FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship
Battle Creek Country Club
Battle Creek, Michigan
June 3, 2015
Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., June 3, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, is two days away from the second annual FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, which starts on Friday, June 5 at Battle Creek Country Club.

The morning wave begins at 7:30 a.m. from the first and tenth tees. The afternoon wave begins at 12:20 p.m.

The field of 144 up-and-coming professionals will compete for their share of the $100,000 total tournament purse. The winner will earn $15,000 and take a significant jump up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the money list at the end of the year earn LPGA membership for the 2016 season.

There are seven Michigan natives in the field this week: Britney Hamilton (Lake Orion), Laura Kueny (Whitehall), Amy Meier (Rochester Hills), Christine Meier (Rochester Hills), Liz Nagel (DeWitt), Samantha Troyanovich (Grosse Pointe Shores) and Battle Creek Country Club employee Adrienne Plourde (Livonia).

EPSON TOUR PLAYERS VISIT S.A.F.E. PLACE SHELTER: S.A.F.E. Place, a non-profit local organization committed to helping victims of domestic violence and their families in Calhoun, Barry, and Eaton counties, is the official beneficiary of the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship. On Wednesday afternoon, nine Epson Tour professionals volunteered at the shelter including rookie Amy Ruengmateekhun.

“I was really touched,” said Ruengmateekhun. “I wasn’t expecting to see what was happening and how people were living inside the shelter. I think I am going to start doing something to help. This (domestic violence) is definitely something that has impacted my life and I feel like we helped save some peoples lives today.”

Tickets to the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship are available at Battle Creek Country Club for a donation to S.A.F.E. Place.

“We are all playing for something out here, not just ourselves or families, but the sponsors and definitely domestic violence victims,” said Ruengmateekhun, who said that she knows friends that have been affected by domestic violence. “I’ve been around friends that have been impacted so it definitely means a lot to me.”

TOP LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR PLAYER IN FIELD: Rebecca Artis (Coonabarabran, Australia), who finished 26th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2014, will make her Epson Tour season debut at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

Artis is No. 131 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and fifth amongst players from Australia.

The 26-year-old ranks 11th on the 2015 Ladies European Tour Order of Merit. Through seven events, she has made over 45,000 euros.

“I probably haven’t hit it as good as I have in the past, but I have been putting really well,” said Artis, while on the driving range at Battle Creek Country Club. “I switched my putting at the end of last year to cross handed or left hand low and that has taken a lot of pressure off my long game and I hole a lot more putts now. It has been a big difference.”

Artis also expects to play the Decatur-Forsyth Classic next week and the Four Winds Invitational in two weeks.

“I’ll play the next three weeks here and then I’ll go back to Europe and play the European Masters, the Scottish Open and the British Open,” said Artis. “I obviously enjoy playing in Europe, but it is nice to come over here and see the girls and the friends that I have made over here.”

Artis posted three top 10 finishes in 14 events last year and has high expectations for the next three weeks.

“I didn’t just come over here to fill in my schedule, I’ve got high expectations for myself the next three weeks,” said Artis. “I want to have some good finishes and put myself in contention.”

Artis won on the Ladies European Tour at the 2013 Helsinborg Open. Although she is headed back to Europe after the early Midwest swing, she said that if she plays well, she’d consider coming back after the British Open to try and get inside the top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.

FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship Pre-tournament News and Notes

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