Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic
The Links at Stoney Point
Greenwood, South Carolina
May 6, 2015
Pre-Tournament News & Notes
GREENWOOD, S.C., May 6, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, is a day away from kicking off the 2015 Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic. This is the sixth event of the year and the only event in the state of South Carolina.
The top 144 aspiring LPGA Tour professionals will compete for their share of the largest purse on Tour, $200,000. The winner will earn $30,000 and likely takeover the top spot on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. For perspective, first place at the last event won $16,500 while second place this week will earn $18,784.
First-round play begins at 7:30 a.m. from the first and tenth tees. The second wave will begin play at 12:20 p.m. There will be a cut to the top 70 and ties after second-round play on Friday.
NOTABLE PAIRINGS: Here is a look at a few notable first-round pairings.
7:52 a.m. (tenth tee) - Marta Silva (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), who finished tied for second last year in Greenwood, will be paired with Lacey Agnew (Jonesboro, Ga.) and Big Break Invitational runner up Emily Talley (Napa, Calif.).
8:25 a.m. - Volvik Race for the Card No. 1 Lee Lopez (Whittier, Calif.) will be paired with Jessica Wallace (Langley, B.C.) and Fiona Puyo (Hendaye, France).
8:47 a.m. - Volvik Race for the Card No. 3 Brianna Do (Lakewood, Calif.) will be grouped with Volvik Race for the Card No. 11 Brittany Henderson (Smith Falls, Ontario) and 3-time winner Samantha Richdale
(Kelowna, B.C.).
9:20 a.m. - Furman graduate Stefanie Kenoyer (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) will be paired with Emelie Lindskog (Halmstad, Sweden) and Chie Arimura (Kumamoto, Japan).
9:31 a.m. (tenth tee) - Big Break Myrtle Beach participant Emily Tubert (Burbank, Calif.) will be grouped will LPGA members Julia Boland (Tamworth, NSW, Australia) and Natalie Sheary (West Hartford, Conn.).
12:31 p.m. - Su Oh (Melbourne, Australia), who is ranked No. 133 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, tees with Carleigh Silvers (Greeley, Colo.) and Ashleigh Albrecht (Murrieta, Calif.).
1:15 p.m. - Rachel Rohanna (Waynesburg, Pa.), who won the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay, will play with Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines) and Katelyn Sepmoree (Tyler, Texas).
STATS AND STUFF: Maude-Aimee Leblanc has 63 sub-par holes through five events, nine more than anyone else on Tour. Nine of her 16 rounds have been under-par this year, which is tied for the most with Lee Lopez. It’s part of the reason why Leblanc is currently fifth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
Amongst players in the field this week, nobody plays the par-3 holes better than Samantha Richdale, who is averaging a score of 2.969 on 64 par-3 holes this year.
Far and away, the most accurate off the tee this year has been Augusta James. It is part of the reason why she won the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial. She is hitting 88.1 percent of fairways through five events. The Kingston, Ontario native is second on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
The top four long hitters on Tour are Maude-Aimee Leblanc (282.438), Rachel Rohanna (274.750), Daniela Iacobelli (273.969) and Emily Tubert (273.700). All four are in the top 40 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and the top 3 are all inside the top 20.
The top four players in the field this week will earn over $10,000 assuming no ties.
MENTORING BREAKFAST: On Tuesday, Epson Tour players had the unique opportunity to have breakfast with LPGA legends and current LPGA players and then learn from them as part of a panel discussion.
LPGA greats Beth Daniel, Pat Bradley, Nancy Lopez and Meg Mallon were joined on stage by current LPGA players Jennifer Song and Brooke Pancake. A host of topics were discussed including how to prepare for events, how to handle injuries, ways to stay loose in pressure situations, what to look for in a caddie and more.
Chief Business Officer of the Epson Tour Mike Nichols served as the emcee of the event.
“The Epson Tour was a great Tour for me when I played on it because I was a raw talent,” said 18-time winner Meg Mallon. “I’m really happy for the players now that have a Tour that is much more polished than what I played on.”
Tournament organizer Jim Medford was thrilled that players had the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest to ever play.
“Can you imagine what it would be like for young professionals in any field to be able to sit and ask questions of four of the greatest people ever in that field?” said Medford. “This is such a great opportunity for these young ladies to ask the legends questions and get feedback about what it means to be a professional golfer.”
Lopez, who won 48-times on the LPGA, has been around the Epson Tour frequently over the last month and continues to instill wisdom on the next generation of LPGA stars.
“If we can help these girls get better and figure out what’s important in life, then it’s a good thing,” said Lopez. “For the legends, it’s great because we get a chance to feel younger and share our experiences with these girls to help them become better.”
STACY LEWIS TALKS ABOUT EPSON TOUR GROWTH: Stacy Lewis, the No. 3 ranked player in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, took part in the pro-am on Monday in Greenwood and also hosted a clinic for pro-am participants with Brittany Lincicome.
“It is really cool to see the changes in the Epson Tour over the last couple years, definitely the quality of the golf courses have stepped up,” said Lewis, who spent some of her childhood in Anderson, South Carolina. “Just being here (Greenwood) for a day, you can tell that the community supports this event like crazy. It is the biggest thing that comes into town and it is great to see.”
Lewis hit tee shots for every group on the par-3 13th hole and then went to the green to help the group putt.
“It is fun to see a lot of the Epson Tour players, I played college golf with some and I even played on Tour with others,” said Lewis. “Hopefully getting a chance to hang out with us helps them feel more comfortable when they do come out on the LPGA. Having the legends involved is also huge because they have so much insight.”
Lizette Salas, who played in seven events on the Epson Tour in 2011 after graduating from USC, was also in town and spoke about her time on the Epson Tour.
“It was really just a reality check for me because I didn’t know what it took to be one of the top players, but I met some really awesome players out here that are now on the LPGA and we just motivated each other,” said Salas, who is the No. 31 ranked player in the world. “To be a current player on the LPGA and to see how big the Epson Tour has grown and to see the legends made this a great event for me.”
GRICE READY TO CONQUER AFTER LPGA START: Casey Grice was high on the alternate list for the LPGA event last week, but played in the Monday Qualifer just in case she didn’t get in. On the fourth hole, a rules official told her she was in the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout.
Although she missed the cut in her first LPGA Tour start as a professional, Grice said the experience was invaluable.
“It was so much fun, it was an awesome experience,” said Grice, who drove from Texas to Memphis to Greenwood to tee it up this week. “I live 20 minutes from the course and I got to sleep in my own bed and I had friends and family come and watch.”
Grice played in the event in 2013 when she won a college qualifier, but this experience felt a little different because she is a professional and has LPGA Tour status through Q-School performance.
“When I played in the event as an amateur, I felt kind of out of place,” said Grice, who was one of eight Epson Tour professionals hosting a junior clinic on Wednesday. “I know I’m a professional now and I’m just as much as a professional as anyone else out there so it felt a little different. Being there with all the fans and all the other players was so much fun.”
Grice was a bit nervous the first few days not knowing the unspoken rules of how things operate on the LPGA Tour. She played a practice round on Tuesday with 2014 Volvik Race for the Card graduate Jackie Stoelting and that made her feel more relaxed.
“Everything I learned out here (Epson Tour), I was re-learning out there,” said Grice. “The first few days I was like a deer in headlights trying to figure everything out, but all the girls are great and I saw some Road to LPGA girls that I knew from last year. It was nice to see familiar faces and get back in the groove.”
Grice has been busy of late. This will be her fourth consecutive week playing and she plans on playing the full Carolina swing.
“Yesterday and today, I felt like I was getting a little drained, but now that we are here and getting settled and getting a routine for the week I’m excited to play. I love the Carolinas.”
Grice played college golf at the University of North Carolina so it should come as no surprise that she enjoys this part of the schedule.
The biggest thing that Grice noticed about playing on the LPGA Tour is that it highlights your mistakes.
“The players just don’t make as many mistakes as maybe we do out here. You can get away with a few out here, but not out there,” said Grice. “In a way that is good, because it showed me what I still need to work on.”
The LPGA week also boosted her confidence for this week.
“It definitely gave me confidence because if I can play out there I should definitely be able to play out here.”
Two things that stick out from the week were a rookie meeting that Natalie Gulbis hosted and rubbing shoulders with players like Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer.
“It’s cool to get veterans opinions,” said Grice. “It was cool brushing shoulders with people I looked up to and watched on television and I was playing the same course as them last week.”
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