The Volvik Race for the Card welcomes a fresh top-10 following the seventh tournament of the 2019 Epson Tour campaign, including a switch at the top with Leona Maguire (County Cavan, Ireland) taking over No. 1 position following her Epson Classic victory.
After stepping into the winner’s circle for the second time this season, Maguire is comfortably setting the pace at $73,790. Julieta Granada (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Jillian Hollis (Rocky River, Ohio) are the closest pursuers to the Duke University alumna with season earnings of $51,926 and $37,009, respectively.
“It’s nice to play well, but it’s nice to win when you play well,” said Maguire, who has five straight top-five finishes. “Last week I felt like I didn’t do really anything wrong on the last day, but got beat by some pretty incredible golf. It was a great turnaround this week to come out again guns blazing, keep my foot down and not mess around with any playoff. Nice to get some momentum early in the season and it helps me with planning.”
Checking in at No. 4 is Maria Parra (Guadiaro, Spain). She did not make the trip to Davidson, N.C., but remains $559 ahead of Cydney Clanton (Concord, North Carolina). The Auburn University graduate captured a tied for 19th showing in her home state to bump her winnings up to $29,786 through three starts.
Once again leading the second half of the top-10 is Kelly Tan (Batu Pahat, Malaysia) and Lauren Coughlin (Charlottesville, Virginia), even though both missed the cut at River Run Country Club. Meanwhile, back into the mix is Kyung Kim (Chandler, Arizona), up three spots to No. 8.
“It’s exciting to be in the top-10 again,” said Kim, who earned a fifth top-15 result in 2019 finishing tied for sixth at the Epson Classic. “I’m starting to hit the ball better and this past tournament gave me confidence in my game going into Auburn week. My goal is to hit fairways and greens, hopefully place in the top-10 again.”
Rounding out the group is Ssu-Chia Cheng (Taipei, Chinese Taipei) and Madison Pressel (Boca Raton, Florida), both down one place. A difference of only $7,301 exists between Pressel and Clanton at No. 5.
At the end of the season, the top-10 players in the Volvik Race for the Card standings will graduate onto the LPGA Tour for the 2020 season.
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