunity to pick our (Legends Tour) brains and this event also allows us to keep the history of the game alive by relaying it to the younger generation.”
Lopez, who won 48 career LPGA Tour events and was a four-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year, headlines a field of 30 Legends Tour players that also includes 34-time LPGA winner Betsy King, 31-time winner Pat Bradley and 18-time winner Meg Mallon. There are nine total members of the World Golf Hall of Fame that will play in the event: Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, Donna Caponi, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel, Sandra Haynie, Betsy King, Nancy Lopez and Hollis Stacy. The full Legends Tour field will be released in the coming weeks.
“The Legends field for this event is outstanding,” said Jane Blalock, CEO of The Legends Tour. “Nine LPGA Hall of Fame members have committed to play including Nancy Lopez, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the 30 names supporting this inaugural combined tournament with the Epson Tour. It’s a terrific opportunity for the fans to see Alcott, Bradley, Carner, Daniel, King and more play again, but it’s also significant for the future stars of the LPGA to walk the fairways alongside them.”
The final field for the Epson Tour event will be unveiled Tuesday, April 7. The Epson Tour field is expected to include current Volvik Race for the Card money list leader Haley Italia, Volvik Championship winner Katie Kempter and RACV Australian Ladies Masters champion Su Oh.
“Chico’s is honored to once again sponsor this tournament and pay tribute to Patty Berg, a champion for women both on and off the course,” said Liz Hodges, Senior Vice President, Chico’s Marketing and Creative. “In our lives, our community and our business, we believe in the power of women helping women and we look forward to welcoming the talented young athletes and exceptional Legends.”
“We’re less than a month away from watching fantastic theater on the golf course where the future of the LPGA and the former greats walk side-by-side down the fairways at Cypress Lake Country Club,” said Chief Business Officer of the Epson Tour Mike Nichols. “The opportunity for our young women to receive mentoring by some of the greatest to ever play the game is invaluable.”
The Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial will be contested at Cypress Lake Country Club, the home course of LPGA legend Patty Berg, the week of April 13. First-round play for the Epson Tour events begins on Thursday, April 16 and runs through Sunday, April 19. The Legends Tour event will begin on Saturday, April 18 and conclude side-by-side with the Epson Tour event on Sunday.
While Epson Tour players and Legends Tour players will be paired together on the weekend, both Tours will be competing for separate $150,000 tournament purses. The winners of both events will receive the first place check of $22,500.
Throughout the week, there will be unique women-to-women mentoring opportunities for Epson Tour professionals. “Very few players ever excel to the heights of success on the LPGA exhibited by these Legends Tour players,” said Mike Nichols, Chief Business Officer of the Epson Tour. “Our members are some of the best golfers in the world, so giving them the unique opportunity to pickup that small tip from these legends that perhaps will make the difference in their LPGA journey is what this week is all about, and we appreciate Chico’s vision in making it possible.”
In addition to playing inside the ropes on Saturday and Sunday, the Epson and Legends Tour players will share a locker room, player dining and practice facilities, giving them ample opportunity to share ideas with some of the greatest LPGA players of all time. “The LPGA Tour has formalized this mentoring into what they call a PODS System, which groups LPGA Rookies along with current players and a Legend,” continued Nichols. “This week is just a small way for us to mirror that opportunity.”
The Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial will benefit Stand Up To Cancer, a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation 501 (c)(3) organization, which funds innovative cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now.
For more information about the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial, contact tournament director Matt Hoover at matt.hoover@gwse.com or call 239-254-9770.
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