Epson Classic
Raintree Country Club
Charlotte, N.C.
May 20, 2015
Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 20, 2015 – The Epson Tour, the Road to the LPGA Tour, will wrap up its Carolina Swing, a three tournament in three week stretch, at the Epson Classic. The three-round event will begin on Thursday, May 21, and run through Saturday, May 23, at Raintree Country Club.

The 144 player field will be competing for a share of a $110,000 purse with a top prize of $16,500. The top-10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list will receive their LPGA Tour cards for the 2016 season.

Play will begin off the first and tenth tees starting at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday.

EMILY TALLEY RETURNS TO SITE OF HER BEST EPSON TOUR FINISH: Emily Talley is returning to the site of her best finish on the Epson Tour, a second place finish at the Epson Classic in 2014.

“I’m super excited to be back at Raintree,” Talley said with a smile. “It always really fun to come back to Charlotte. It’s a great golf course. The greens look like they’re in awesome condition. It was fun to be playing the past couple of days remembering what it was like coming down the stretch with Mallory last year. I’m just really excited to get back out there tomorrow.”

Talley put together a solid final round 68 (-4) but fell a few strokes shy of eventual champion Mallory Blackwelder. Talley drained a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to finish in solo second place.

“I’m just remembering how I was nervous but I still played well,” Talley said of the memories from last year. “I’m not going to try not to put any different expectations on myself. This year is different than last so I’m not really trying to say ‘Hey you got second place last year so you have to do that or better this year’ because expectation like that are never good out there on the golf course. I’m just excited to come out and play and see what happens.”

While Talley is back, the putter she used to capture solo second will not be.

“I just got a new putter after last week so I’m really excited to use that. After too many putts in Asheville I’m ready to drop some this week.”

Talley will be putting an Odyssey 2-ball Fang into play this week.

“I just had a couple of glasses of Bandit wine after the round and then I went up into the pro shop in Asheville and tried out some putters,” Talley explained. “I hit the ball great in Asheville and couldn’t make a single putt so that was really frustrating so I thought why not get something new in the bag. I love my old putter but this one, something new, something fresh, will give me a new lease on life after last week.”

PLAYERS VISIT HEMBY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Four members of the Epson Tour – Jennie Lee, Brandi Rodriguez, Laura Kueny and Megan McChrystal – took time out of their days on Tuesday to visit the Hemby Children’s Hospital in downtown Charlotte.

“It was great,” Rodriguez said. “The environment was very happy. All of the nurses were really upbeat and all of the patients were super excited to see us”

The golfers were toured around the facility and interacted with several of the patients bringing smiles to the faces of the kids and athletes alike.

EPSON CLASSIC HOSTS OVER 100 KIDS AT CLINICS: 10 Epson Tour professionals hosted over 100 kids and numerous parents at the annual Epson Classic Daddy/Daughter and LPGA Girls Golf clinics on Wednesday afternoon at Raintree.

“I think it’s great,” said sponsor invite Portland Rosen. “I think it’s good to get the young girls out with their fathers because there’s nothing like having your father be your best friend because that’s exactly what I have. I think that it’s great we do this clinic and I think it should be at all of the tournaments.”

Fellow pro Ashleigh Albrecht echoed Rosen’s statement.

“It’s fun to come out here and see the girls out here and the bonds that they have with their dads,” Albrecht explained. “It brings so much joy on both ends. My dad taught me to play and it’s fun to give back.”

Epson Classic Pre-tournament Notes Wednesday

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