LPGA STARS READY FOR LEGENDS TOUR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP NOV 10-13 ON INNISBROOK’S ISLAND COURSE
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| Rosie Jones (Photo by Rick Sharp/The Legends Tour) |
Presented by Publix and Kraft Foods, the $250,000 tournament will be staged Nov. 10-13, on the Island Course at Innisbrook Resort. The tournament will feature a field of 44 players, headlined by defending champion Rosie Jones, who recently captained the U.S. Solheim Cup team in Ireland.
“The Island Course at Innisbrook is a great test of Florida golf,” said Jones, who has 13 LPGA wins and four victories on the Legends Tour. “I’m looking forward to coming back to defend my title there.”
Jones won the 2010 Legends Tour Open Championship by five strokes over runner-up Michele Redman, but the fiery player from Atlanta will be chased this year by a cast of LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famers, including Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, JoAnne Carner, Betsy King, Nancy Lopez and Patty Sheehan.
“Players like to feel the heat of competition and that is what I look for every time I tee it up on the Legends tour,” added Jones, who knows she will have some stiff competition in trying to reclaim her title.
Playing in her first Legends Tour Open Championship will be Liselotte Neumann of Sweden, who was the LPGA’s top rookie in 1988. Neumann went on to win 13 times on the LPGA Tour, including her first victory stateside at the 1988 U.S. Women’s Open Championship. Neumann also was a member of seven European Solheim Cup teams.
Another Legends Tour rookie will bring her own star power to this year’s event. Lori Atsedes of Ithaca, N.Y., won seven times on the LPGA Futures Tour and is the Futures Tour’s career money leader.
But the former LPGA Tour member became more widely known when she appeared as a contestant in two of the Golf Channel’s “Big Break” golf reality shows. Now a teaching professional in Arizona, Atsedes earned yet another accolade in August when she won the 2011 LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals (T&CP) National Championship.
Fan favorite Jan Stephenson of Australia, as well as three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Hollis Stacy of Colorado, also will be in the field.
In addition, former LPGA Tour and Japan LPGA Tour member Patti Rizzo of Florida will return for this year’s tournament. Rizzo is currently the head women’s golf coach at the University of Miami.
Tournament practice rounds will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 9 and Thursday, Nov. 10, with a pro-am set for Friday, Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. Two rounds of stroke-play competition will be staged on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 12-13, starting each day at 8 a.m.
Advance tickets are available for $20 at www.thelegendstour.com/tickets or by calling (Tampa) 813-262-1785 or 1-800-881-4475, ext. 1785. Tickets may also be purchased at the gate during tournament week.
There is no admission for Friday’s pro-am, but spectators may make a donation to the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida – the charity for this year’s championship. Children age 17 and under, as well as all military personnel with a current I.D., are admitted free each day.
For a complete list of the field or more information about the Legends Tour Open Championship, visit http://www.thelegendstour.com .
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