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Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by Pepsico
Mystic Creek Golf Club
El Dorado, Ark.
Sept. 23, 2015
Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes

EL DORADO, Ark., Sept. 23, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, is a mere two days from the start of inaugural Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo which will take place at Mystic Creek Golf Club on September 25-27.

Play will begin on Friday at 7:30 a.m. with Christine Meier (Rochester Hills, Mich.), Emily Collins (Colleyville, Texas) and Michelle Shin (Cape Coral, Fla.) teeing off on the first tee and Allie White (Lancaster, Ohio), Lindsay Gahm (Louisville, Ky.) and Fabiola Arriaga (Torreon, Mexico) teeing off on the 10th.

Arkansas native and sponsor invite Amanda McCurdy (El Dorado, Ark.) will tee off at 12:32 p.m. off the first tee, while fellow Razorback Emily Tubert (Burbank, Calif.) will start her day on the 10th hole at 8:58 a.m.

The top 132 up-and-coming professionals from the United States and around the world will compete for a $100,000 total tournament purse in the 54-hole stroke play format. The winner of the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout will earn $15,000 and take a big step up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the end-of-season money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season.

PLAYERS RAVE ABOUT MYSTIC CREEK
Mystic Creek Golf Club has been receiving rave reviews in advance of the inaugural Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo

“I think it’s awesome,” said Lee Lopez (Whittier, Calif.), who ranks fifth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. “To be honest it’s one of the best courses we’ve played all year. When I walked up here I thought that this was a championship course that could host a USGA event, an LPGA event or a PGA event. It’s awesome. It’s in great shape. It’s got a little bit of everything and I think that it’s going to be a great test for us this week.”

Arkansas grad Emily Tubert echoed Lopez’s feelings on the course.

“The course is fantastic,” Tubert said. “It’s in great shape. The greens are going to be the key this week. They’re pretty undulated and a little quicker than we’re used to seeing out here which I love because I love quick greens. Our course in Fayetteville, The Blessings, has super slopey greens and fast greens so it’ll be similar. I’m excited to go out and play this week and I’ve heard that everyone else is excited about this course too.”

ALLY MCDONALD LOOKING FORWARD TO EPSON TOUR DEBUT
Sponsor invite Ally McDonald (Fulton, Miss.) will be making her Epson Tour debut this week at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by PepsiCo.

“I’m super excited,” McDonald said. “Transitioning from college golf to hopefully competing on Tour was tough because I didn’t go to qualifying school last year so I don’t have status on any of the Tours. I talked to some people and tried to get some sponsor exemptions and this happened to be one of them and I’m super, super excited. My college coach is from Hope, Arkansas, so she pulled a few strings I think to get me in so this is definitely a blessing to play out here.”

McDonald rewrote the record books at Mississippi State where she was a three-time All-American and is looking forward to pursuing her dream of playing on the LPGA Tour full-time.

“I’ve played a few LPGA events and a couple of Women’s U.S. Opens but this is my first on the Epson Tour,” McDonald explained. “It’s been great. From what I hear talking to everybody else is that they pretty much spoiled everybody at this one. I know Ashlan Ramsey, who’s been playing out here this year, and she was saying this was a pretty stellar golf course. I haven’t been on the course yet so I’m excited to go check it out and see what its like.”

ELIZABETH NAGEL RETURNS TO THE NATURAL STATE
Elizabeth Nagel (DeWitt, Mich.) made her LPGA debut earlier this year at the Walmart LPGA Classic at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Ark. and is excited to be back in the Natural State.

“I have a lot of good memories from the Arkansas event and I actually have a lot of good memories from down south in college,” Nagel explained. “I had my best finish in Georgia and I think that started to get me going so this feels comfortable and it feels like that and I’m really happy to be here and excited for the week.”

Nagel sees some similarities between the events in Rogers and El Dorado.

“It really does feel like an LPGA event,” Nagel admitted. “I’ve played in a couple of LPGA events and just from the second I showed up and saw the tents and the grandstands I thought ‘that’s LPGA, that’s quality there’. The course looks like it’s in LPGA shape and that’s exciting for us players and everybody has been so welcoming so it’s been awesome.”

Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout Presented by Pepsico Pre-tournament Wednesday Notes

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