FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship
Battle Creek Country Club
Battle Creek, Michigan
June 1, 2015

Storylines

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., June 1, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, begins the Midwest swing with the second annual FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship from Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7 at Battle Creek Country Club. After a week off, the Tour starts a stretch of five weeks in a row and eight events in the next nine weeks. This is the ninth event of the season.

The current field consists of 142 professionals from the United States and around the world competing for their share of the $100,000 total tournament purse. The low two finishers in the Epson Tour’s first ever Monday Qualifier, which begins at 8:30 a.m., will complete the full field of 144.

The winner of the event will earn $15,000 and take a significant step towards an LPGA Tour card. The top 10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list earn LPGA membership for the 2016 season.
There will be a cut made to the top 70 and ties following second round play on Saturday.

Min Seo Kwak won the inaugural event in 2014 by three shots after carding a final-round 7-under 65 to close at 12-under 204. Kwak went onto finish second on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and is now
competing full-time on the LPGA Tour. In late April, she finished fourth at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic to earn a paycheck of $102,670. She ranks 46th on the official 2015 LPGA Tour money list.

The FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship is the first of three events in the state of Michigan. In late June, the Tour will play back-to-back weeks in Michigan with the Island Resort Championship in Harris
followed by the Tullymore Classic in Canadian Lakes. The only state that hosts more events than Michigan is Florida (5).

STRONG FIELD IN BATTLE CREEK: The field is very strong this week as nine of the top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are scheduled to play including No. 1 Alejandra Llaneza. The only player in the top 10 not in the field is No. 2 Augusta James, who received a sponsor exemption into the Manulife LPGA Classic, which is this week in Ontario, Canada.

No. 11 Daniela Iacobelli, who finished second last year at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, is also in the field. A total of 17 of the top 20 on the money list are in the field.

LOCALS IN THE FIELD: There are five Michigan natives in the field this week: Britney Hamilton (Lake Orion), Laura Kueny (Whitehall), Amy Meier (Rochester Hills), Liz Nagel (DeWitt) and Adrienne Plourde
(Livonia). There are three Michigan natives in the Monday Qualifier: Gabrielle Shipley (Hastings), Christine Meier (Rochester Hills) and Trisha Witherby (Lansing).

Plourde, who is playing on a sponsor exemption, is the First Assistant Golf Professional at Battle Creek Country Club and was a standout at Olivet College.

“Last year, when I was working the event, I got to know Kathy George (tournament director) and later in the year she asked me if I would take one of the casino’s sponsor exemptions to play and I said ‘of course,’” said Plourde, who expects to have a large contingent of friends and members following her play. “Oh my gosh, I am so excited to be able to play my home course in a professional event.”

As a senior at Olivet in 2013-14, she was a WGCA First Team All-American and the MVP of the MIAA (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association). Plourde was a four-time First Team All-MIAA honoree and led Olivet to the MIAA Championship three times. She also made three trips to the NCAA Division III National Championships.

Hamilton played at nearby Western Michigan in Kalamazoo and finished her career in 2010-11 with the lowest career scoring average in school history. She earned First Team All-MAC honors as a senior.

Kueny and Nagel were both standouts at Michigan State while Meier went to Ohio State.

Caroline Powers is the third player in the field that played college golf at Michigan State.

EIGHT EVENTS, EIGHT DIFFERENT WINNERS, SIX FIRST-TIMERS: Through eight events, nobody has won multiple times. Augusta James nearly became the first at the last event (Epson Classic in Charlotte, N.C.), but lost in a playoff to Haruka Morita-WanyaoLu.

WanyaLu became the sixth first-time winner this year. The other five first-timers are Hannah O’Sullivan (Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club), Katie Kempter (Volvik Championship), Augusta James (Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial), Rachel Rohanna (Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay) and Alejandra Llaneza (Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic). Five of the six are in the top 10 on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list.

How important is a second win? Since 2008, 18 players have won multiple times in a single-season and all 18 secured their LPGA Tour cards for the following season.

2ND YEAR OF POTAWATOMI CUP BEGINS: Last week, the Epson Tour announced that the Potawatomi Cup has grown to five events and a total of $50,000 in bonus money for the 2015 season. The first Potawatomi Cup event is the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

At each of the Potawatomi Cup events, a total of $8,800 is up for grabs in addition to the tournament purse. Potawatomi Cup prize money will be distributed to the top six finishers: first place - $3,000, second place - $2,500, third place - $1,500, fourth place - $1,000, fifth place - $600 and sixth place - $300. Money earned in the Potawatomi Cup does not count towards the official Volvik Race for the Card money list.

The other four Potawatomi Cup events are the Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Ind. (June 19-21), the Island Resort Championship in Harris, Mich. (June 26-28), the PHC Classic in Milwaukee, Wisc. (July 31-August 2) and the Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic in Mayetta, Kan. (September 11-13).

The player with the most Potawatomi Cup points at the end of the five events will earn a $6,000 bonus. Last year, Min Seo Kwak won the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship and also won the Potawatomi Cup. She earned an additional $18,000.

OLYMPIC DREAMS WOULD BE REALITY: If the 2016 Summer Olympics started today, two regulars on the Epson Tour, Alejandra Llaneza (Mexico) and Veronica Felibert (Venezuela) would be in the 60 player field. Based on the current rankings, Llaneza is No. 46 and Felibert is No. 58.

The women’s golf portion of the Olympics will take place August 17-20, 2016 at Barra de Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro.

There are several other Epson Tour members in the field this week that have a chance to represent their country including Kishi Sinha of India, who is the top ranked player from India in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, but still outside the top 60 in the IGF (International Golf Federation) rankings.|

9 EPSON TOUR MEMBERS QUALIFY FOR U.S. OPEN: The most prestigious event in women’s golf is the U.S. Women’s Open and already nine Epson Tour members have qualified through the sectional
qualifiers. Of the nine, seven are in the field this week in Battle Creek (Haruka Morita-WanyaoLu, Lauren Doughtie, Su Oh, Lee Lopez, Jimin Kang, Liz Nagel and Alejandra Llaneza).

The U.S. Women’s Open is in five weeks (July 9-12) in Lancaster, Pa. at Lancaster Country Club. The U.S. Open offers up the biggest purse of the LPGA Tour season at $4 million.

For Doughtie, who qualified at the Governers Club in Chapel Hill, N.C., it was a waiting game to find out if she was one of the low two finishers. There were five groups behind her and the horns blew for weather when she was signing her scorecard so she had to wait over two hours before she knew for sure.

“I was really excited obviously to make it back to the Open, and both of my parents were there which made it that much better,” said Doughtie, who will play in her third U.S. Women’s Open. “It is our National
Championship and it is the tournament we all grow up looking forward to playing in.”

It didn’t start well for Doughtie, who was three over through her first four holes of the 36-hole marathon. She carded a bogey-free 68 on her second 18 including a birdie on her final hole to secure a spot.
“There is no greater atmosphere and I can’t wait to get back to experience that again.”

The Suffolk, Va. native played in the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open at Interlachen Country Club as an amateur and the 2011 Open at The Broadmoor East Course.

DeWitt, Mich. native and Michigan State graduate Liz Nagel qualified in Wilmette, Ill. at Westmoreland

Country Club and will compete in her first U.S. Women’s Open as a rookie on the Epson Tour and the LPGA.

“I’m very much excited to see how my game matches up with the best players in the world,” said Nagel. “It’s always been a goal of mine to play in the U.S. Open and represent the United States, and the fact that it’s
happening in my rookie year as a professional makes it so much more exciting!”

Nagel earned LPGA Tour status through LPGA Qualifying Tournament, but has yet to play in an LPGA event so she’s excited to get her first chance at the biggest event.

“I’m most looking forward to the atmosphere and the whole experience that the U.S. Open and the major championship provides,” said Nagel. “The USGA always does such a great job with their championships, I’m sure everything will be the absolute best and I can’t wait to see the golf course and enjoy the city of Lancaster.”

Windy conditions with tight fairways and long rough made scoring conditions tough at her qualifier, but Nagel relied on her Midwest roots and told herself to make a lot of pars.

Su Oh, who won the RACV Australian Ladies Masters in February, qualified with Doughtie in Chapel Hill. The 18-year-old will be playing in her first U.S. Women’s Open. However, it won’t be the first U.S. Open that the Aussie has attended.

In 2013, Oh received one of the Karrie Webb Scholarships and got to stay with Webb and follow her every step when the Open was played at Sebonack Golf Club in New York.

“I’m just looking forward to the whole experience of the US Open,” said Oh. “It is definitely one of the toughest weeks of the year and I’m excited to see what it is like to play a U.S. Open and how challenging the U.S. Open courses are.”

The current No. 1 on the money list, Alejandra Llaneza, was one of the first to qualify on May 18 at Hermitage Country Club. It will be her first U.S. Women’s Open.

“I am finally going to have the chance to play in the US Open which has been a goal of mine for a long time,” said the Mexico City native Llaneza. “I was really happy to see that the hard work since my win in
Greenwood has paid off.”

S.A.F.E. PLACE IS BENEFICIARY OF EVENT: Net proceeds from the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship will benefit S.A.F.E. Place, a shelter dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence and their families in Barry, Eaton and Calhoun counties.

Epson Tour professionals will make a visit to S.A.F.E. Place on Tuesday, June 2 at 10:00 a.m.

WHO’S HOT COMING INTO EVENT: Jimin Kang, No. 3 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, is going to be a favorite in every event she enters if she continues to show improved health. She did not play in the last event in Charlotte, but has three top four finishes in four starts on the Epson Tour. Kang has two career LPGA Tour wins and 14 career top 10 finishes against the best in the world. She has battled health issues stemming from allergies for the last two years.

Daniella Iacobelli, who was born in Detroit, has three straight top 10 finishes and six straight top 15 finishes. She ranks third on Tour in driving distance at 269.442. Nine of her last ten rounds have been even-par or better and eight have been under-par.

Rachel Rohanna posted a 3-day total of 11-under 205 at the Epson Classic to finish third and move up from eighth to fifth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Rohanna has three top 10 finishes and five top 25 results. Her sister, Emily, who plays at Youngstown State, is in the Monday Qualifier.

Rookie Ani Gulugian has turned it up several notches of late with two top 10 finishes in the last three events to get to 18th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Gulugian, who played at UCLA, did not finish in the top 50 in her first four events on Tour.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
11 - Number of players from Michigan, Indiana and Ohio in the field
20 - Number of LPGA Tour members in the field this week
23 - Number of events on Tour this year, the most on the Epson Tour since 1988
27 - Number of countries represented in the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship
6,544 - Total yardage this week, which is the longest course the Tour has played so far this year

FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship Top Storylines

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