LONGWOOD, Fla. — A total of 108 players will take on the challenge that Alaqua Country Club presents starting Friday with the first round of the seventh annual IOA Golf Classic presented by HomeValue.com.
Three featured groups highlight the competition for the 6th event of the 2020 Epson Tour season.
Kim Kaufman, Frida Kinhult, Sierra Brooks (No. 1 tee, 8:29 a.m.)
Making the journey to central Florida following her win at the Four Winds Invitational is current Volvik Race for the Card No. 1, Kim Kaufman (Clark, SD). She has two additional top-10s this year including a sixth-place finish at the inaugural Founders Tribute and a tie for fourth at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship. Additionally, Kaufman made three cuts in five starts on the LPGA Tour this year.
Frida Kinhult (Fiskebackskil, Sweden) is one of five players in the field representing Sweden and is looking to continue her rookie season on the Epson Tour this weekend. Kinhult was both a three-time medalist in her year and a half at Florida State University and a member of the victorious International Team at 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup. This year, Kinhult has made two cuts in three starts, including a career-best finish with a tie for seventh at the inaugural Founders Tribute.
University of Florida alumna Sierra Brooks (Orlando, Florida). A two-time winner on the Eggland’s Best Golf Tour in two starts early this year as a warmup for her pro debut, Brooks was the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship runner-up and secured a tied for 10th finish at the inaugural Augusta Women’s National Amateur in 2019. In her rookie season so far, Brooks claimed two top-15 finishes.
Dewi Weber, Vicky Hurst, Samantha Wagner (No. 1 tee, 12:37 p.m.)
The 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf National Individual Champion, Dewi Weber (Groningen, Netherlands), competed for the University of Miami Hurricanes. Last year, Weber claimed five top-15 performances in the first five starts of her Epson Tour career including three top-10s. Currently No. 17 in the Volvik Race for the Card, Weber makes her second appearance in Longwood.
Eight-time Epson Tour Champion, Vicky Hurst (Melbourne, FL) is hoping for an end-of-season push to add to two top-15 finishes so far this year. The 2011 Team USA Member for the Solheim Cup has made 27 career starts in LPGA Tour majors featuring a career best T11 at the 2012 ANA Inspiration. She also has 200 career starts on the LPGA Tour with a career-best solo second at the 2010 LPGA Hana Bank presented by SK Telecom.
The final member of this featured group is Florida native Samantha Wagner (Windermere, Florida). The University of Florida alumna has advanced to the weekend four times in five starts this year, highlighted by her tie for eleventh at the inaugural Founders Tribute.
Amelia Lewis, August Kim, Madison Pressel (No. 10 tee, 1:21 p.m.)
Amelia Lewis (Jacksonville, FL) enters the Sunshine State following a start last week at the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic. An LPGA member from 2011-2018, Lewis has a career-best tie for sixth at the 2016 ISPS Handa Women’s Australia Open.
One of ten Florida natives in this week’s field, August Kim (St. Augustine, FL) returns to compete in her second event this season. The first four-time Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar in Boilermakers history, the Purdue University graduate is in her third year on Tour. Kim concluded each of her two seasons in the top-30 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
Rounding out the final trio is Madison Pressel (Boca Raton, FL), making three of five cuts this year so far. The University of Texas graduate and 2011 Big 12 Conference Player of the year set the lowest 18-hole (65) and 54-hole (208) scores in women’s golf program history. Pressel became a first-time winner in her rookie year on the Epson Tour at the 2014 Forsyth Classic presented by Decatur Park District.