Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans
Drumlins Country Club, East Course
Syracuse, New York
July 28, 2014
Storylines
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, July 30 2014 – The Epson Tour, the Road to the LPGA, returns to Syracuse for the 19th annual Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans at Drumlins Country Club, East Course from Friday, August 1 through Sunday, August 3.
The 144-player field comprised of the future stars of the LPGA Tour will be competing for their share of the $100,000 total purse. The winner will earn $15,000 and take a significant step towards an LPGA Tour card for 2015. The top-10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list will receive their LPGA Tour card for 2015.
The Epson Tour has been coming to Syracuse since 1996 when the inaugural Loretto FUTURES Golf Classic was played at The Links at Erie Village. This year will mark the sixth consecutive year at Dumlins Country Club, East Course dating back to 2009.
The Credit Union Classic is the 15th event on the Epson Tour schedule and the second during a stretch of four events in a row along the northeast. From 2013 to 2014, the Tour has grown from 15 to 20 events and the total purse has increased to $2.25 million, the largest in Tour history.
Last year at the Credit Union Classic, Olivia Jordan-Higgins got off to a great start with a firstround 3-under 68 and a second-round 4-under 67 and then survived the final day to defeat P.K. Kongkraphan by one shot. The player Jordan-Higgins defeated is significant because Kongkraphan was number one on the Volvik Race for the Card money list at the end of the season. Jordan-Higgins had four top-10 finishes and missed an LPGA Tour card by only $114 last year.
This year, she has one top-10 finish and ranks 49th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The last time a player defending a title on the Epson Tour was 1994 and 1995 when Marilyn Lovander won back-to-back Ronald McDonald House FUTURES Classic’s at Town of Colonie Golf Course in Schenectady, N.Y.
STRONG FIELD THIS WEEK: Nine of the top-10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are in the field this week in Syracuse. The top two on the money list, Min Seo Kwak and Marissa Steen, are both playing. The only player in the top-10 not in the field this week is number three Cindy Feng.
Kwak took over the top spot on the Volvik Race for the Card money list following her win at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan. She has held the top spot for five straight events and eight straight weeks.
Of the top-20 on the money list, 18 will be in Syracuse this week for the Credit Union Classic.
RETURN OF WOODS: Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, is back in a Epson Tour event this week for the first time since the Decatur-Forsyth Classic (June 13-15). She currently ranks 51st on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with one top-10 finish.
Her best result on Tour is a tie for fifth at the Decatur-Forsyth Classic. Woods has played a lot of golf over the last month. Following the Epson Tour event in Decatur, Woods played in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst #2. Then, she went over to Europe to play in the RICOH Women’s British Open and two Ladies European Tour events.
Woods captured her first professional win in February at the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters. The LET and Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG) sanction the event.
12 LPGA TOUR PLAYERS IN FIELD: This week, the LPGA Tour is off following the International Crown in Baltimore. There are 12 players in the field of the Credit Union Classic with LPGA Tour
status.
BIG, HISTORIC WIN FOR PARKS: On Sunday in Albany, Sadena Parks came from seven shots back to earn her first professional win. Parks tied the Capital Hills at Albany course record with a 9-under 62. She edged Min Lee, who led after 18-holes and 36-holes, by one shot.
The win moved Parks from 14th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to sixth. She also became the first African-American woman to win on the Epson Tour (or FUTURES Tour) since LaRee Sugg in 1998.
“As a minority, sometimes you have to work a little bit harder to get to where you need to get to,” said the 24-year-old Parks. “The steps that I am taking helps to influence younger African-American kids, girl or boy, and even parents that have younger kids that want them to get more involved in this game.”
Parks also became the tenth first-time winner on the Epson Tour this year.
“I’ve been waiting two years for this and I’m just really excited.”
Parks will be in Syracuse to try and better her position on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Last year, Parks shot a 74-75 and missed the cut at Drumlins Country Club.
TWO NEW PLAYERS ENTER TOP-10: For the first time this year, the names Sadena Parks and Min Lee appear inside the top-10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Parks’ win in Albany bumped her to sixth while Lee’s second-place finish moved her from 19th to ninth.
Brittany Altomare, who finished T42 in Albany, dropped from eighth to 11th while Nicole Vandermade, who also finished T42, fell from 10th to 13th.
The top-five on the money list remained unchanged.
With Parks and Lee coming inside the top-10, the dominoes fell. Jackie Stoelting dropped from sixth to seventh, Lee Lopez fell from seventh to eighth and Mallory Blackwelder went from ninth to tenth.
Altomare, who is eleventh on the money list, is just $1,433 behind Blackwelder, who is tenth. Emily Talley, who is 12th, is just $1,797 shy of the top-10. With six events left and $650,000 still available, the race for an LPGA Tour card will be very tight.
MIN SEO KWAK GOES BOGEY-FREE: One thing that got lost in the Sunday madness in Albany was Min Seo Kwak’s performance all week. Kwak, who leads the Volvik Race for the Cardmoney list with $63,727, finished in a tie for third at the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills. It was her sixth top-10 finish this year.
The more impressive feat was that she did not make a single bogey during all three rounds. She shot a bogey-free 69 on Friday, a bogey-free 66 on Saturday and a bogey-free 66 in the
final-round.
Kwak has already earned more money than the money list leaders in 2013 (P.K. Kongkraphan - $47, 283) and 2012 (Esther Choe - $55,690). Kwak is close to catching Kathleen Ekey, who won in Syracuse and led the Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2011 with $66,412.
The Seoul, South Korea native finished T47 last year at the Credit Union Classic. She missed the cut in 2012.
INCREDIBLE SCORING WEEK FOR THE TOUR: Epson Tour players enter the Credit Union Classic after the best scoring week of the year at the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills.
The field’s average score was 71.65, which is the lowest in relation to par all year long. Capital Hills at Albany is a par-71. The previous low was 72.78 on the par-72 Blackthorn Golf Club at the
Four Winds Invitational.
The SEFCU Championship saw 51 players finish under-par. The 14-under winning score by Sadena Parks is the lowest winning score this season. The final-round scoring average was under-par at 70.89.
TOP FINISHERS AT DRUMLINS BACK: Several players that finished in and around the top-10 at the Credit Union Classic last year are back in the field this year. Olivia Jordan-Higgins won the event and she is back to defend. Amy Meier finished solo third at 4-under and she returns to Syracuse. Kendra Little, who was tied for the first-round lead last year and finished T4, is back in the field.
Others that played well last year that will be in the field this year are: Stephanie Connelly (T8), Lindy Duncan (T8) and Madison Pressel (T11).
WORLD WIDE EVENT: Players representing 28 nations including the United States will be in the field at the Credit Union Classic.
There are 90 American players in the field and 54 international players.
TWO NEW YORKERS IN THE FIELD: There are two native New Yorkers in the field this week in Syracuse. Kelly Shon (Port Washington) and Nannette Hill (Pelham Manor) will both tee off in their home state for a second consecutive week.
Shon finished in a tie for 23rd in Albany at 5-under while Hill finished T42 at 1-under.
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