4 Things to Know
1. The Epson Tour is in Northern California for the first time since 2001 (Patterson, Diablo Grande)
2. The field of 144 players from the U.S. and 28 different countries around the globe includes 24 players from the state of California
3. This is the fourth event of the 2017 and seven of the current top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are in the field
4. Tickets and parking are free all three days of the tournament (Friday-Sunday)
WINDSOR, CALIFORNIA, April 3, 2017 - The Epson Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, finishes a three-week West Coast Swing with the inaugural POC Med Golf Classic at Windsor Golf Club from Friday, April 7 through Sunday, April 9. The 54-hole tournament features 144 of the top rising stars in the game of women’s golf from the United States and 28 countries around the globe.
The field is competing for a tournament purse of $100,000 and a winner’s payout of $15,000 to move up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. At the conclusion of the season (October 8), the top 10 on the final money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2018 season.
Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. all three days of the tournament and a split tee format will be used. There will be a cut to the low 60 and ties following second round play on Saturday.
The Epson Tour has found a home in Northern California for the first time since 2001 when Beth Bauer won the California FUTURES Classic in Patterson at Diablo Grande. The current West Coast Swing started in Beaumont, California with the IOA Championship two weeks ago and then last week transitioned to Mesa, Arizona for the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club.
The POC Med Golf Classic is the fourth event of the 2017 season, which started March 10-12 with the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic. There are currently 21 total tournaments on the schedule with a 22nd to be announced later this month.
The field this week features seven of the current top 10 on the money list including No. 3 Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador), who won the IOA Championship two weeks ago. The top two players are not in the field for separate reasons. No. 1 Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Jersey, UK) will skip this event to rest her ailing back while No. 2 Anne-Catherine Tanguay is not in the field to attempt to Monday Qualify for the next LPGA event in Hawaii. There are seven different countries represented in the current top 10 (United Kingdom, Canada, Ecuador, New Zealand, China, USA and Thailand).
There are 24 players in the field from the state of California and seven from Northern California: Sara Banke (Danville), Emily Childs (Alameda), Lisa Ferrero (Lodi), Grace Na (Alameda), Lauren Kim (Los Altos), Jenni Jenq (Saratoga) and Kim Welch (Sacramento). There are also several in the field that played college golf in Northern California including two that helped win Stanford the 2015 National Championship: Mariah Stackhouse and Lauren Kim. Megan Osland (Kelwona, BC, Canada) played college golf at San Jose State.
There are also 27 players in the field that have LPGA Tour membership.
This week’s event is co-sanctioned with the LPGA of Taiwan (TLPGA). There are 14 players in the field that are on exemptions through the TLPGA including Yu-Sang Hou (117) and Yu-Chiang Hou (134), who rank in the top 150 according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). The one sponsor exemption into the field is Mika Liu, the No. 23rd ranked amateur in the world. Liu is headed to play college golf at Stanford.
Windsor Golf Club, a former stop on the PGA’s Web.com Tour from 1990-1995, is a par-72 and will play 6,385 yards this week. Tom Lehman won in 1991 and Stuart Appleby won in 1995.
Tickets to the POC Med Golf Classic are free all three days of the tournament and on-site parking is available.
NOR CAL PLAYERS TALK FINALLY GETTING AN EVENT
Many Northern California natives that have played the Epson Tour have been craving an event in their backyard.
“I’ve never played the course, but I’m really excited that the Epson Tour has an event in Northern California,” said Na of Alameda, who was named the 2010 East Bay Golfer of the Year by the Oakland Tribune. “I’m happy to have my family out there with me and my brother will be able to be on my bag and so I’m just excited to feel comfortable and have fun.”
Na won the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) state championship in 2010.
Sacramento’s Kim Welch, who ranks 17th on the early season money list, remembers playing at Windsor Golf Club as a junior is excited to be back.
“It’s amazing, I finally feel like I have a “home” event,” said Welch, who now lives in Southern California, but made it clear that Northern California will always be “home”. “I just don’t know what took so long to get a tournament there - I mean, who doesn’t want to play golf in the middle of wine country.”
Welch was part of four Nor Cal state championship teams at St. Francis High School.
Emily Childs, who led Alameda High School to the 2007 NCS (North Coast Section) Championship, has been a big part in promoting the new event.
“This event means a lot to me,” said Childs, who went onto play college golf at Cal. “Since I only live about an hour and a half away, a bunch of my family and friends are coming up to watch me play. My dad, who taught me the game, doesn’t get the opportunity to come out to tournaments, since the Tour is mainly located on the other side of the country. I’m especially excited to have my dad there to support me.”
RECAP OF LAST WEEK IN ARIZONA
Liv Cheng (Auckland, New Zealand), who had just one career top 10 finish in two plus seasons, outlasted 8-year LPGA veteran Mina Harigae on the second playoff hole at Longbow Golf Club to earn her first career win. The $15,000 first place check moved her from 72nd on the money list to fourth.
Cheng’s putter was red hot all week. She needed just 24 putts on Saturday to force the playoff.
Cheng finished 108th on the money list as a rookie in 2015 and 63rd in 2016. She said on Saturday that she’s excited about the direction of her game.
“I feel really good about my game,” said Cheng. “This is my third year playing on the Epson Tour and I feel like this year I have the tools in my game to play better and get myself on the LPGA Tour.”
Tanguay finished third, Kyung Kim finished fourth and while Hannah Green, Bronte Law and Nannette Hill tied for fifth.
2015 NCAA CHAMP EMMA TALLEY OFF TO SOLID START
Emma Talley (Princeton, Kentucky) posted her second top 10 finish of the season on Saturday at the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club. It was her fifth top 10 finish in just 19 career starts on the Epson Tour. Talley also finished T10 at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic to open the season.
Talley played half a season on the Epson Tour in 2016 and finished 26th on the money list. She enters the POC Med Golf Classic at 13th on the money list.
Talley won the 2015 NCAA individual national championship. It was the first of its kind in Alabama women’s golf history. Talley also won the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
OF NOTE
• Natalie Sheary (West Hartford, Conn.) leads the Tour in driving accuracy through three events. She has hit 106 of 109 fairways (97.2%).
• Jenny Coleman and Kristin Coleman, identical twins, are both in the field this week. This is the first time they have been in the field together this year.
• Thailand’s Benyapa Niphatsophon has finished inside the top 20 in her first two starts on Tour including a T2 at the IOA Championship. She ranks ninth on the money list. Two players from Thailand (Wichanee Meechai and Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong) graduated from the Epson Tour to the LPGA last year.
• Samantha Richdale became the career leader in money earned on the Epson Tour with her T25 finish last week at the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club. In 135 career events, she has earned $227,242. She pocketed $923 last week to jump ahead of Lori Atsedes.
• Swaziland’s Nobuhle Dlamini will make her Epson Tour debut this week.
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