FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship
Battle Creek Country Club
Battle Creek, Mich.
June 5, 2014
Pre-Tournament News & Notes

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (June 5, 2014) – The Epson Tour, the Road to the LPGA Tour, reaches the half-way point of its 2014 season when it travels to the Great Lakes State for the inaugural FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship. The three-round event will begin on Friday, June 6, and run through Sunday, June 8, at Battle Creek Country Club.

The 144 player field will be competing for a share of a $100,000 purse with a top prize of $15,000. The top-10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list will receive their LPGA Tour cards for the 2015 season.

SPONSOR INVITE GABRIELLE SHIPLEY EXCITED FOR OPPORTUNITY: Gabrielle Shipley was in a Hospitality class when she got an email from FireKeepers Casino Hotel Tournament Director Kathy George. The email wasn’t about an internship at the casino or hotel but about being a sponsor’s invite to the upcoming Epson Tour tournament.

““It was super exciting,” Shipley said. “I actually called Kathy after one of my classes because she had emailed me and so I called her back and she told me over the phone that I was a sponsor’s invite and I was so excited. I called my dad immediately and my coach and the rest of my family and they were all so excited.”

Shipley will be entering her junior season at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids and competes on the Lakers’ golf team. The Hastings native is a two time ALL-GLIAC First Team Honoree with GVSU and was a four-time All-State honoree while at Hastings High, including her senior year when she won the state championship.

“I started playing golf at six and my dad introduced me to the game,” Shipley explained. “I’ve always had the dream of becoming a professional golfer and making it on the LPGA Tour and so I feel like this is a good stepping stone to accomplishing that dream.”

Shipley’s Dad will once again play a major role in her game as she plans to have him on the bag for her as well as a friend of hers that plays on the Grand Valley State men’s golf team. With her team in place and family behind her, Shipley is excited for the week to come and has high expectations for herself.

“Making it into Sunday’s round,” Shipley said of her expectations for the week. “I would really like to post good scores and that’s what I’m expecting of myself. Just because the playing field changes and the competition gets better it doesn’t really change my game. I just go out play the course and everything else shouldn’t and won’t affect my game.”

SPONSOR INVITE GRACE LABRECQUE MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM SOCCER TO GOLF: Battle Creek native Grace Labrecque, the second sponsor invite into this week’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, has been a student-athlete at Central Michigan for the past four-years. While most of her competitors in the field were also collegiate athletes Labrecque’s sport of choice was soccer instead of golf.

“I’m incredibly grateful to FireKeepers and Kathy George for giving me the opportunity to play in this event,” Labrecque said. “It’s great to be in my hometown with all of the support that the community has given me.”

Labrecque was the starting goalkeeper for the Chippewas during her soccer career in Mt. Pleasant and left her mark on the CMU record books where she concluded her career ranking fourth all-time in program history with 11 career shutouts. The Battle Creek native recorded six shutouts in seven games to end the regular season. Among the Great Lakes Division I region, Labrecque ranks sixth in save percentage (.847), ninth in goals against average (.891) and 10th in saves per game (4.8).

Central Michigan recently added a women’s golf program for the 2014-15 school year and Labrecque will be hanging up her cleats and trading them in for some soft golf spikes as she has an extra year of eligibility thanks to a redshirt season with the soccer program.

“I’m pretty excited,” Labrecque said of being a member of CMU’s first golf team. “I enjoyed my experience on the soccer team but am looking forward to something new next year and am lucky to have an opportunity to play golf.”

Labrecque has been working tirelessly to improve her game over the past few months in preparation for the upcoming season.

“I’ve been working on my game a lot since I came home for the summer,” Labrecque said. “It’s always a work in progress but I’m looking forward to this weekend and trying to have fun with the experience rather than getting too caught up in how I play.”

Labrecque will look to take advantage of some home course knowledge this week as she grew up playing Battle Creek Country Club.

“I’ve grown up here. It’s a great course,” Labrecque said. “It’s in great shape right now. I’m really looking forward to playing it. It’s a beautiful place here.”

BLACKWELDER BACK IN ACTION AFTER EPSON CLASSIC WIN: Mallory Blackwelder captured the Epson Classic in Charlotte prior to the Epson Tour’s bye week and is excited to be back on the course at Battle Creek Country Club for the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

“I’m really excited to be back playing this week in Michigan and getting this stretch started,” Blackwelder said. “Definitely it was nice to have an off week, especially after the win to deal with the emotional response and the media stuff but I’m excited to be back out and ready to keep playing.”

Blackwelder shot the low round of the final round, a 5-under 67, to post 10-under for the tournament and capture a two-shot victory over Emily Talley at the 2014 Epson Classic at Raintree Country Club in Charlotte. The win was the first of Blackwelder’s career.

“It feels amazing,” Blackwelder said after her victory. “I have been thinking about this moment for a long long time and it’s really surreal. I didn’t look at the leaderboard on the back nine so I wasn’t really sure what kind of position I was in. I knew obviously that I was playing great so walking up to the 18th I saw that I had a three shot lead and I was on the green so I knew that I was on cruise control and that just felt amazing.”

The Kentuckian followed up rounds of 69 and 70 with the 67 to take home the first place check of $15,000. The victory moves Blackwelder into the top-10 on the Volvik Race For The Card money list at sixth, up from the 24th position that she occupied entering the week prior to the Epson Classic.

BLACKWELDER HAS TEFOSI LOW ROUND OF THE WEEK: Mallory Blackwelder’s 5-under round on Saturday at the Epson Classic was also good for the Tifosi Optics Low Round award. Blackwelder received a free pair of Tifosi Optics sunglasses for winning the Tifosi Optics Low Round award. Tifosi Optics is the official sunglasses provider of the Epson Tour.

FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship Thursday Pre-Tournament News & Notes

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