MILTON, Ga., May 16, 2016 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, has moved from Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta National Golf Club for the inaugural Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy® Classic. The first-round of the 54-hole stroke play event begins on Thursday, May 19 and the final-round is scheduled for Saturday, May 21. The rare Saturday finish was put into place to allow players to get from greater Atlanta to Brockton, Massachusetts for next week’s W.B. Mason Championship.
The Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy Classic will feature 144 of the top up-and-coming professionals from the
United States and 24 countries around the globe. The total tournament purse is $100,000 and the winner will earn $15,000 to take a significant jump up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the final money list after the Epson Tour Championship (Oct. 13-16) will earn LPGA Tour membership.
Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. all three days of the tournament. Players will begin from the first and tenth tees in rounds one and two and a single-tee start is scheduled for Saturday’s final-round. There will be a cut to the top 60 and ties following second-round play on Friday.
This is the seventh tournament of 23 total on the 2016 schedule. The Tour is in the midst of a five-week stretch that started two weeks ago in Greenwood, South Carolina.
The Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy Classic represents the return of an LPGA presence to the greater Atlanta area. The last time the LPGA had a presence was the 2006 Florida’s Natural Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez at Eagle’s Landing Country Club. Women’s professional golf has a deep-rooted history in the area. Eagle’s Landing witnessed winners like Dottie Pepper (1992), Laura Davies (1995), Nancy Lopez (1997), Annika Sorenstam (2001, 2005), Juli Inkster (2002) and Se Ri Pak (2003).
This is the first Epson Tour event in the state of Georgia since the 2012 Vidalia Championship at Hawk’s Point Golf Club in Vidalia, Ga.
The field is strong this week as seven of the top 10 on the money list will compete including No. 1 Madelene Sagstrom (Enkoping, Sweden). The field also includes 21 current members of the LPGA Tour.
On Sunday in Charlotte, Erica Popson (Davenport, Florida) hoisted her first Epson Tour trophy by carding a final-round 2-under 70. She was candid in her post-round remarks saying she nearly quit golf this past offseason.
“I played well in college and got my LPGA card right away and had big hopes and dreams, but I just crashed and burned,” said Popson. “It was very disappointing, but I started working with two new coaches since November and they both have helped me overcome some major hurdles mentally and physically. Without them and my friends and family, I think I would have quit golf by now. I feel like I have a future again.”
Popson vaulted from 45th to fourth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list heading into the Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy Classic.
She was a standout at the University of Tennessee where she won eight times and was a First-Team All-SEC performer in 2013.
SAGSTROM GOES FOR HISTORY THIS WEEK: Madelene Sagstrom has won two of the six events (Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial, Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic) and has five top 5 finishes. She has accumulated $93,714 and is just $864 from setting the single-season earnings record (Cindy LaCrosse in 2010 earned $94,578 in 15 starts).
Sagstrom needs to finish 30th or better to break the record.
The 2015 SEC Player of the Year at LSU flew from Charlotte to Orlando to tape two segments at Golf Channel on Monday for air Tuesday on Morning Drive.
GEORGIA CONNECTIONS IN THE FIELD THIS WEEK: The field at the inaugural event features several players with Georgia ties.
Jean Reynolds is a native of Newnan and has enjoyed a great deal of success in Georgia. She is a five-time winner of the Georgia State Golf Association Championship and was a member of the winning 2005 USGA State Championship team representing Georgia. She also won the GSGA Georgia Girls’ Championship three years in a row from 2000-2002. Reynolds, who attended the University of Georgia, is a two-time Epson Tour winner and has 21 career top-10’s including one this year.
Lacey Fears is from Bonaire, Georgia and played collegiately at Mercer University. She graduated from Mercer in 2014 and received an individual at-large bid to the NCAA East Regionals as a senior. Fears was the low amateur at the 2011 Georgia Women’s Open and placed fourth at the 2013 Georgia Women’s Amateur. She is currently in her first full year on Tour.
Roswell native Margaret Shirley (exemption), who won the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, helped Lassiter High School (Marietta) capture the 5A state title as a freshman in 2001 and tied for medalist honors as a senior at the 2004 5A Georgia State Championships. She was also a two-time winner (2006, 2008) of the Georgia Women’s Open competing as an amateur. She won the 2011 Georgia Women’s Match Play Championship. Shirley went onto become an assistant coach for the University of Georgia women’s golf team from 2009-10. She is currently the Executive Director of the Atlanta Junior Golf Association.
Other players with Georgia connections include Melissa Siviter, who played collegiately at Georgia State University (2012-14), Karen Paolozzi, who works as a PGA Assistant Professional at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta and Hannah Collier, who was born in Atlanta and has extended family in Georiga.
AUGUSTA NAMESAKE ON TOP OF GAME: Augusta James (Bath, Ontario) was born on the first-round of the Masters in 1993 (April 8). Hence, the name. This week, she’ll play just three hours from the city and tournament she was named after.
James currently ranks seventh on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and is one of the most consistent players on Tour. Her finishes tell that story (in order from start of year to last week) - T8, T12, T4, T51, T11, T5.
James played in the final grouping yesterday at the Epson Classic, but carded a 76. She ranks seventh on Tour in scoring average (72.25), third in driving accuracy (90%) and second in rounds in the 60’s (six).
James was a three-time All-ACC selection at North Carolina State. She won the 2014 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship by six shots.
JENNI JENQ HAS CAREER BEST FINISH ON SUNDAY: Jenni Jenq (Saratoga, Calif.) is coming off her career-best result on Sunday at the Epson Classic when she closed with a 4-under 68 to finish in a tie for second. Jenq entered the final-round in a tie for 20th.
“I missed the last three cuts so I knew I had make a change in my putting,” said Jenq on Sunday. “I kept grinding it out and something clicked.”
The T2 was her first career top 10 finish.
Jenq made 14 birdies over the final two rounds of the Epson Classic. She moved from 85th to 22nd on the money list.
STEEN CONTINUES HER CONSISTENCY; CAN SHE BREAKTHROUGH?: Like Sagstrom and James, Marissa Steen (West Chester, Ohio) has been incredibly consistent and is now looking for a breakthough win. Steen ranks eighth on the money list through six events with her worst finish a tie for 16th (T8, T16, T6, T15, 6, T11).
Steen is a three-time winner on the Epson Tour and was the 2014 Epson Player of the Year.
She ranks third on Tour in greens in regulation (75.56%), fifth in driving accuracy (86.43%) and fifth in scoring average (71.90).
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