Florida’s Natural Charity Classic
Lake Wales Country Club
Lake Wales, Florida
Pre-Tournament News & Notes

LAKE WALES, Fla., March 26, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, makes its 15th trip to Polk County for the seventh annual Florida’s Natural Charity Classic at Lake Wales Country Club from March 27-29. This is the third of 23 Epson Tour events in 2015, the most in the last 27 years.

The 144-player field will compete over 54 holes for a $125,000 total tournament purse. The winner will receive an $18,750 check and likely jump into the top spot on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season.

First-round play begins on Friday, March 27 at 7:45 a.m. There will be a cut made to the top 70 and ties following second round play on Saturday.

TOUR VISITS SPOOK HILL ELEMENTARY: Three Epson Tour professionals, Emily Collins, Emily Motta and Jean Chua visited fourth and fifth graders at Spook Hill Elementary school on Wednesday morning. Over 150
students piled into the cafeteria to meet the professionals and hear their stories.

Chua is the Epson Tour Pin Pal match with Spook Hill Elementary and has been communicating with them through snail mail for the last month.

The professionals entertained the students with a question and answer session where questions such as: “how much money do you make” and “why did you choose golf” were asked.

Students also had the chance to come on stage and participate in a putting contest to win a Epson Tour hat.

FROM PHOENIX TO LAKE WALES FOR YANG: Julie Yang was a sponsors invite at last week’s JTBC Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour and made the most of her opportunity finishing in a tie for 34th at 9-under par.

“I was very excited going in because it was my first LPGA event as an LPGA pro,” Yang said about her first LPGA event as a pro. “My expectations were really low and I played really well. I played beyond my expectations and it was great.”

Yang is hoping that she can carry the momentum over to this week’s Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.

“I definitely feel very confident going into this week because I’m playing well,” Yang said. “Everything is kind of going my way and so I’ll take the same mentality I had at the LPGA event into this week. Low expectations and try to post the best score I can this week.”

While Yang has the confidence, she does admit to needing to put in some work after arriving to the Sunshine State on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’ll have to do a lot of getting used to the different types of grass that they have here. The Bermuda is quite different from Arizona last week,” Yang explained. “I got to play the course today, it’s pretty self-explanatory which means that it’s very birdieable and that you have to make lots of birdies so I’ll base my gameplan around that.”

Yang’s gameplan will include a few tips she picked up during her week on the LPGA.

“I just kind of watch and observe what they do,” Yang said of playing with some of the LPGA’s best. “I’ve been picking everybody’s brain that I play with. Even if I don’t talk to them I like to observe how they go about their practice so I can implement it in my style of play and how I prepare.”

LOPEZ OPENS WITH PAIR OF TOP 5 FINISHES: Lee Lopez has been arguably the most consistent player on the Epson Tour this season with a pair of top-4 finishes in her first two events of the season.

“I’m having a really good start so far with two top-5 finishes in my first two events,” Lopez said. “I think I just have to keep doing what I’m doing for the most part.”

Part of Lopez’s success may be attributed to a new training program she started in the offseason which is already paying dividends on the course.

“In the offseason, I started working with a new trainer, Hansen Fitness for Golf, and it’s been an amazing help,” Lopez explained. “They’re great people and their workouts are paying off because I’ve gained 10 yards off the tee and I’m a club longer which when you come out to these courses hitting 10 yards further off the tee and hitting 8-iron instead of a 7- or 6-iron that’s a huge difference. It’s been exciting to see those changes.”

So what does Lopez think it will take to win this week in Lake Wales?

“To be honest, you really have to place your ball,” Lopez said. “If you hit good shots off the tee it’s not a very long golf course so you’re going to have good opportunities. If you place your ball and make a few putts I think the scores are going to be low based on the conditions this week.”

GOLFWEEK’S BETH ANN NICHOLS IN PRO-AM: LPGA Tour Golfweek writer Beth Ann Nichols played in the Thursday pro-am at Florida’s Natural Charity Classic paired with Volvik Race for the Card money list leader Haley Italia.

NOTABLE PAIRINGS FOR FRIDAY: Here are some notable first-round pairings at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.

7:55 a.m., tenth tee - Big Break Florida contestant Carolin Pinegger makes her season debut with Joanna Coe of Mays Landing, N.J. and Jessy Tang of Daytona Beach, Florida.

8:15 a.m., tenth tee - Windermere native and former Florida Southern College golfer Emily Flanigan Motta will tee with Emily Collins of Colleyville, Texas and her college teammate at Oklahoma Chirapat Jao-Javanil.

8:35 a.m., first tee - Volvik Race for the Card money list leader Haley Italia (Pace, Florida) will play with former Big Breaker Selanee Henderson (Apple Valley, California) and France’s Anaelle Carnet.

9:05 a.m., first tee - Davenport native and former Ridge Community High School star Erica Popson will tee wiht Hye-Min Kim (Seoul, South Korea) and Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines)

9:15 a.m., first tee - Former World Amateur Golf Ranking No. 1 Brooke Henderson will play with LPGA Tour winner Silvia Cavalleri (Milano, Italy) and Ashley Knoll (The Woodlands, Texas).

1:05 p.m., first tee - Volvik Championship winner Katie Kempter will be paired with Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo.) and Lacey Agnew (Jonesboro, Ga.).

1:55 p.m., tenth tee - Lake Region High School junior Athena Yang will play with Big Break Florida’s Renee Skidmore (Everett, Wash.) and Julie Yang (Seoul, South Korea).

2:05 p.m., first tee - Big Break Myrtle Beach contestant Emily Tubert makes her Epson Tour debut with Carleigh Silvers (Greeley, Colo.) and Maribel Lopez Porras (Bogota, Columbia).

PLAYERS HOST CLINIC AT FIRST TEE OF LAKELAND: Three Epson Tour players - Jasi Acharya, Kaylin Yost and Ericka Schneider - hosted a junior golf clinic at the First Tee of Lakeland on Wednesday. Boys and girls from Lakeland had the opportunity to get instruction from the players on the driving range, at the putting area and on the green.

Former Epson Tour golfer Suzanne Walker-Liliequist ran the clinic in Lakeland. She played in 12 career Epson Tour (Futures Tour at the time) events.

Florida's Natural Charity Classic Pre-tournamnt News & Notes

Related Articles