The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, returns to South Bend for the 5th annual Four Winds Invitational at Blackthorn Golf Club. The first-round begins on Friday, June 17 and the final-round is scheduled for Sunday, June 19. This is the 10th event of the 2016 season, which will conclude Oct. 13-16 with the Epson Tour Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The field of 144 players from the United States and 26 countries around the globe will compete for a $150,000 purse and the winner will earn $22,500 and likely move into or near the top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.

The top 10 at the end of the season will earn LPGA Tour membership for 2017.

The Four Winds Invitational starts a three-week Midwest Swing. The Tour heads to Harris, Mich. after the Four Winds Invitational and then to Stanwood, Mich. in two weeks. This is the only Epson Tour event in the state of Indiana. There are 14 events left in 2016.

In 2015, Brooke Henderson, then 17-years-old and playing on a sponsors exemption, surged on the back nine to win by three shots. About two months after her win in South Bend, Henderson went onto win the Cambia Portland Classic to become the third youngest winner in LPGA Tour history.

Henderson has taken the LPGA Tour by storm in her first full year in 2016. She has ten top 10 finishes including a win on Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, her first LPGA major win. Henderson is now the second highest ranked golfer in the world according to the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

In addition to Henderson, there were six players that made the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship that played in South Bend last year (Su Oh, Celine Herbin, Lindy Duncan, Casey Grice, Maude-Aimee Leblanc, Lee Lopez) and 18 total players from last years’ event that played in the second major of the season.

HENDERSON ON FOUR WINDS INVITATIONAL WIN

“The Four Winds Invitational was a really big week for me,” said Henderson from the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. “I came in and played Blackthorn Golf Club and I loved it right away. I didn’t have an awesome day the first day, but I was able to shoot a 7-under the second day and then I came away with the victory. I got my Epson Tour membership and it really helped the rest of the summer to be able to compete on the LPGA Tour and the Epson Tour.”

In 2014, Nicole Vandermade (three day total of 12-under) carded a 64 on day one and held off Lee Lopez to win by one shot. Cydney Clanton (three day total of 8-under) won in 2013 and Julia Boland won the inaugural tournament with a 3-day total of 4-under.

The Four Winds Invitational is due credit in raising the bar on the Epson Tour. In 2012, the event provided the largest purse in Tour history. Now, there nine tournaments that offer a purse of $150,000 or more.

The field is extremely strong as 14 of the top 15 players on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are scheduled to compete. The field also includes 20 current members of the LPGA Tour.

2016 POTAWATOMI CUP BEGINS
The 2016 Potawatomi Cup begins this week with the Four Winds Invitational, one of four Epson Tour events sponsored by Potawatomi nation tribes.

A total of $40,000 in bonus money (doesn’t count towards Volvik Race for the Card money list) is available to players based on performance at the four events. There is $8,500 up for grabs at each of the four events and a $6,000 bonus to the winner of the Potawatomi Cup.

The other three Potawatomi Cup events are the Island Resort Championship (June 24-26), the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship (July 29-31) and the PHC Classic (August 19-21).

Min Seo Kwak won the 2014 Potawatomi Cup while Annie Park won in 2015. Both earned their LPGA Tour cards through the Volvik Race for the Card money list and are now playing on the LPGA.

Players that finish in the top five this week will earn a cash bonus.

TOP PLAYER ON TOUR RETURNS FOR SOUTH BEND
Madelene Sagstrom (Enkoping, Sweden) has been unquestionably the best player on Tour this season and has had maybe the best start of all-time. She took the last two Tour events off (W.B. Mason Championship, Fuccillo Kia Championship) and returns this week for the Four Winds Invitational.

In seven starts, Sagstrom has two wins (Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial & Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic) and six top five finishes. She has already shattered the single-season earnings record by becoming the first in Tour history to cross $100,000 in earnings ($103,300). The previous record was held by Cindy LaCrosse, who earned $94,578 in 2010.

If Sagstrom wins the Four Winds Invitational, she will earn a “Battlefield Promotion” to the LPGA with a third win. She would cement category 13 status on the 2016 LPGA Tour priority list, which is open to: “winners of three (3) official LPGA Epson Tour tournaments during the current year.”

Sagstrom leads the Tour in scoring average (70.636), average driving distance (277.295), par-4 average (3.995), par-5 average (4.602), total eagles (5) and total birdies (94). The 23-year-old also ranks second in putting average (28.727).

HOOSIER STATE WELL REPRESENTED
The Hoosier State will be well represented this week at Blackthorn Golf Club. There are five players in the field that played college golf in the state of Indiana: Becca Huffer (Notre Dame), Kaitlin Coons (Indiana), Laura Gonzalez Escallon (Purdue), Numa Gulyanamitta (Purdue) and Kristi O’Brien (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis). O’Brien is from Fishers and was a IHSAA All-State award recipient while in high school at Bishop Luers.

Huffer, who played at Notre Dame from 2008-2012 and led the Irish in scoring average as a senior, has played in the Four Winds Invitational each of the last two years. Huffer missed the cut in 2015 (79-71) and placed T19 in 2014 (72-72-68).

Both of the sponsor exemptions also have ties to the area. Anna Wilcoxson played high school golf at Saint Joseph’s High School in South Bend. She qualified for the state tournament three times and was a three-time First Team Northern Indiana Conference selection. Wilcoxson is currently a junior at Western Michigan. She finished 15th at the Mid-American Conference Championships this year.

Jillian Hollis, who plays college golf at Georgia and was one of the top juniors in the state of Ohio, has a grandfather (Paul Minnich) that played college golf at Notre Dame.

Other Indiana natives include Kristi Cardwell (Kokomo) and Carleigh Silvers (Martinsville). Silvers has one top 20 finish this season.

WHAT’S THE ENCORE AFTER STERLING DEBUT FOR NCAA CHAMP?
Emma Talley (Princeton, Ky.) proved why there was a lot of hype surrounding her debut two weeks ago at the Fuccillo Kia Championship. She won the 2015 NCAA Championship, the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and was a four-time All-American at Alabama. In her first professional event, she carded a final-round 67 to get into a playoff. Talley lost on the first playoff hole to Jackie Stoelting, but proved she was ready.

Even though she missed the first eight events of the year, the second place result netted her $12,021 and she ranks 33rd on the money list with 14 events remaining in the season. Talley has plenty of time to try and finish inside the top 10.

The Four Winds Invitational will be her second event as a professional, but she has experience playing in LPGA sanctioned events including three U.S. Women’s Open’s and the 2014 RICOH Women’s British Open, where she finished T17.

8 THAT QUALIFIED FOR U.S. OPEN IN FIELD
There are eight players in the field this week that qualified and will compete in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open, which is three weeks away at CordeValle in San Martin, Calif.

The U.S. Women’s Open is the biggest stage in women’s golf and offers the largest purse of $4.5 million.

The following players in the Four Winds Invitational qualified: Sue Kim, Pei-Yun Chien, Sophia Popov, Sandra Angulo Minarro, Madelene Sagstrom, Jackie Stoelting, Liv Cheng and Nelly Korda.

FINAL PUSH FOR OLYMPICS

The 2016 Olympic Games will likely include at least one Four Winds Invitational participant. On July 11, the top 60 on the International Golf Federation (IGF) rankings will qualify to compete in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There are two players in the field this week (Liv Cheng, New Zealand and Stephanie Meadow, Northern Ireland) that would qualify if the cutoff was today. Cheng is No. 55 while Meadow is No. 57.

Other players in the field that have a chance to squeeze into the top 60 include Dottie Ardina (Philippines), Paz Echeverria (Chile), Margarita Ramos (Mexico) and Laura Gonzalez Escallon (Belgium). The IGF rankings are based off the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings so strong play over the next month could put them into the Olympics.

Remember that Ardina finished second at the 2015 Four Winds Invitational and had the lead going into the final day.

WHO IS PLAYING WELL ENTERING EVENT

Here is a look at who is playing well entering the Four Winds Invitational.

Jackie Stoelting - Stoelting won the last event in Albany and moved to sixth on the money list. The win was her first top 10 finish of the year, but she has placed inside the top 30 in eight of nine events. After missing the cut in Greenwood, she went T16-T23-T13 and the victory in her last four starts. Stoelting won back-to-back events on the Epson Tour in 2015.

Dana Finkelstein - Finkelstein has finished inside the top five in each of the last two events to move to ninth on the money list. She finished T3 at the W.B. Mason Championship and T4 at the Fuccillo Kia Championship. She has posted eight consecutive rounds of even-par or better.

Emma de Groot - She finished inside the top 20 in each of the last two events. The Aussie finished T2 at the Epson Tour Classic and now ranks 21st on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. She has made the cut in six of eight starts including three events in a row.

Shannon Fish - Fish is a perfect 9-for-9 in cuts made this season and ranks 17th on the money list. She has three top 20 results including a solo fifth at the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic.

QUICK NOTES

The 2014 NCAA Champion (Doris Chen, USC) and the 2015 NCAA Champion (Emma Talley, Alabama) are both in the field this week.
Selanee Henderson, who finished in a tie for second at the 2015 Four Winds Invitational, is in the field after taking three weeks off.
Nicole Broch Larsen (Denmark) is ranked No. 86 in the world according to the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She is the highest ranked player in the Four Winds Invitational. Larsen has played in two
Epson Tour events and finished second at the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay earlier this season.
Erica Popson (Davenport, Fla.) has finished inside the top 10 in three of the last four events. Popson currently ranks third on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
Blackthorn Golf Club always sets up as one of the longer courses and will play 6,453 yards. For comparison sake, the last event in Albany (Capital Hills at Albany) was played at a total of 6,080 and is one of the shortest courses on Tour.

Four Winds Invitational Top Storylines

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