Top Storylines for the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club

Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club
Longbow Golf Club
Mesa, Arizona
Storylines

MESA, Ariz., February 16, 2015 – The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, begins the 2015 season this week with the 3rd annual Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club from Friday, Feb. 20 through Sunday, Feb. 22.

The top 120 up-and-coming professional golfers will compete for a $100,000 total tournament purse with the winner earning $15,000 and supplanting their position at the top of the first Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the year-end money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season.

There will be a cut to the top 70 and ties following second round play on Saturday, Feb. 21.

This is the first of two events in a row on the west coast. Following the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club, players will head to Beaumont, California for the Volvik Championship at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon from Feb. 27 through March 1.

In 2014, LPGA Tour member and Arizona resident Alena Sharp posted a three-round score of 12-under 204 to win the event. Jaclyn Sweeney, who finished tenth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2013, won the inaugural event at Longbow Golf Club.

Longbow Golf Club is a par-72 and the course will play 6,450 yards.

HOW THE EPSON TOUR WORKS: The ultimate goal for all Epson Tour professionals is to finish in the top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.

Those that finish in the top 10, based on total money earned, will receive a full-time LPGA Tour card for the 2016 season. Since 2008, the Epson Tour has handed out ten Tour cards after each season.


STRONG FIELD WITH 27 LPGA MEMBERS: The first event of the year will feature one of the strongest fields of the season. There are 27 LPGA Tour members including Vicky Hurst (Melbourne, Florida), who has four career Epson Tour wins (2008) and nine career LPGA Tour top 10 finishes.

The field also includes an LPGA Tour winner in Birdie Kim (Seoul, South Korea), who won the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open with a miraculous bunker shot on the 72nd hole to top current LPGA Tour players Brittany Lang and Morgan Pressel.


TOP EPSON PLAYERS FROM 2014 IN FIELD: Only ten LPGA Tour cards are handed out at the end of the Epson Tour season. Of the 15 players that finished No. 11 through No. 25 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2014, all but one (No. 15, Marita Engzelius) are in the field to start the 2015 season.

Veronica Felibert (Caracas, Venezuela) finished No. 11 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and missed earning her card by $940.

Three players who won in 2014 finished 11 through 25 and are in the field this week including Felibert, who won the Credit Union Classic, No. 16 Nicole Vandermade (Brandtford, Ontario) won the Four Winds Invitational and No. 20 Olivia Jordan-Higgins (Jersey, Channel Islands UK) won the Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic.


TOUR’S RAPID GROWTH: The Epson Tour has grown tremendously over the last two plus years. Since the end of the 2012 season, 16 new events have been added to the schedule. In 2015, there are seven brand new events.

Players will tee it up 23 times in 2015, the most tournaments in the last 27 years. The total purse of $2.73 million is the largest total purse in Tour history.

The average purse of $118,695 is also the highest in the 35-year history of the Tour.

LOCAL PLAYERS IN THE FIELD THIS WEEK: Both sponsor exemptions in the field reside in Chandler. Hannah O’Sullivan, a junior at Hamilton High School, and Jessi White received sponsor exemptions.

O’Sullivan was part of the victorious 2014 USA Junior Ryder Cup team. She was a semi-finalist at the ‘14 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and is currently ranked 40th in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings. She captured back-to-back Arizona High School State championships in 2012 and 2013. O’Sullivan qualified and competed in the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open in Wisconsin.

White, originally from Bellingham, Washington, has lived in Chandler for the last six years. The 2015 season will be her sixth on the Epson Tour. She has four career top 10 finishes. White played college golf at Oregon State.

There are also three former Arizona State golfers in the field this week - Giulia Molinaro, Jimin Kang and Tiffany Tavee - and three former Arizona Wildcats - Brittany Benvenuto, Margarita Ramos and Alejandra Llaneza.

The Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club also includes Scottsdale natives Esther Choe and Cara Freeman.


THREE 2013-14 WGCA ALL-AMERICANS IN FIELD: In addition to the LPGA Tour members in the field, there are also three 2013-14 college All-Americans in the Gateway Classic. Yu Liu (Duke) was a Second Team All-American while Augusta James (N.C. State) and Chirapat Jao-Javanil (Oklahoma) were Honorable Mention All-Americans.

Liu decided to turn pro in June of 2014 following a great freshman season at Duke. In doing so, she became the first Duke women’s golfer in head coach Dan Brooks’ 30 years of coaching to turn professional after one season. Liu was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2014. She posted top 10 finishes in each of her first eight starts at Duke. Liu has already won twice on China’s LPGA Tour.

James decided to forego her senior season at N.C. State where she was a three-time All-ACC honoree. During her final year at N.C. State, she posted seven top 10 results and finished 13th at the NCAA Championships. In the summer of 2014, she won the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship by an impressive six shots. James became the first N.C. State freshman to win ACC Freshman of the Year in 2011-12.

Jao-Javanil posted 22 top 10 finishes and 34 top 20 results during her strong four-year career at Oklahoma. She was a two-time First-Team All-American and three-time All-Big 12 honoree. She ranks first in school history with a career scoring average of 73.07. Jao-Javanil won the 2014 Big 12 Championship and posted a top 5 finish in 32 percent of her collegiate competitions. She was a member of the Senior National Team in Thailand.


GOLF CHANNEL BIG BREAKERS IN FIELD: There are six former Big Break contestants in the field this week in Mesa including 2014 Big Break Myrtle Beach (latest female/male series) contestant Krista Puisite. Of the ten players that earned cards in 2014, three of them had appeared on a Golf Channel Big Break show (Jackie Stoelting, Sadena Parks and Mallory Blackwelder). Here is a look at the players in the field that have appeared on Big Break.

23 PAST EPSON TOUR WINNERS IN FIELD: The first field features a long list of past Epson Tour winners. There are 23 players in the field this week that have won previously on the Epson Tour. Of them, 11 have won multiple times on Tour.

The list of past winners in the field includes: Esther Choe (2), Cydney Clanton (1), Veronica Felibert (1), Nannette Hill (1), Vicky Hurst (4), Daniela Iacobelli (1), Nicole Jeray (3), Olivia Jordan-Higgins (2), Jimin Kang (3), Birdie Kim (3), Mindy Kim (3), Sue Kim (1), Laura Kueny (1), Cindy Lacrosse (3), Megan McChrystal (2), Lisa Meldrum (1), Giulia Molinaro (1), Jean Reynolds (2), Samantha Richdale (3), Jenny Suh (1), Nicole Vandermade (1), Kim Welch (1) and Hannah Yun (1).

They have accumulated 42 total wins.


CAN LONGBOW GOLF CLUB EMPLOYEE DO IT AGAIN? Becca Huffer (Denver, Colorado) works in outside services at Longbow Golf Club during the “offseason”. Her full-time job is a professional golfer on the Epson Tour. Last year, she earned a sponsor exemption for the event and shot under-par all three days to finish in a tie for third at 9-under 207. Huffer posted one additional top 10 finish to end 2014 43rd on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in just 11 starts. She now has full status on the Epson Tour and will have the chance to play in every event.


ALL-TIME GREATEST SEASON: In 2010, Cindy LaCrosse (Tampa, Florida) had arguably the greatest season in the history of the Epson Tour. She posted three wins, a runner up finish, a third place finish and a total of 11 top 10’s.

She earned $94,578, which is still the single-season record.

In 27 career Epson Tour starts, she has an incredible 17 top 10 finishes.

LaCrosse no longer has strong status on the LPGA Tour (Category 20, 404) and is in the field this week in Arizona.


270 STUDENTS FROM MPS AT JUNIOR CLINIC TUESDAY: The Epson Tour is hosting a junior clinic sponsored by 2nd Guy Golf for approximately 270 kids from Mesa Public Schools (MSP) on Tuesday, February 17 from 9:30-11:00 a.m. on the driving range.

Ten Epson Tour players including Big Break contestants Emily Talley and Mary Narzisi will lead the clinic.

Tour players will demonstrate a variety of golf shots and then students will rotate between three stations focusing on the full swing, putting and chipping.

Following the clinic, students from have the chance to interact with the professionals during a question and answer period. Players will also stick around for autographs and pictures with the students.

“Longbow Golf Club has been host to The First Tee (TFT) of Phoenix and the 35,000 elementary school students in the Mesa Public School System (MPS) since 2010,” said Bob McNichols of Longbow Golf Club. “Since that year each Epson Tour and AJGA major competition has featured a Junior Clinic and participation by Epson Tour professionals and elite AJGA amateurs in support of junior golf at Longbow Golf Club.”