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SARASOTA, Fla., April 18, 2016 - The 2016 Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay returns to Sara Bay Country Club this week. First-round play begins on Friday, April 22 and continues through Sunday April, 24. The field of 144 players will compete for a total tournament purse of $110,000 with the winner to earn $16,500 and move up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the year-end money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for 2017.

There is a local amateur qualifier that begins at 11:00 a.m. today to determine the final spot in the field. The top amateur in the field is Sierra Brooks of Sorrento, Florida, who is the No. 5 ranked amateur in the world according to the WAGR (World Amateur Golf Rankings). Brooks earned an amateur exemption into the ANA Inspiration on the LPGA Tour two weeks ago and played on the 2015 U.S Junior Solheim Cup team. No. 27 in the world Mika Liu is also in the qualifier.

This is the fourth Epson Tour event of the season and the third consecutive event in the state of Florida. The Tour started a three week Florida swing two weeks ago in Lake Wales with the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic. This past Sunday, the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial concluded in Fort Myers.

The Guardian Retirement Championship enters its fifth year. In 2015, Rachel Rohanna claimed her first professional victory and famously told reporters that she was going to use her prize to purchase a heifer. She stuck to her word and bought a female cow and named it Sara Bay in honor of the course.

Sara Bay has always been one of the toughest challenges of golf on the Epson Tour with the Donald Ross designed humpback greens. The three-day total has never been higher than 5-under (Rohanna - 2015, Christine Song - 2013). Marissa Steen won in 2014 with a three-day total of 3-under and Esther Choe won the inaugural event at 1-over.

In 2015, Rohanna held off five players that finished at 3-under including four that are currently playing full-time on the LPGA (Lindy Duncan, Lee Lopez, Maude-Aimee Leblanc and Giulia Molinaro).

The field this week is loaded with the entire current top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list along with 32 LPGA Tour members and ten players that competed on the LPGA last week at the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii. There is also one past winner in the field in 2014 champion Marissa Steen, who went onto win Epson Player of the Year that season.

The field is also global with 28 different countries represented outside the United States.

Proceeds from the Guardian Retirement Championship will benefit Golisano Children’s Hospital. This is the second tournament in a row that benefits the children’s hospital.

Tickets to the Guardian Retirement Championship are $10 per day. Spectator parking is free and is located behind Whitfield Presbyterian Church off route 41. The tournament will provide shuttle transportation to and from Sara Bay Country Club.

JUNIOR CLINIC MONDAY FROM 5:30 TO 7:00 AT SUNCOAST GOLF CENTER: In partnership with LPGA Girls Golf of Sarasota/Manatee and The First Tee of Sarasota/Manatee, seven Epson Tour professionals will host a junior clinic Monday from 5:30-7:00 at Suncoast Golf Center (7741 15th Street East, Sarasota, FL). The clinic is free and open to all skill levels under the age of 15.

Parents will receive complimentary grounds passes to the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay.

The clinic is presented by Capstan Financial Consulting Group.

The seven Epson Tour professionals that will be in attendance are Stephanie Bertelsen, Allie Knight, Ericka Schneider, Shannon Fish, Marissa Steen, Ginger Howard and Megan Osland.

TOURNAMENT FULL OF LOCAL PLAYERS HEADLINED BY KORDA: The 2016 Guardian Retirement Championship is full of area players including 17-year-old Nelly Korda of Bradenton, the younger sister of LPGA star Jessica Korda. Nelly’s dad, Petr, who has served as her caddie, is a former professional tennis player. He won the 1998 Australian Open.

Nelly has played in all three Epson Tour events to start the year and has done well considering she just turned professional prior to the IOA Championshiop in February. She finished T18 in her debut, missed the cut at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic and closed strong at the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial to finish T24. Korda currently ranks 33rd on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.

Korda had a fantastic amateur career and played much of her golf at the IMG Academy. She was named an AJGA First-Team Rolex Junior All-American in 2015.

Ginger Howard is another prominent area player from Bradenton. Howard has played in every Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay since 2012. She missed the cut the first year, finished T45 in 2013, T31 in 2014 and missed the cut last year.

Hally Leadbetter, who considers Sara Bay Country Club her home course, is in the field this week on a sponsor exemption. Leadbetter, the daughter of prominent teacher David Leadbetter, is in her final year at Rollins College. Leadbetter has two career college wins and was a 2014-15 WGCA Second Team All-American. She played in the 2013 Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay and missed the cut.

Other area players in the field include Doris Chen, who went to the IMG Academy and then went onto to win the 2014 NCAA individual title at USC and Ericka Schneider, of Lakewood Ranch, who was named to the 2007 All-Area Girls Golf Team by the Herald Tribune.

18 YEAR OLD NAGAI HAS BEEN IMPRESSIVE: Kana Nagai (Tokyo, Japan) has played in two Epson Tour events this year and has finished in a tie for fourth in both. She also currently ranks fourth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Nagai was a top ranked amateur in Japan before turning professional prior to Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament.

Nagai currently ranks seventh on Tour in putts per green in regulation (1.74).

NEW CROP OF TALENT COMING TO FOREFRONT EARLY: The Epson Tour is always a mix of both newcomers and returning players and the current money list is a good indication. Five of the top ten on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are newcomers (No. 1 Sagstrom, No. 3 Sophia Popov, No. 4 Kana Nagai, No. 7 Erynne Lee and No. Dana Finkelstein).

Two of the three winners this season have also been rookies. Erynne Lee (UCLA) won the IOA Championship to start the season.

Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay Storylines

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