Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay
Sara Bay Country Club
Sarasota, Florida
Storylines
April 20, 2015
SARASOTA, Fla., April 20, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, continues the Florida swing with the third annual Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay. This is the fifth Epson Tour event of the 2015 season. This is the second event in a row in the state of Florida. Last week, the Tour played in Fort Myers at Cypress Lake Country Club.
The top 144 up-and-coming future LPGA Tour professionals will compete for a purse that has grown to $110,000. The winner of the event will earn $16,500 and take a significant step towards the top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the year-end money list earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season.
A strong field that includes eight of the top ten on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list will compete this week. Augusta James, who won last week and catapulted to No. 1 on the money list, will try to be the first to win two events this season.
Defending champion Marissa Steen was the 2014 Epson Tour Player of the Year and is now playing full-time on the LPGA Tour. Steen carded a 3-under 69 on the final day to get into a playoff with Cindy Feng and then outdueled her on the fourth playoff hole.
Christine Song won the event in 2013 while Esther Choe won the inaugural event in 2012.
Sara Bay Country Club is one of the toughest courses that the Tour plays all year. Steen won the event at 3-under, Song won at 5-under and Choe won with a 1-over-par three-day total.
OH, CANADA: One of the major storylines through the first four events has been the play of the Canadian golfers. Augusta James’ win Sunday in Fort Myers was the second in a row by a player from Canada. Sue Kim of Langley, British Columbia won the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in Lake Wales, Florida.
Four of the top 10 and five of the top 12 on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list hail from Canada (No. 1, Augusta James - $23,864, No. 4, Sue Kim - $20,201, No. 8, Maude-Aimee Leblanc - $14,828 and No. 10 Brittany Henderson - $11,497).
No. 12 on the money list is Samantha Richdale (Kelowna, British Columbia).
“Golf in Canada is accelerating so quickly,” said James after her win. “From the grassroots level up there is a lot of support for golf in Canada and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
The last time a Epson Tour rookie also finished first on the money list was 2009 when Mina Harigae
totaled $88,836.
DO CONTINUES STREAK: Brianna Do (Lakewood, California) continued her consistent play to start the season with a tie for second at the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial. She is the only golfer on Tour with a top 10 finish in all four events. Do moved from sixth on the money list to second, just $1,754 behind James.
Do, who split 2014 on the LPGA Tour, has already earned $7,977 more than she did in 12 events last year on the Epson Tour. She finished 55th on the money list with $14,133 earned.
The record for top 10 finishes in a single season is 21, set by Laurel Kean in 1987. Last year, Marissa Steen, who finished first on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, recorded 11 top 10 results.
21 LPGA TOUR MEMBERS IN FIELD: There are 21 LPGA Tour members in the field this week for the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay. The players with LPGA Tour status are Julia Boland,
Cydney Clanton, Perrine Delacour, Lindy Duncan, Casey Grice, Candy Hannemann, Celine Herbin, Daniela Iacobelli, Haley Italia, Nicole Jeray, Mindy Kim, Cindy LaCrosse, Alejandra Llaneza, Giulia Molinaro, Paola Moreno, Liz Nagel, Jean Reynolds, Natalie Sheary, Jenny Suh, Victoria Tanco and Caroline Westrup.
LAKEWOOD RANCH’S ERICKA SCHNEIDER IN FIELD: Ericka Schneider, who was a star at Lakewood Ranch High School, got off the alternate list and into the field on Sunday afternoon. Schneider played in the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay last year, but missed the cut after posted an 81 on day one. She rebounded with a 75 in round two.
Schneider has made the cut in one of two Epson Tour eventsin her rookie season.
She was selected All-Area Girls Golf by the Herald Tribune in 2007.
BRADENTON NATIVES HOWARD & NEVILLE IN FIELD: Two local golfers from Bradenton will compete in the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay. Ginger Howard played at the IMG Academy before turning professional in 2011 while Jennifer Neville played high school golf at Manatee High School and then college golf at St. Johns.
Howard is off to a strong start this year with a tie for fourth at the Volvik Championship. She finished in a tie for 19th this past week in Fort Myers. She currently ranks 15th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Howard has played in all three Guardian Retirement Championships. Her best result came in 2014 when she finished in a tie for 31st. She finished T45 in 2013 and missed the cut in 2012.
Neville is a rookie on the Epson Tour. She has made one of two cuts thus far. Neville was an accomplished junior golfer winning at the 2007 Florida Girls Invitational at Mission Inn, the 2008 AJGA event at Furman, the 2008 Florida Junior Tour event at the University of Florida, and the 2008 FJT Venetian.
EPSON TOUR GROWTH: Since the end of the 2012 Epson Tour season, 16 new events have been added to the schedule. The 2015 schedule features 23 events, the most in the last 27 years. In 2013, the schedule totaled 15 events.
The total year-long purse of $2.73 million is the largest in the history of the Tour. There are now 11 events, including the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay that exceed $100,000 in total purse. The Tour is now playing in 14 different states spread across the country.
STUART NATIVE MCCHRYSTAL A FAVORITE THIS WEEK: Megan McChrystal of Staurt, Fla., has posted top 5 finishes in each of her last two events on the Epson Tour including a tie for fourth this past week at the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial.
McChrystal, who earned her card through the Epson Tour in 2013, is now seventh on the early Volvik Race for the Card money list.
McChrystal made five cuts in 14 starts on the LPGA Tour in 2014.
NUMBERS TO KNOW THIS WEEK: Here a few numbers to know this week in Sarasota.
4 - Number of top 15 finishes for Lee Lopez through four events (T4 in last event)
5 - Number of Epson Tour events in the state of Florida
8 - Number of players in the top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list that are in the field
24 - Number of different countries represented in the field including 12 Canadians and four Mexicans
88.1% - Driving accuracy for Augusta James this year after hitting 51/56 fairways last week
281.5 - Driving distance for Maude-Aimee Leblanc, who ranks eighth on the money list. Ariya Jutanugarn leads the LPGA Tour at 274.1
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