Four Winds Invitational

Blackthorn Golf Club

South Bend, Indiana

June 18, 2015

Thursday Pre-Tournament Notes

SOUTH BEND, Ind., June 18, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, tees off with the fourth annual Four Winds Invitational on Friday, June 19. First-round play begins at 7:30 a.m.

The top 144 up-and-coming professionals will compete for a $150,000 tournament purse, the second largest on Tour. The winner will earn $22,500 and take a significant step up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the year-end money list earn LPGA Tour membership for 2016.

The Four Winds Invitational is the 11th event of the season and third during a stretch of five events in a row in the Midwest. It is the only event in the state of Indiana.

This is one of the strongest fields of the season with 28 former Epson Tour winners that have accumulated a combined 50 wins on the Epson Tour.

FORMER BIG EAST FOES NOW FRIENDS: When Sara-Maude Juneau played college golf in the BIG EAST at Louisville, she competed frequently with former Notre Dame golfer Annie Brophy. Juneau and Brophy became good friends.

Brophy used to play on the Epson Tour (2012 & 2013) and introduced Juneau to the Nortre Dame golf coaching staff. This week, Juneau is staying with assistant coach Kyle Lynne Demeter and her caddie is Justin Holt, son of head coach Susan Holt.

“I played in the BIG EAST a lot with them and towards the end of my career, I got to know them better and I used to hang out with Annie Brophy,” said Juneau. “Annie and I were really good friends and that is how I got hooked up with the coaches at Notre Dame.”

Last night, the Demeter family hosted a small party that Juneau was part of.

“The Notre Dame coach was there with her children and a bunch of other Notre Dame people and I just like to wave my little bird (Louisville Cardinals),” said Juneau. “It was just a lot of fun.”

Demeter and Holt are both coming this weekend to follow Juneau and Becca Huffer.

Brophy is now a Corporate Marketing Manager for the Oklahoma City Dodgers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

WHAT’S NEXT AFTER A WIN FOR SHEILS: In her 41st career Epson Tour event, Madeleine Sheils won two weeks ago at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship to vault to tenth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.

She took the Decatur-Forsyth Classic off and returns to the course this week for the Four Winds Invitational.

“The best thing about the win was that it showed me that I don’t have to be anyone else,” said Sheils after hosting a junior clinic at Blackthorn Golf Club on Thursday. “I don’t have to play out of my mind to win out here, I was just being myself. What it gave me was confidence in my daily preparation and routine that I will get it done.”

Sheils enjoyed the week off at a friends wedding and didn’t lose any ground on the Volvik Race for the Card money list since the Decatur-Forsyth Classic turned out to be an unofficial event.

“I’m definitely someone who requires a lot of rest so the more weeks off for me the better,” said Sheils. “The fact that the week I planned on being off happened to fall on a week that didn’t count towards the money list was pure luck. I feel well rested and ready to go coming into this week.”

Sheils posted three rounds under-par last year and finished in a tie for fifth at the 2014 Four Winds Invitational.

“I really love this golf course and I think it sets up well for good ball strikers and good putters,” said Sheils. “I’m hitting my irons really well right now and I know my putter can get hot. I finished in 5th place last year and I definitely see myself being able to repeat that or do better this year.”

VOLVIK RACE NO. 3 JAMES RETURNS: Augusta James, No. 3 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, hasn’t played on the Epson Tour since she lost in a playoff and finished solo second at the Epson Classic from May 21-23.

James was a sponsor exemption into the Manulife LPGA Classic two weeks ago. It was her first LPGA event as a professional.

“It was a lot of fun and a really great experience,” said James after a practice session on Thursday. “Unfortunately I missed the cut, but it was still great. I decided to take last week off because on our Epson Tour off week, my agent did a really good job of setting up interviews so it wasn’t a true off week and so I wanted to take another week to rest.”

James is excited to get back out on Tour and compete.

“I doesn’t feel like I’ve been gone for three weeks, but I’m really excited to get back out here and compete the next three weeks,” said James, who won the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial earlier this year. “My game is in a really good place so I’m excited to see how it goes.”

James said she approaches every week the same and tries to put the purse size out of mind.

“A win is a win and that is what we are all out here trying to do,” said James. “I’m going to continue to work hard like I have been and hopefully the results continue.”

James leads all rookies with $34,387 earned and has two total top 10 finishes. A second win would all but assure her a spot in the final top 10 to earn her LPGA Tour card.

“If anything, the first win just gave me the confidence that I am able to win and compete out here,” said James. “Losing in the playoff in Charlotte, I had missed the prior two cuts, so the week didn’t seem easy so it showed me that any week I need to come out here and give it my all because anything can happen.”

Four Winds Invitational Thursday Pre-tournament News & Notes

Related Articles