The final round of the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship is complete, and another first time Epson Tour winner added to the list in 2023. Siyun Liu has had an interesting ride with the Epson brand; just last year she was an intern at Epson America and is now an Epson Tour champion. Liu battled through the weather, the nerves, and a charging Amelia Garvey to finally secure the victory.
Liu started the day in a four-way tie for the lead at -7 with Amelia Garvey, Lindsey McCurdy, and Min-G Kim. By the time Liu walked off the fifth hole, she was in the solo lead and held that lead until late in the round. The 23-year-old would make a birdie on No. 10 and move her lead to two shots with eight holes to play. The only mistake of the day would come on No. 13 for Liu, which moved her into a tie for the lead with Garvey. The two athletes were tied heading into the final three holes, with Liu making a birdie on No. 17 to make it a one-shot lead heading up No. 18, which Liu would close out with a par on the difficult finishing hole.
“I am just really happy that all of my hard work has finally come to fruition,” said Liu. "I was so nervous during the back nine of my round though. I was shaking on some of the tee boxes, and I hit a few snap hooks. I was pretty relaxed on the front nine, but towards the end you don’t have room for error. My approach shots have been consistent all week, so I was able to capitalize on that and made some putts.”
Liu has found some success early in her 2023 campaign, with a top-10 finish at an Epson Tour event and an LPGA Tour event. The Wake Forest University alumna finished T9 at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei (LPGA Tour) and a T9 result at the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic (Epson Tour). Liu has shown flashes of great golf in 2023, so it was only a matter of time before she was able to break through.
“It really helped being in those situations,” said Liu. “I kept telling myself that I am good enough to win. I feel like the top players on the Epson Tour are not too far off from the top players on the LPGA Tour. I saw Grace Kim win at the LOTTE so I thought ‘If you can finish top-10 in an LPGA Tour event, you can win an Epson Tour event’. So that made me realize I am not that far away.”
Trying to track down Liu all day was Amelia Garvey. The New Zealand native had a rollercoaster of a round that included three bogeys and five birdies. Garvey was able to grab a share of the lead late in the round but was unable to convert on a putt coming in to match Liu’s birdie on No. 17. She has been trending in the right direction over the past three events, with each start resulting in a better finish. The 2nd place finish is the best of the season for Garvey, who is now closer to the coveted top-10 spot in the Race for the Card standings.
“I’ve been playing pretty well the past six weeks, I’d say. The last two tournaments before this, I had a pretty good result,” said Garvey. “And honestly, I didn’t think this course suited me at all, so to chuck up that [a 9-under], I’m quite happy. It just shows that my game is getting there, and I can play on any course which is good because all parts of my game are firing.”
Lindsey McCurdy and Savannah Vilaubi round out the top of the leaderboard with a T3 finish at -6. Vilaubi started her tournament strong with a 67 (-5) round and was two shots off the lead heading into the final round. She would bogey her first hole before battling back for a one-under 71 to finish at -6. McCurdy started the day at -7 before carding a one-over 73 in tough conditions to move to -6 for the tournament. Despite the over-par day, McCurdy drew from the positives the week had to offer.
“Everything was feeling good all week,” said McCurdy. “I still feel really good about everything and today wasn't really a bad day, I just kind of felt like it really wasn’t my day. I just didn’t put it in the right positions to play well, but I am looking forward to some good momentum heading into the next event.”
Kathleen Scavo, Kaleigh Telfer, and Min-G Kim finish out the top-5 at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship with a -5 finish.
QUICK QUOTES
Savannah Vilaubi (-6, T3) on her first top-5 finish since her victory at the Copper Rock Championship:
“I was trying to find my groove again since my win. I knew it was going to take a lot of patience and you can’t try to play just like you did, you want to play better. It is good to see the top-5 this week and I am feeling good heading into my next couple weeks."
Kaleigh Telfer (-5, T5) on a top-five finish:
“I’ve never been in contention before, so it was a different mindset today. It was nice to be able to close it out and play well today. I’ve been working really hard on my game, and it’s finally paying off. There’s a couple of things to work on, but it’s nice to see the result come through.”
Kirsten Gillman (-3, T14) on a -5 final round:
“I felt like the first two days I was hitting a lot of fairways and greens but wasn’t making putts. So today I just went out there with nothing to lose and just tried to be more relaxed out there. I feel like I am very comfortable with my game right now, so it was really nice to put everything together for a round.”
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