Two separate golf courses in town of under 30,000 people to host back-to-back tournaments

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., June 21, 2016 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, announced today that

Garden City, Kansas, a town of under 30,000 people in Western Kansas, will host back-to-back Epson Tour events in September. The Garden City Charity Classic at Buffalo Dunes will take place September 8-11 while the Garden City Charity Classic at Southwind will be contested September 15-17.

“The Garden City Charity Classic has been a major success for Finney County and Western Kansas and we wanted to do something really big in the area to showcase our tremendous golf,” said Cole Wasinger, Tournament Director. “I know that Buffalo Dunes and Southwind are championship level golf courses that will provide tests for the players and great spectator experiences for the community.”

This is the first time in Epson Tour or LPGA history that consecutive events have been played in the same community on different golf courses. The Garden City Charity Classic started in 2014 as a single event at Buffalo Dunes and has grown tremendously since.

“When the organizers in Garden City approached us about hosting two Epson Tour events my initial reaction was surprise as, to my knowledge, this is the first time a golf tour has played two tournaments in the same city in consecutive weeks,” said Mike Nichols, Chief Business Officer of the Epson Tour. “The 2014 U.S. Opens in Pinehurst were such a huge success, we thought we would try to recreate the experiment on a smaller scale. We are just fortunate that Garden City has two quality golf courses within three miles of each other and that the community has rallied to raise the necessary funding for two events.”

Buffalo Dunes Golf Course, which also hosts the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am and an AJGA event, is just three miles down the road from The Golf Club at Southwind. Buffalo Dunes is the No. 1 municipally owned course in the state of Kansas according to Golf Digest while The Golf Club at Southwind is the 2016 host of the Kansas Amateur and is traditionally ranked as one of the top private courses in the state.

“Partnering with the Epson Tour to host tournament number two is an honor and an example of the great things that can happen when a community comes together for a common goal,” said Roxanne Morgan, Executive Director of Finney County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Finney County has always been a forward motion community. We look forward to making history by hosting back to back events. The community has embraced the ladies and the staff of the Epson Tour and we look forward to another amazing year.”

The first event will be a 72-hole tournament for a $150,000 purse, which is up from $100,000, while the second tournament will be 54-holes for a $100,000 purse. The winner at Buffalo Dunes will earn $22,500 while the winner at Southwind will earn $15,000. The two Garden City events equal the largest purse on Tour, a $250,000 event in Greenwood, S.C.

The presenting sponsor of the two tournaments is the Mariah Fund, formed to provide capital funding to non-profit organizations in Western Kansas for the purpose of enhancing regional tourism.

“Mariah Fund is excited to increase our funding to provide for this unique and historical Charity Classic,” said Jeff Thorpe, President & CEO. “These events bring significant economic impact to the region, as well as substantial contribution to the charity, Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas. We look forward to a continuing relationship with LPGA and local committee’s.”

Proceeds from the event at Buffalo Dunes will once again benefit Youth Entrepreneurs, an organization that teaches business and entrepreneurial education in 41 high schools across Kansas and Missouri. In 2015, the Garden City Charity Classic raised $33,000 for Youth Entrepreneurs (YE). Proceeds from the pro-am at Southwind will benefit the St. Catherine Hospital Development Foundation, which is dedicated to improving health care by obtaining charitable contributions for the primary benefit of St. Catherine Hospital and the people it serves.

Back-to-Back: Garden City, Kansas to Host Two Epson Tour Tournaments

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