Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay
Sara Bay Country Club
Sarasota, Florida
First-Round News & Notes
April 24, 2015
SARASOTA, Fla., April 24, 2015 - Giulia Molinaro (Treviso, Italy) set a Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay tournament record by carding a 7-under 65 on Friday to grab a two shot lead heading into weekend play. She also tied the low professional round of her career. The last time she carded a 7-under 65 was the final round of the 2013 Friends of Mission Charity Classic, which was her first
professional win.
Molinaro broke Katie Kempter’s tournament record of 5-under 67 in 2014.
She opened with back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th holes and rode the early momentum to a career round.
“I started very well with a long putt made on my first hole, it was a good putt but unexpected since it was a long one,” said the 24-year-old Molinaro. “I made birdies on the last two par-5 holes on the front so that was a huge boost and it just kept flowing.”
Molinaro made birdie on the first, fourth and seventh holes on her back nine to get up to 7-under. After dropping a shot on hole eight, she closed with a short birdie putt on her 18th hole to finish at 7-under.
“It’s always good to finish strong after a bogey on your 17th hole,” said Molinaro. “It sounds silly, but you try to go bogey free and then you get one bogey and it is like a stain on your shirt. I was very happy I made birdie on 18 for the mental boost.”
Molinaro didn’t expect to card a 7-under 65, but she knew she was playing well coming into the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay. Although she missed the cut at the LOTTE Championship, she carded a 69 on day one. Then, she missed by just one shot at the Monday Qualifier for the LPGA Swinging Skirts in San Francisco.
“I came in playing well and I’m still working on some things with the swing that worked out well today,” explained Molinaro. “You never expect a 65, but when it happens you take it happily and move on.”
Playing on the LPGA and Epson Tour can make for a hectic travel schedule and Molinaro has been through a lot over the last week.
“I flew from Hawaii to San Francisco on a red eye on Saturday,” said Molinaro. “I played a practice round on Sunday when I landed, then played the Monday Qualifier in San Francisco and then on Tuesday the travel took 16 hours with two delays and a cancellation to get here. I drove here on Wednesday, played in the pro-am and then had a light practice day on Thursday and it all worked out.”
Molinaro expects to head back to the LPGA Tour and play the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout presented by JTBC, April 30-May 3.
This year, Molinaro, who spent the majority of her life childhood in Kenya, is playing for a bigger cause.
“Growing up in Kenya was a huge blessing and I consider myself very, very lucky and I can’t wait to go back in December,” said Molinaro. “I have a huge love for animals and I know how the lack of tourism is affecting poaching. This year I decided to support a non-profit call Big Life and all the money goes to protecting animals in Africa.”
To learn more about the Big Life Foundation, visit www.biglife.org.
EMILY CHILDS HAS CAREER DAY: Emily Childs (Alameda, Calif.) carded a career best 5-under 67 to stand in solo second place. Childs was bogey-free.
“I played really solid today, I did a lot of really good course management,” said Childs, who is playing in just her tenth event on the Epson Tour. “I think I had a lot of really good lag putting.”
In five events on the Epson Tour in 2014, Childs made just one cut. Her career best finish on Tour is a tie for 50th at the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial.
“It’s super cool to see my name on the leaderboard, I know I’ve thought about it a lot,” said Childs. “I worked really hard on my game over winter break and I’m starting to see things come out.”
Childs graduated from the University of California following the 2012 season. After her eligibility was up, she was a graduate assistant for a semester while her sister was a freshman on the team.
“I learned a lot about my own golf game while being a graduate assistant, it was a lot of fun,” said Childs. “I turned professional in 2013 and played the Cactus Tour and Canadian Tour. Last year was a real learning year for me and now I am playing a lot better.”
Childs home course is Lake Merced Golf Club, home of the LPGA Swinging Skirts event this week.
“I started playing there when I was 14, they gave me a junior merit membership,” said Childs. “It is really cool to see the top players in the world playing my home course this week.”
ZHANG MIXES BUSINESS AND GOLF: Epson Tour rookie Nicole Zhang (Calgary, Alberta) carded a 3-under 69 and stands in a tie for third. Playing in just her third event on Tour, Zhang made four birdies against just one bogey.
The flatstick was really working as she needed just 26 putts.
“I played really solid, kind of like I didn’t last week, but last week I coudn’t make a single putt,” said Zhang. “I’m glad that putts started to fall today.”
Zhang played college golf at Notre Dame and Northwestern and then transferred back to Notre Dame, but did not play on the golf team her final two years of school.
“I haven’t play competitive golf for two years, so I am still trying to figure out how to play professional golf, because it is so different than college golf,” said Zhang. “I’m really happy that I graduated and get to focus on golf, but it is a lot harder than studying.”
Zhang is astute beyond her years. Her father is an entrepreneur and so is she. While she was at Notre Dame, Zhang attempted to get into and transfer to Harvard. She didn’t get in and realized that she needed more on her resume then just golf. So, she started her own business called Yogapeople Bags, a Yoga mat bag that is designed to be functional and fit a variety of mats and accessories. After two years, the company is going strong and Zhang said she has already broke even.
“I have two businesses, one that is launching soon and then I design my own Yoga mat bags,” said the 22-year-old. “I feel like running a business and having other things to do actually helps me play better. I feel like I am dyversiying my portfolio and not putting all my eggs in one basket.”
Zhang runs the business mainly on her own.
“I was actually going through a period in my life when I was really bummed and I started doing yoga and I fell in love with it,” said Zhang. “I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur and I noticed there were no great yoga bags on the market, so I knew this was my opportunity.”
KENOYER’S ‘BIG’ CHANGES ON/OFF COURSE: Stefanie Kenoyer made her 2015 Epson Tour debut on Friday and posted an even-par 72. Kenoyer is playing on a sponsor exemption this week. She will play in the next three events on a sponsor exemption - Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic, Friends of Mission Charity Classic and Epson Classic.
She birdied four out of five holes between the sixth and tenth holes to get to 2-under. Kenoyer made bogey on three of five holes between the 12th and 16th holes to come back to even.
“I’m happy with the day, it could have been really good, but I’ve been working really, really hard these last few months and I’m happy it paid off,” said Kenoyer. “I’ve made some big changes off the golf course and I’ve never been happier which correlates to the golf course pretty well.”
Kenoyer had a tough 2014 season, missing the cut in 11 of 18 events.
“I had a really, really rough year in 2014, I just wasn’t in a good place with my golf swing and I even got to the point where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play anymore,” admitted Kenoyer. “I got engaged, took a little break, moved to Birmingham, Alabama and I’m really happy.”
Kenoyer and her fiance, Trey, bought a house in Birmingham and the longtime Floridian has fallen in love with the area.
“I’ve been working hard with my coaches to get things where I know they can be and even better than they were before,” said Kenoyer.
Kenoyer did not play LPGA Qualifying Tournament in 2014 because of the Big Break Invitational so she doesn’t have any Epson Tour status. Therefore, she knows that each opportunity she gets is critical.
“These next four weeks are going to be a great test to see where my skills are,” said the former Furman golfer. “This stretch will be a good judge and then I can go back and work on the things I need to as I look forward to Q-School.”
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