R1: 12:18 p.m. PT/R2: 7:48 a.m. PT – Lauren Stephenson (1), Yahui Zhang (2), Jessica Porvasnik (3)

Race for the Card No. 1 Lauren Stephenson is making her first start at the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells this week. Heading into the event, she is leading the season-long Race for the Card after her win at the Twin Bridges Championship and six additional top-10 finishes. She started her professional golf career in 2018, and after a couple of years on the LPGA Tour, Stephenson began playing on the Epson Tour full-time in 2024. In September, she clinched her card and will return to the LPGA Tour in 2025.

Eighteen-year-old Yahui Zhang has acquired eight top-10 results this season, including a win at the Four Winds Invitational and a runner-up finish at the Otter Creek Championship. Like Stephenson, Zhang has already mathematically clinched her 2025 LPGA Tour card, doing so in early September. Zhang has a chance to win the 2024 Gaelle Truet Rookie of the Year award, which goes to the highest-ranking rookie in the Race for the Card at the conclusion of the 2024 Epson Tour Championship and looks to join an elite group of athletes that have won both awards in the same year, a list that includes Madelene Sagstrom in 2016, Annie Park in 2015, Mina Kreiter in 2009, Vicky Hurst in 2008, Song-Hee Kim in 2006, Lorena Ochoa in 2002 and Beth Bauer in 2001.

Currently sitting at No. 3 in the Race for the Card, Jessica Porvasnik is in her third full season on the Epson Tour. Although she has not earned a win in 2024, she has had a heater of a season, carding six top-10 results, including two runner-up finishes at the Atlantic Beach Classic and the Twin Bridges Championship. She is making her third start in the Epson Tour Championship, finishing T47 in 2022 and T23 in 2023.

R1: 12:29 p.m. PT/R2: 7:59 a.m. PT – Ingrid Lindblad (8), Ana Belac (9), Daniela Iacobelli (10)

Former Louisiana State University Tiger Ingrid Lindblad joined the Epson Tour in June and is currently sitting at eighth in the 2024 Race for the Card. In both her third and sixth starts of the season, the Swede made two runs at her first professional title, finishing in a tie for second and solo second in those events, respectively. After much anticipation, Lindblad won the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic to drastically move up in the Race for the Card and is now in the conversation to earn Gaelle Truet Rookie of the Year honors.

Making her second start in the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells, Ana Belac is currently No. 9 in the Race for the Card. In 2024, she has carded two runner-up finishes – one in her first start of the season at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic and another at the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic. Belac has two additional top-10 finishes on her 2024 resume and represented Slovenia in the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing in a tie for 49th at Le Golf National. This week, she looks to secure her 2025 LPGA Tour card after previously competing on the circuit in 2021 after finishing first in the 2020 Race for the Card.

Epson Tour veteran and Race for the Card No. 10 Daniela Iacobelli is making her 12th start in the Epson Tour Championship this week, having won the season-ending event in 2012, an experience she will be leaning on as she competes at the Players Course at Indian Wells Golf Resort. Iacobelli has five career victories on the Epson Tour, including a victory this season at the 2024 Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship in July. She recorded a runner-up finish the week prior to collecting her fifth title and has three additional top-20 finishes this season. With an LPGA Tour card on the line, a solid performance this week could see Iacobelli return to the LPGA Tour for a fourth season, as she first joined the organization in 2013 and then also competed on Tour in 2016 and 2018.

R1: 12:18 p.m. PT/R2: 7:48 a.m. PT – Brooke Matthews (5), Fiona Xu (6), Jenny Bae (7)*

At No. 5 in the Race for the Card, Brooke Matthews is the most recent Epson Tour athlete to mathematically clinch her LPGA Tour card for the 2025 season and is making her second appearance in the Epson Tour Championship. Matthews earned her LPGA Tour status next season after her T5 finish at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout, marking her 7th top-10 result of the 2024 season. The 26-year-old earned LPGA Tour membership for the first time through 2021 LPGA Q-Series. Matthews competed on Tour for the 2022 season but fell just short of maintaining her card for 2023. She is still in search of her first professional win and will be working to finish off her season in style with a win at the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells.

Fiona Xu is No. 6 in the Race for the Card and a 2024 rookie on the Epson Tour. Xu made her name known fast on the Official Qualifying Tour of the LPGA, finishing runner-up in just her third career start. Three events later, she broke the all-time 54-hole scoring record on the Epson Tour at the Copper Rock Championship, finishing 22-under for the event to pick up her first professional victory. Xu has made five straight cuts as she enters her first Epson Tour Championship.

Jenny Bae is the most recent winner on the Epson Tour, taking home the trophy at the 2024 Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout to move to No. 7 in the Race for the Card with one event to play. Bae is a three-time winner on the Epson Tour, winning back-to-back titles during her rookie season in 2023. The Epson Tour sophomore comes into the week at Indian Wells Golf Resort off three straight top-10 finishes and will try to make it four by week’s end.

R1: 12:29 p.m. PT/R2: 7:59 a.m. PT – Madison Young (12), Pornanong Phatlum (13), Valery Plata (15)*

Currently sitting at 12th in the Race for the Card, Madison Young picked up her first professional victory earlier this season at the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic and has since added two more top-10 finishes to her resume this year. Young played her first full season on the Epson Tour in 2022, ending the season No. 55 in the Race for the Card. In 2023, the 27-year-old finished the season at No. 45. And no matter what happens this week in Indian Wells, Calif., Young has put together her best season since turning professional.

Pornanong Phatlum is making just her 10th start of the year at this week’s Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells. Despite the small amount of starts, Phatlum holds the No. 13 spot in the Race for the Card, thanks to a win at the Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic in August. In her other nine events, the Thailand native missed one cut and added two more top-10 finishes in addition to her victory.

Valery Plata holds the last spot in the top 15 of the Race for the Card starting the week. The Colombian began her Epson Tour season with a win at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in her first career Epson Tour start. Plata played her 2023 season on the LPGA Tour after finishing T3 in Final Qualifying at 2022 LPGA Q-Series. A strong week at Indian Wells Golf Resort’s Players Course could see Plata rejoin her peers on the LPGA Tour next year.

*Off No. 11

For a full list of tee times, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2024 Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells

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