CANADIAN LAKES, Mich., June 28, 2015 – The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, begins the second half of its season this week at the Tullymore Classic. The three-round event will begin on Friday, July 1, and run through Sunday, July 3, at Tullymore Golf Club.

The 144 player field will be competing for a share of a $100,000 purse with a top prize of $15,000. The top-10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list will receive their LPGA Tour cards for the 2017 season.

First round play begins on Friday at 7:30 a.m. off of the first and 10^th tees. There will be a cut to the top 60 and ties following second round play on Saturday, July 4. The final round will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday and is expected to conclude at approximately 4:30 p.m. with a trophy ceremony on the 18^th green.

As the 12^th event on the Epson Tour, the Tullymore Classic marks the beginning of the second half of the season and is the second of three events in the Great Lakes State. The Tour played last week in Harris at the Island Resort Championship and will return to the Mitten on the week of July 18 for the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek.

In 2015, Daniela Iacobelli, who was born in Detroit and lived in Michigan until she was a teenager, birdied three of her final four holes and drained a clutch birdie putt on the 18^th to win by a stroke at the inaugural Tullymore Classic. The win helped propel Iacobelli to the LPGA Tour.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the quality of the Tullymore course in its inaugural year was that the best players found their way to the top of the leaderboard. Counting Iacobelli, five of the top-10 and 10 of the top-18 players from last year’s Tullymore Classic are playing full time on the LPGA this season.

SPONSOR INVITES HAVE LOCAL TIES TO SUCCESS
Reigning Michigan Amateur Champion Allyson Geer of Brighton and Gabrielle Shipley of Hastings, who recently captured the NCAA Division II individual championship playing for Grand Valley State University, will be the sponsor invites at this week’s Tullymore Classic.

Geer, 17, is a past Golf Association of Michigan Junior Invitational champion as well as the reigning Women’s Amateur champion. A member of 2017 recruiting class for the Michigan State University women’s golf, Greer gave her verbal commitment to the Spartans while starring on the American Junior Golf Association circuit, where she also earned All-American status at age 15.

Shipley, a GVSU grad, closed out her collegiate career in dramatic fashion with a dramatic seven-foot birdie putt on the No. 18 hole at Common Ground Golf Club in Denver to give her a one-shot win in the individual competition. Shipley, who played high school golf for Delton-Kellogg, finished her senior year with a 73.8 scoring average, tops on her team. She is just the second golfer from Grand Valley to ever win a national title and plans to train and attempt LPGA Qualifying in the fall.
FOUR SPARTANS IN THE FIELD
Four Michigan State alums – Allyssa Ferrell, Laura Kueny, Christine Meier and Caroline Powers - will be competing less than two hours from The Banks of the Red Cedar at this week’s Tullymore Classic.

Sponsor invite Allyson Greer will also represent the Green and White as she will be part of the 2017 recruiting class for the Michigan State University women’s golf team.

BUSY WEEK FOR SEVEN PLAYERS

Seven players in the Tullymore Classic field will be competing in 162 holes of competitive golf over a 10-day window. The players competed in last week’s Island Resort Championship on the Epson Tour in Harris, are competing in the Michigan Women’s Open in Thompsonville and will head to the Canadian Lakes for the Tullymore Classic.

Below is the list of the seven players who will be competing in all three events.

Players in Harris, Tullymore and Michigan Open

Alexandra Casi
Jenny Coleman
Jennifer Ha
Christine Meier
Caroline Powers
Ashley Tait
Allie White

SHERMAN SANTIWIWATTHANAPOHONG COMING OFF WIN AT HARRIS

Sherman “Champagne” Santiwiwatthanaphong (Thailand) enters this week at the Tullymore Classic looking for back-to-back wins coming off her two-shot victory at the Island Resort Championship.

“I feel like I have more confidence now,” said Santiwiwatthanaphong after the win. “I really feel like this will help me go to the LPGA next year.”

The 19-year-old picked up her first win of the 2016 season and her second career win on the Epson Tour and moved from 9th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to third with a total of $49,523 in just eight starts.

In her last ten Epson Tour starts, Santiwiwatthanaphong has two wins and five top 10 finishes. She won the 2015 Epson Tour Championship to close her rookie season at 20th on the money list.

QUICK NOTES

SpartanNash will be providing free tickets to the Tullymore Classic to Michigan high school girls golf teams, their families and coaches
There are 62 international players in the field this week representing 26 countries
Paula Hurtado will go from the Tullymore Classic to the U.S. Women’s Open next week as she qualified on May 25 at Carolina Trace Country Club (Lake Course) in Sanford, N.C.
Sally Watson is the lone player in the field who also competed in the Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids

Tullymore Classic Top Storylines

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