HARRIS, Michigan, June 21, 2017 - The Epson Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, reaches the midway point of the 2017 season with the seventh annual Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass Golf Club from Friday, June 23 through Sunday, June 25. The Island Resort Championship is the fourth event of a six week stretch. The Tour stays in the state of Michigan next week with the Tullymore Classic in Canadian Lakes.
The field of 144 players from the United States and 30 countries around the globe will compete for a $150,000 total tournament purse and the winner will earn $22,500. The Volvik Race for the Card money list is beginning to take shape and players are jockeying for position inside the top 10. Following the Epson Tour Championship (Oct. 5-8), the top 10 on the money list will earn LPGA membership for the 2018 season.
Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. all three days of the tournment. There will be a cut to the low 60 and ties following Saturday’s second round. The Island Resort Championship started in 2011. The field is incredibly strong this week as nine of the top 10 on the current money list will tee it up including the top seven. The only player in the top ten not scheduled to compete is No. 8 Paola Moreno (Cali, Colombia). In fact, 19 of the top 20 on the money list are in the field.
Sweetgrass Golf Club is considered one of the most challenging courses on Tour. The lowest winning score is 10-under (2015), but the winning score has been as high as 1-under (2014). Sweetgrass is a par-72 and will play 6,439 yards this week.
WE’RE HALFWAY THERE
As the 11th of 22 tournaments on the 2017 Epson Tour schedule, the Island Resort Championship marks the midway point of the season.
2017 Epson Tour rookie Celine Boutier is currently second in the Volvik Race for the Card thanks to a win (Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic) and three additional top 10 finishes. Boutier has adjusted well to life on the road, and is feeling confident about her season so far.
“It’s going well, I’m in the top 10 so far,” Boutier said on Wednesday, “that’s’ what I’ve been wanting to do. Now I just have to keep up for the rest of the season and stay in the top 10. I’m going to try my best each week, and if I can win a couple more tournaments that would be great.”
Second-year Epson player Emma Talley is back in full force this season after falling just short of her LPGA Tour card last year. She has made the cut at all 10 events this season, racking up five top 10s as she sits in 14th in the Volvik Race for the Card. During her pro-am on Wednesday Talley took a moment to reflect on her season so far, “I struggled at first, but I finally feel like myself again the last couple weeks. Got two top 10s so hopefully it keeps clicking and the rest of the season will go really well and I get my card.”
Her on-course play isn’t the only thing Talley has been working on this season, she explained, “I’ve been working hard on my putting, and actually my mental side of the game. I’ve never gone to a sports psychologist before, but I went to one three weeks ago and now I’m playing better than I have in a long time. I don’t know if that’s the reason, but it’s sure working for me.”
ROAD TO THE LPGA STOPS THROUGH YMCA
Between practice rounds on Wednesday afternoon, three Epson players got the opportunity to head to the Delta County YMCA to do a Q&A with a bevy of local kids as well as challenge them to a game of tag.
2017 Epson Tour rookies Amy Ihm and Taylor Totland offered up some words of advice to the eager kids, alongside 2015 rookie Chirapat Jao-Javanil who told stories about her native country of Thailand.
After graduating from Furman last month, Totland will be making her first start on the Epson Tour this week and she enjoyed the welcome distraction the YMCA kids brought. “It was fun, the kids were hysterical,” Totland said. “It was a good stress reliever just going out there, playing tag and being with them instead of just being out here worrying about the course and what the tournament is going to be like.”
Although Totland is playing in her first Epson event this season, thanks to a T4 finish in Stage II of Qualifying School last year she has full status on the Epson Tour. While she may not know the drill just yet, she’s keeping her chin up and trying to tackle what life on the road to the LPGA is all about.
“I kind of feel like a lost puppy,” Totland joked, “because I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m just taking it day-by-day. I have some friends out here that are helping me figure it out.”
You could say Totland is ready for the professional scene because less than a month ago she was taking home the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, which she won alongside her Furman teammate Alice Chen.
For Friday’s first round at the Island Resort Championship Totland is paired with Kristin Coleman and Emily Childs where they will tee off at 1:59 p.m.
SECOND POTAWATOMI CUP EVENT
The Island Resort Championship is the second of four Potawatomi Cup events. The Potawatomi Cup, which is in its fourth year, provides a $40,000 pot of bonus money available to the players based on performance in the four events sponsored by Potawatomi nation tribes. There is $8,500 up for grabs at each tournament.
Kendall Dye (Edmond, Okla.) won the first Potawatomi Cup event (Four Winds Invitational) and leads with 500 points.
The third Potawatomi Cup event is the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship from July 28-30. The player with the most points at the end of the fourth event (PHC Classic in Milwaukee) will pocket a $6,000 bonus.
The money earned from the Potawatomi Cup does not count towards the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Min Seo Kwak (2014), Annie Park (2015) and Laura Gonzalez Escallon (2016) are the three winners of the Potawatomi Cup.
OF NOTE
- The winner of the Island Resort Championship has gone onto earn a Tour card (through the Volvik Race for the Card money list or Qualifying Tournament) three of the last four years: Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong (2016), Dani Holmqvist (2015) and Kim Kaufman (2013).
- The field includes three players from the state of Michigan: Lindsey McPherson (Flushing), Christine Meier (Rochester Hills) and Elizabeth Nagel (DeWitt) along with three players from Wisconsin: Brooke Ferrel (Edgerton), Allyssa Ferrell (Edgerton) and Jenna Peters (Kohler).
- This season, six of the ten events have been won by first year players: Daniela Darquea (IOA Championship), Hannah Green (Sara Bay Classic), Chorphaka Jaengkit (Decatur-Forsyth Classic), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Epson Classic and Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY) and Celine Boutier (Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic).
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