It is finally here; it is Epson Tour Championship week. Come Sunday, there will be 10 new full status members heading to the LPGA Tour for the 2024 season. Three spots have already been mathematically clinched, with the other seven spots still up for grabs. While some players sit in a more comfortable positions than others, the 2023 Epson Tour Championship will be one to remember.
Heading into the Epson Tour Championship, seven players have already broken the $100,000 mark for their season earnings, three more than any other Epson Tour season ever. Gabriela Ruffels and Natasha Andrea Oon also have a chance to break the all-time Epson Tour money record set by Madelene Sagstrom during the 2016 season, who banked $167,064 in just 15 events played. Ruffels is just under $11,000 shy of Sagstrom’s record, a top-3 finish would likely see Ruffels break the all-time record, while Oon would need a win at the Epson Tour Championship to claim the record for herself.
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Race for the Card Top 10 |
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1 |
Gabriela Ruffels |
$156,283 |
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2 |
Natasha Andrea Oon |
$147,780 |
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3 |
Jiwon Jeon |
$114,219 |
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4 |
Agathe Laisne |
$109,060 |
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5 |
Jenny Coleman |
$104,958 |
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6 |
Roberta Liti |
$102,734 |
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7 |
Minji Kang |
$100,165 |
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8 |
Isabella Fierro |
$97,504 |
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9 |
Becca Huffer |
$89,390 |
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10 |
Jenny Bae |
$88,889 |
Two new players entered the Race for the Card Top 10 after the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic, with champion Isabella Fierro joining the mix, along with veteran Becca Huffer. Fierro jumped from No. 18 to No. 8 after her win and is now $11,000 ahead of Jenny Bae, who occupies the No. 10 spot. Fierro has played in all 21 events so far on the Epson Tour during her rookie season, recording six top-10 finishes in that time. In her last four tournament Fierro has yet to finish outside the top 8 and is by far the most in-form golfer heading into Epson Tour Championship week.
“Moving into the top 10 is obviously great, but I am just trying to take every week as it comes,” said Fierro. “I think just taking everything one day at a time, one shot at a time, is all I can really do. As soon as we finish this season, I will know where I am standing, but I am just grateful to be where I am right now.”
Becca Huffer makes her way back into the Race for the Card top 10, after holding a spot earlier in the season. Huffer’s T3 finish at the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic was one of her best of the season and it could not have come at a better time. The 33-yer-old spent her 2019 season on the LGPA Tour with conditional status and will be in prime position to earn full status for the 2024 season.
“It's obviously very close, and you never know what's going to happen, but it feels great to have put myself in a position to have one more good tournament and have the possibility of being in the top 10 at the end,” said Huffer. “It's the position you play to be in week in week out for the whole year and I'm excited to see what happens this week.”
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