Toyota Danielle Downey Classic
Brook-Lea Country Club
Rochester, NY
July 15, 2015
Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes
ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 15, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, tees off the inaugural Toyota Danielle Downey Classic on Thursday, July 16. The 72-hole stroke play tournament runs through Sunday, July 19.
With ten events remaining in the season, the field of 144 players will compete for a $150,000 total tournament purse. The winner will earn $22,500 and take a big step up the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
“I love being up in the Northeast where the courses are beautiful and I’m looking forward to this week, I think the course is in great shape,” said Vicky Hurst, who played in five Wegmans LPGA Championship’s
including a T44 finish in 2013. “We’ve always had such great turnouts here in Rochester and they have such great support for women’s golf so it is great to be back with the Epson Tour.”
Sue Kim, who played in the last two LPGA events in Rochester and won the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic on the Epson Tour this year, echoed the sentiments of Hurst.
“Not just me, a lot of LPGA players miss having an event in Rochester,” said Kim. “Coming back on the Epson Tour, I knew that everyone was going to be so welcoming here.”
NANCY’S NAVY OUT IN FORCE AS SHE TEES IN PRO-AM: Nancy Lopez tee’d off in the Wednesday pro-am at the Toyota Danielle Downey Classic with a line of onlookers that extended from the back of the tee box to the fairway.
“Rochester was just such a great place to play golf,” said Lopez during her media availability before playing in the pro-am. “There was a lot of excitement, the crowds were huge and I won my fifth in a row here my rookie year. Rochester was just that special where I always looked forward to coming back.”
Lopez is the honorary host of the Toyota Danielle Downey Classic this year.
“No tournament in Rochester just didn’t seem right,” she Lopez. “I hope fans in Rochester that loved the LPGA players embrace these young up-and-comers of the Epson Tour.”
LEE LOPEZ SAYS ACE PRODUCED LOUDEST ‘ROAR EVER’: The roar Lee Lopez heard from the U.S. Open crowd when she made an ace on the par-3 sixth hole at Lancaster Country Club was unlike any roar she has ever heard. Lopez said she has been to countless PGA TOUR events, but has never heard anything like it.
“As a professional athlete, those moments are things that you want to relive time and time again,” said Lopez. “I had all these texts and all these notifications from people that don’t even follow golf that saw my shot on ESPN and it was just great.”
BROOKE / BRITTANY HENDERSON TIES TO ROCHESTER: Brooke Henderson, the 17-year-old that has taken the golf world by storm, stepped foot on Brook-Lea Country Club for the first time on Wednesday to play in the Toyota Danielle Downey Classic pro-am.
“I’m excited to be here in Rochester, especially since it is only four hours from home,” said Henderson. “My sister (Brittany) worked here for a couple years at Country Club of Rochester so I’ve been here a ton of times and it is a beautiful area.”
Brittany was in the PGM (Professional Golf Management) program at Coastal Carolina and as part of the program, she was placed at CCR and worked in the pro shop.
Brooke, who has finished in the top 5 in the last two LPGA majors and is No. 32 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, has always looked up to Brittany and Rochester favorite Morgan Pressel.
“My older sister Brittany has always been my role model and I grew up wanting to be just like her,” said Brooke. “Another big one that I always wanted to follow was Morgan Pressel and I’ve gotten to play with her quite a few times and it is a dream come true.”
DIANA FERNANDEZ PLAYING FOR DANIELLE THIS WEEK: The final year and half of Diana Fernandez’ career at Auburn didn’t go anywhere near the way she envisioned. Her coach, Kim Evans, was diagnosed with cancer the second semester of her junior season and one of her favorite coaches, Danielle Downey, lost her life during her final semester.
“She was helping out with both teams at Auburn and just making good things happen there,” said Fernandez. “She was so funny, so positive and the most competitive person that I’ve ever been around. Every practice that she was around, there would be some sort of competition.”
Fernandez wants this week to be a celebration of Danielle’s life and all the great moments she spent with her.
“This tournament is just out-of-this-world meaningful for me because of Danielle,” said Fernandez, who is one of two Auburn Tigers in the field this week (Victoria Trapani). “It was hard for everyone to lose Danielle, but I want people to come to this tournament to celebrate her life and all the good times.”
Fernandez, an actuarial mathematics major at Auburn, is in her first season on the Epson Tour after graduating in 2014. She has made two cuts in seven starts.
The Paraguay native, who grew up at the same club as LPGA Tour player Julieta Granada, has another connection to Rochester. She is friends with Rochester native and Web.com Tour player Dominic Bozzelli, who graduated a year ahead of Fernandez from Auburn.
QUICK NOTES: This is the third four round event of the year on the Epson Tour. The other two four day events were the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial in Fort Myers, Fla. and the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic in Greenwood, S.C. There are five total four round events this season. The other two are the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge and the Epson Tour Championship...Giulia Molinaro, number one on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, will aim for her 19th consecutive round of even-par or better on Thursday...Everyone up to player No. 38 (Mindy Kim) on the Volvik Race for the Card money list could potentially jump inside the top 10 with a win this week...Samantha Richdale, No. 15 on the money list, has finished in the top 10 in two straight events.
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