Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay
Sara Bay Country Club
Sarasota, Florida
April 24, 2014
Pre-Tournament News & Notes
GROUP TO KEEP AN EYE ON
CHEYENNE WOODS THROWS FIRST PITCH AT RAYS GAME:
TEE-TIMES FOR TOP-10 ON VOLIK RACE FOR CARD MONEY LIST
O’NEAL WILL PLAY IN FIRST EVENT
FIRST ROUND IMPORTANCE
VOLVIK RACE FOR THE CARD PLAYER TO WATCH
BOOKER MIDDLE SCHOOL VISIT
SARASOTA, FLORIDA, April 24, 2014 – The Epson Tour, the Road to the LPGA, is ready to tee off at the third annual Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay on Friday, April 25. The 54-hole event will conclude on Sunday, April 27.
The 144-player field is competing for their share of the $100,000 total purse.
The first groups will tee off at 7:45 a.m. from the first and tenth tees. On the first tee, Moah Chang (Los Angeles, Calif.), Lauren Doughtie (Suffolk, Va.) and Maiya Tanaka (San Diego, Calif.) will set the pace. On the back nine, Nicole Vandermade (Brantford, Ontario), Corie Hou (Sydney, Australia) and Mary Narzisi (Omaha, Neb.) are first to tee.
Local product and sponsor exemption Ericka Schneider has received a lot of attention this week from the local Sarasota and Bradenton media. Schneider, who is playing in her first event as a professional, will tee off from the first tee in the 9:05 a.m. group. She will be joined by Taylor Collins and Alexandra Casi.
Bradenton resident Ginger Howard will tee off in the afternoon wave at 12:45 p.m. from the first tee. She will be paired with Veronica Vetesnik, the ANNIKA Academy elite athlete in the field, and Garrett Phillips.
GROUP TO KEEP AN EYE ON: The 1:35 p.m. group from the tenth hole is a very intriguing pairing featuring Cheyenne Woods, Kim Kaufman and Laura Kueny.
Kaufman and Kueny both have Epson Tour wins under their belts while Woods won an LET event in February.
Kaufman won the Volvik Championship earlier this year and is currently fourth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
Kueny finished in a tie for tenth at the last event and was 14th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2013.
Kueny won the Epson Classic and finished second at the Decatur-Forsyth Classic.
CHEYENNE WOODS THROWS FIRST PITCH AT RAYS GAME: Cheyenne Woods threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Tropicana Field on Wednesday before the Tampa Bay Rays game against the Minnesota Twins.
After the first pitch, all-star pitcher David Price came out of the Rays clubhouse to grab a picture with Woods.
Woods threw the first pitch to Rays pitcher Brandon Guyer.
WITHDRAWALS: There were five withdrawals this week from the preliminary roster. The five players that have withdrawn from the field are Lindy Duncan, Veronica Felibert, Alejandra Llaneza, Reilley Rankin and Caroline Westrup. All five are dual status players on the LPGA Tour and Epson Tour.
TEE-TIMES FOR TOP-10 ON VOLIK RACE FOR CARD MONEY LIST: Here is a look at when the top-10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list will tee off on Friday.
| 1. | Yueer Cindy Feng | $25,984 | (8:45 a.m., first tee) |
| 2. | Kendall Dye | $19,952 | (1:05 p.m., first tee) |
| 3. | Jennie Lee | $18,378 | (8:55 a.m., tenth tee) |
| 4. | Kim Kaufman | $17,216 | (1:35 p.m., tenth tee) |
| 5. | Marissa Steen | $15,977 | (8:55 a.m., first tee) |
| 6. | Megan McChrystal | $12,314 | (1:15 p.m., first tee) |
| 7. | Hannah Yun | $10,770 | (8:45 a.m., tenth tee) |
| 8. | Jackie Stoelting | $10,075 | (1:15 p.m., tenth tee) |
| 9. | Maude-Aimee Leblanc | $8,875 | (8:25 a.m., tenth tee) |
| 10. | Sara-Maude Juneau | $8,478 | (1:25 p.m., first tee) |
O’NEAL WILL PLAY IN FIRST EVENT: Blair O’Neal, who has played on the Epson Tour since 2004, will make her season debut this week in Sarasota. Last week, she received the sponsor invite to play in the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial next week in Fort Myers.
O’Neal, who doubles as a professional model and golfer, played in 14 events on the Epson Tour last year. She has played in 62 career Epson Tour events.
She did not play on the Epson Tour from 2007-2010 in order to focus on her modeling career.
O’Neal will tee off in the 8:05 a.m. group from the first tee with Selanee Henderson and Inhong Lim.
Erin Misheff, Laura Wearn and Emily Childs are also now in the field.
IMPORTANCE OF PUTTING: Putting will be critical this week at the Donald Ross designed Sara Bay Country Club. The top-5 players in putting average are listed below.
1) Emma de Groot – 27.833
2) Carly Werwie – 27.889
3) Numa Gulyanamitta – 28.167
4) Wei-Ling Hsu – 28.500
5) Brittany Altomare – 28.556
FIRST ROUND IMPORTANCE: Last year, Christine Song and Isabelle Boineau both shot 4-under-par 68 in the first-round to lead after day one. They wound up dueling in a playoff on Sunday. Song outdueled Boineau on the second playoff hole to capture the win.
In 2012, the eventual winner Esther Choe was in a tie for fourth following the first round after shooting an even-par 72. Jacqui Concolino led after the first-round by virtue of a 2-under-par 70 and finished in a tie for fourth.
If the past is indicative of what we will see this week, players must perform well in round one.
VOLVIK RACE FOR THE CARD PLAYER TO WATCH: Maude-Aimee Leblanc has only played in one Epson Tour event this year and is currently ninth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. She finished second at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.
Leblanc has dual status on the LPGA Tour and the Epson Tour.
Leblanc has played in three LPGA events this year – the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open and most recently the Kia Classic. She missed the cut in all three.
The former Purdue University All-American played full-time on the LPGA Tour in 2012 and 2013.
BOOKER MIDDLE SCHOOL VISIT: Epson Tour players Marta Silva and Margarita Ramos visited Booker Middle School in Sarasota on Thursday afternoon to talk to students about the importance of education and life as a professional athlete.
Silva and Ramos also participated in a fun putting contest with the students.
Each student received a golf ball and an autographed picture of the Epson Tour professionals.
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