Jordan-Higgins, Huffer Share Lead in Mayetta

MAYETTA, Kan., September 5, 2014 – Golf can be a menacing game sometimes, even for a professional.  Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Jersey, Channel Island UK), who missed receiving her LPGA Tour card last year by $114, was admittedly mad at the game of golf for much of the first part of this year.  On Friday, she fired a 6-under-par 66 to share the first-round lead with Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo.).  

The 26-year-old got off to a strong start with a birdie on one.  Her only scare of the day was a double-bogey on the third hole due to a lost ball.  She closed the front nine with a birdie on four, an eagle on six, a birdie on seven and a birdie on nine to make the turn at 4-under. 

“I played really well today,” said Jordan-Higgins.  “I feel like I’ve played well all year, I just haven’t been able to put things together.  I hit a lot of shots close today and gave myself a lot of birdie chances and then had a nice eagle on six which helps the round.” 

Higgins made back-to-back birdies to open the back nine and then made par on her final seven holes. 

On hole six, Jordan-Higgins had 212 yards to the pin and hit a 7-wood to 12-feet from the hole and made the putt. 

Jordan-Higgins started the year without a top-10 finish through her first eight events.  After a tie for fifth at the Epson Classic in Charlotte, she missed four of the next five cuts from June through the middle of August. 

Things finally started to turn around at the last event, the Eagle Classic, when she finished in a tie for fifth. 

The momentum continued last week when she finished second at the Colorado Women’s Open. 

“The big thing for me is trying to relax and have fun out there. I’ve been trying so hard this year to make things happen and it really wasn’t helping my golf game.  It’s starting to show that when I relax, enjoy what I am doing and appreciate the fact that I am out here it really takes the pressure off.”

Jordan-Higgins is so passionate about the game of golf and wants so badly to play on the LPGA Tour.  Recently, she realized that she became almost too obsessed with the game of golf.  

“Golf is what you do, not who you are and I really try to think a lot about that.  When you spend hours a day and weeks on the road and all you do is golf, it is only natural that your results day in and day out affect you.  I kind of lost track of who I am as a person. I’ve been focusing on who I am outside of golf and what I want to bring to people and how I want to change the world.  It’s been helping me relax.” 

Jordan-Higgins has turned her anger at the game into newfound success. 

“When I finished 11th (on the money list last year), it was only natural that I would be mad at the game because it didn’t give me what I wanted and what I have been working years and years for.  It took me awhile to kind of accept what happened.  I always remind myself that I am talented and that I do have the game to make it to make it to the LPGA and I have to have fun out here.”

The Jersey, Channel Islands UK native has two top-10 finishes and currently ranks 45^th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with $14,277.  Even with the early struggles, she is still in reach of realizing her dream.

“A strong finish would be a huge confidence booster for me.  I lost a lot of confidence after last year and you do start to question am I good enough, but today proves that I have the talent to be out here and I would really love to finish strong no matter where that puts me. If I make it great, but that is something I can’t control just like it wasn’t something I could control last year.” 

A second career win would go a long way towards getting Jordan-Higgins closer to the top-10.  Her only other Epson Tour win came at the 2013 Credit Union Classic in Syracuse.

“This golf course is tough and it is really going to depend a lot on the wind direction.  It played a little bit easier today when the wind was coming from the north. I think double figures will definitely be needed, but that’s something I can’t focus on.”

Sounds like the new attitude is working wonders. 

Huffer, who ranks 57^th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, finished with four birdies on her final five holes to close at 6-under. 

“I just played really steady, hit a lot of good approach shots,” said the former Notre Dame golfer Huffer.  “I gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdies and was patient.” 

Huffer, who started on the back nine, made birdie on the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth holes to end the day. 

It’s been a truly remarkable year for Huffer, who was a sponsor’s exemption into the first event of the year and finished in a tie for third.  Only because of her strong finish, she was reshuffled and started playing full-time on Tour in May. 

“It was really good getting into that one at the beginning of the year because who knows what would have happened if I didn’t play well.  A lot depended on that one event.  Knowing that I missed six tournaments early in the year, I’ve known that I have to play well to make it up the money list. 

Huffer has been in contention before as a professional.  She won the Colorado Women’s Open last year and won the Michigan Open this year.  She has also won the Cactus Tour. 

POTAWATOMI CUP UPDATE: The Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic is the fourth and final event of the Potawatomi Cup.

The other three Potawatomi Cup events were the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, the Four Winds Invitational and the Island Resort Championship.  

At each of the four events, $8,500 is distributed to the top-5 finishers. 

The player with the most cumulative points following play on Sunday will receive an additional $6,000 bonus check. 

The winner of each event receives 500 points while second place receives 300 points.

Current Potawatomi Cup Points Standings

Potawatomi Cup Money Earned

Here is a look at the first-round leaders and the possibility of overtaking Kwak, who shot a 2-over 74 and is in a tie for 55^th.  Bold means that the player has a chance to overtake Kwak. 

Aronsson, who is second in the current standings, shot an 11-over-par 83.  Vandermade, who is just 55 points behind Kwak, shot a 3-under 69 and is in a tie for seventh. 

COVER GIRL IN TIE FOR THIRD: Wei-Ling Hsu is on the September issue of ONEGOLF, a magazine based in Taiwan.  In her first Epson Tour event since the magazine was released, Hsu fired a 5-under 67 and is one shot off the lead.

“It was my first time on the cover of a magazine and it’s pretty cool because we don’t always have chances to be on the cover,” said the Chinese Taipei native. “A lot of people read that magazine and I got a chance to wear dresses which is different for me.”

Hsu made seven birdies on the day. 

“I was hitting every club well today,” said Hsu, who ranks fifth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with $48,749. “Two weeks ago, I felt like I wasn’t putting well and I tried to figure out what the problem was and my putting was really nice today.  I made a lot of nice birdie putts."

Hsu attempted just 26 putts. 

The 19-year-old won the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic earlier in the year. 

“When I was nine or ten, I used to tell people that I want to be the best women’s golfer in the world.  Right now, I am so close to playing on the LPGA and that was my big dream as a kid.”

TOPEKA NATIVE MAHON SHOOTS 3-OVER: Topeka native Courtney Mahon finished just before dark on Friday and shot a 3-over 75.

She is currently in a tie for 69^th with a chance to make the cut on Saturday. 

TALLEY USING ADVICE FROM JERRY RICE: It’s been an eventful week for Emily Talley (Napa, Calif.), who shot a 3-under 69 in the first-round of the Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic on Friday. 

“These next three tournaments are pretty important so starting off with a strong round feels good,” said Talley, who ranks 16^th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.  “I made some solid pars coming in and I’m overall very, very happy with how it went today.”

After the last Epson Tour event in Richmond, Va., Talley drove to Colorado to prepare for the Colorado Women’s Open.  She finished fifth, but led going into the final round and felt like she let one slip away. 

“Since I went to the University of Colorado, that event is kind of like my home track and unfortunately I lost a lead going into the last day when Kendall Dye decided to shoot a 6-under and I shot a 4-over to lose by two strokes. Overall, it was a really good experience because I’ve never had the lead into the final day and having the lead into the final day was an interesting feeling.  Although I didn’t win, I learned a lot.”

Last year, Talley won Big Break NFL with teammate and NFL legend Jerry Rice.  One of the things she keeps with her that Rice instilled was the teaching tool that failure can be.

“During our second Big Break, I missed a short putt to lose a competition one day and Jerry comes over to me and says I’ve learned more from losing the Super Bowl than winning the Super Bowl.  I kind of felt the same way last week.  I had the lead and I lost, but man did I learn a lot from that.  Now, I am hungry, I am angry and I’m mad at myself, but I am ready to go for these next three tournaments.”

Talley will aim for her first professional win over the weekend. 

GONZALEZ-ESCALLON REPRESENTING BELGIUM: Laura Gonzalez-Escallon, who ranks 19^th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, shot a first-round 2-under 70 and is T17 after 18 holes. 

“I hit it really good, I was really consistent and I hit a lot of greens,” said Gonzalez-Escallon.  “I birdied a couple par five holes and that was useful because they were shorter today so I went for all of them and that was fun.”

Gonzalez-Escallon played the par-5 holes at 3-under. 

On the 18^th hole, she capped her day with her fifth birdie. 

“The 18^th was really different compared to the practice rounds.  I hit driver and sand wedge today and in the practice round I hit driver and then 3-wood so it was nice having a short hole to finish.”

The La Hulpe, Belgium native played Friday with Maribel Lopez-Porras, a good friend and her roommate this week in Mayetta. 

“It’s fun playing with a friend, you know how they play and we talked between shots. She didn’t have a caddie and I didn’t either so we were chatting all day, we had a blast.”

Gonzalez-Escallon was born in Columbia and then moved to Belgium when she was nine.  She is the only player on the Epson Tour representing Belgium.

“I started playing golf when I was eight and knew I wanted to be on the LPGA when I was ten.  My parents thought it was a crazy plan, but then they saw how focused I was.  I knew I wanted to go to college (she went to Purdue) and have a degree and then try to play professionally.”

She was introduced to the game by her father and immediately fell in love with the golf. 

“When I moved to Belgium, I made it on the Belgium National Team and they helped me so much by sending me to tournaments and I was able to get recruited by Purdue.”

The only Belgium born golfer to win on the LPGA Tour was Florence Descampe, who won the 1992 McCall LPGA Classic.

Media Contact

Bret Lasky, Coordinator, Epson Tour Media, bret.lasky@lpga.com, 386-679-1292