SARASOTA, Fla., April 20, 2016 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, returns to Sarasota for the 5th annual Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay. First-round play begins on Friday, April 22 and the final-round is Sunday, April 24.
Local Nelly Korda, 17, will be a crowd favorite with her ties to the area.
“It’s always nice to play in front of your friends and family and especiailly in your hometown,” said Korda on Tuesday. “It definitely will motivate me a lot more, but the golf course is very tough especially when the winds pick up. It is going to be a challenge no matter what.”
HOMECOMING FOR FORMER STATE CHAMP: Casey Kennedy grew up in Venice, Florida and now works in outside services and practices out of the Ritz Carlton in Lakewood Ranch. This week, Kennedy will tee it up in the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay
“It’s pretty cool to have a home game because I played a lot of junior golf here,” said Kennedy, who used to play in the Greater Sarasota Junior Golf circuit and estimates playing Sara Bay about 20 times. “It’s funny, when I was younger I don’t remember this course being this difficult on the greens. When you’re younger, you just kind of whack it around, but now I’m like ‘wow, OK’, but the good news is that I grew up playing this course from time-to-time.”
Kennedy, who won the 2007 Florida State Championship at Venice High School, played in three events in 2015, but now has full status and is starting to get comfortable as a professional.
“Last year, I had to perform to be able to go to the next event,” said Kennedy, who had limited status. “I’m getting more settled in as the season is going along.”
Kennedy made the cut in the season opener, but has missed the cut in the last two events.
“It’s stressful because you feel like you always have to perform,” said Kennedy. “I have to realize that I have 20 plus events that I’ll play in this year.”
Kennedy was attracted to Augusta State through a friend that was playing there at the time and also the rich history of golf in the area. During her stellar college career, she won three times and was the only player in school history to advance to the postseason four consecutive years.
She also had the opportunity to play Augusta National three times.
“There are boosters of the college team that are members of Augusta National so they were able to get us out once a year,” said Kennedy. “I did OK when I got a chance to play out there. It is a smaller school so golf is really the sport there, almost like the football team at a bigger school. I loved it there, great facilities and great courses we got to play.”
Kennedy expects to have a nice sized gallery this weekend that will include her mom and her high school coach.
“I get to stay in my own bed and play in a professional golf tournament where I grew up, it is just cool.”
DAVID LEADBETTER GIVES CLINIC AND TALKS ABOUT HIS DAUGHTER: Renowned teaching professional David Leadbetter was at the Guardian Retirement Championship on Wednesday giving a clinic to Guardian employees. Leadbetter’s daughter, Hally, is in the field on a sponsor’s exemption.
“We live in the area and I am an honorary member here at Sara Bay so I did a little clinic for the Guardian group to help them on there way to play in the pro-am,” said Leadbetter. “My daughter was lucky enough to get an exemption and she is in her final year of college deciding if she will turn professional so maybe this week will decide.”
Leadbetter, who didn’t push Hally to golf, said this week will be a good challenge for his daughter.
“This week will be a good challenge for her because a lot of these players will be future LPGA stars,” said Leadbetter. “The Epson Tour is a great proving ground for players and it is highly competitive.”
David said that Hally is pursuing a degree in broadcast journalism and would like to ultimately work in that field, but she may want to test the waters in professional golf.
“She didn’t really start until she was 13, which is late in this day and age,” said Leadbetter, who coaches Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Lydia Ko. “She was actually a horseback rider. At first, she couldn’t stand golf because her mother was an LPGA player, I’m in golf and her brothers too so it was too much. In the end, the bug got her and she’s worked herself into a pretty good college player.”
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