ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, May 18, 2014 – Marissa Steen birdied four holes in a five hole stretch on the back nine to pull away from the competition and capture the Friends of Mission Charity Classic Presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on Sunday afternoon at the Country Club of Asheville.
“I’m on cloud nine,” Steen said after her round. “Just to see all of the hard work pay off because my motto has always been hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. I’ve always kind of been the underdog. I wasn’t the most highly ranked college player or amateur player but I’ve always worked my butt off. All of the sacrifice my family has made, my swing coach, the whole support system around me has been unreal and I couldn’t do anything without them.”
Steen finished her day at 3-under-par 69, for a three round total of 208 (-8) to claim a four-shot victory over Wei-Ling Hsu. The victory marks the second Epson Tour win of the season for the Memphis graduate and moves Steen into first place on the Volvik Race for the Card money list at $50,467.
“It’s huge,” Steen said of moving to No. 1 on the money list. “I was joking before that money talks, but it does and that’s what it’s about at the end of the day out here as much as we don’t want it to be it is so to get two wins and a couple of more top-10s on top of it has been huge.”
Steen made the turn in even par 36 but was a birdie machine on the back nine. Steen started her run by stuffing an approach shot on the par-4 13th and followed that up with another dart to seven feet at 14. The flatstick gave Steen birdies on 15 and 17 as she dropped putts from 30 and 25 feet respectively before ending her day with a bogey at the last.
“I was joking on the last hole that I can just lag it up there and not four putt,” Steen said.
“On 13 I hit it close, put it to four feet and made it. On 14 I hit it to seven feet and made it. On 15 I made a 30-footer and on 17 I made a 25-footer.”
Steen celebrated the victory with her mom who was unable to be in Sarasota for sher first victory of the season.
“It is so special especially since my mom is here,” Steen said. “She wasn’t there in Sarasota when I won so having her here is awesome. For everything that her and my dad have done for me, it feels good that she can finally enjoy a win with me.”
While Steen will not be competing next week in Charlotte she has a busy week ahead as she will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open in Houston on Tuesday and then take some time off back in her home state of Ohio.
“One of my good friends is getting married back home next weekend so I’m going to enjoy that and celebrate with everybody back there because I haven’t been back home in six weeks.”
Casey Grice (-3) finished solo third while Laura Gonzalez Escallon and Jackie Stoelting finished tied for fourth at two-under.
WEI-LING HSU COMES UP JUST SHORT IN QUEST FOR $1 MILLION: When Wei-Ling Hsu won the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic she became eligible to win the $1 million Park Sterling Cup if she captured the Friends of Mission Charity Classic and next week’s Epson Classic.
Hsu came up just shy of the second leg with a solo second finish despite shooting her lowest round of the week, a two-under 70. The runner-up finish is enough to move Hsu up to third in the Volvik Race for the Card money list at $41,202.
STOELTING FINISHES T4 PRIOR TO BUSY WEEK: Big Break Florida finalist Jackie Stoelting registered her third top-5 finish of the year to move from 11th to sixth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
The solid finish comes in advance of a busy week for Stoelting who left the course and immediately started driving to Atlanta to catch a flight to Orlando where she will appear on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive at 7:00 a.m. on Monday to preview the finale of Big Break Florida.
PAIR OF TAR HEELS RECORD CAREER-BEST FINISHES: A pair of University of North Carolina graduates, Casey Grice and Allie White both recorded the best finishes of their young careers at the Friends of Mission Charity Classic.
Grice used a solo third place showing to back up a tie for eighth at last week’s Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic and moves up from 76th on the money list two weeks ago to 17th in the latest Volvik Race for the Card.
White tied for 11th to jump inside the top-100 on the money list.
Both players threw out first pitches prior to the Ashville Tourists game earlier this week.
TIFOSI OPTICS LOW ROUND: Epson Tour rookie Kishi Sinha recorded her best finish on Tour, a tie for 11th, thanks to a final round 68 (-4).
With the low round on Sunday, Sinha is the Tifosi Optics Low Round Winner and will receive a free pair of Tifosi Optics sunglasses, the official sunglasses of the Epson Tour.
“Today it really came together on the back nine,” Sinha said. “I made four birdies and no bogeys on the back so that really worked out and I’m happy. It feels amazing to put it all together.”
Sinha is one of four players representing India on the Epson Tour. All four players are looking to become the second player of Indian descent to play on the LPGA Tour joining Simi Mehra who competed for several years in the late 90s and early 2000s.
“It’s amazing because when I first started it was just a small group of junior golfers,” Sinha said of the growth of golf in India. “Now it’s much more competitive. There is more money and a pro tour. More and more people are turning pro and playing competitively so I think we should see a lot more girls coming out here.”
TANG HAS BEST SHOWING OF 2014: Jessy Tang used a final round 69 (-3) to jump from a tie for 44th into a tie for 18th.
“I think everything went according to my game plan,” Tang said. “I didn’t try to push for any birdies I just let it happen. Take one shot at time and keep patient because the weather was not optimal this week.”
Tang is one of several players in the field who will make a trek down to Atlanta for a U.S. Open qualifier on Monday before heading back to the Tar Heel state for the Epson Classic which begins on Thursday at Raintree Country Club in Charlotte.
“Right now I’m going to be heading to Atlanta,” Tang said after her round. “I’m going to be playing 36 holes for my U.S. Open qualifier tomorrow and then booking it all the way to Charlotte the day after and trying to get some rest and then maybe a practice round in before the tournament starts on Thursday.”
PLAYERS LOVE ASHEVILLE: This week marked the second trip to Asheville for the Epson Tour and every player raved about the Friends of Mission Charity Classic Presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.
“It was fun being here,” said Martia Engzelius. “This was my first time in Asheville and I loved the atmosphere, the mountains, the green trees and everything. It was just great to play here.”
Tournament winner Marissa Steen echoed Engzelius’ statement.
“I just love the town,” Steen said. “I love the people. In the two year’s I’ve been here the people have been great. Everyone here has been so hospitable to me and everyone else here on the Tour. Asheville is just a really friendly city and we enjoy being here.”
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