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.

SPONSOR INVITE ALLYSON GEER READY FOR FIRST PRO EVENT
Allyson Geer of Brighton is excited to make her first professional event the Tullymore Classic.

“It was an awesome feeling,” Geer said of finding out she would be a sponsor invite. “I’m so honored and blessed to be given this opportunity. I’m excited for the week and it should be fun.”

Geer, a 2017 Michigan State commit, has an impressive resume as she is a past Golf Association of Michigan Junior Invitational champion as well as the reigning Women’s Amateur champion

“I’m looking forward to the experience of it,” Geer said. “I’ve never played in a Epson Tour event or a professional event so it’s just a whole new chapter and step for me so I’m really excited to play with all of the best girls out here.”

Despite her amateur success, Geer isn’t trying to put too much pressure on herself this week.

“I mean it’s just another golf course so you can’t get too far ahead of yourself. It’s just another score and another round of golf so I’m just going to go out and shoot the best that I can. It’d be awesome to make the cut and then see where I go from there.”

While Geer hadn’t played Tullymore prior to this week she says the course reminds her of her home track.

“This course really reminds me of my home course back at Oak Pointe which I tend to play a lot more position golf and a lot of the holes out here remind me of that,” Geer explained. “It suits my game and if I hit it well off the tee I think it’ll be good for out here. The greens are in amazing shape too and everything comes down to putting so I’m just working on that and the short game. I think it’s going to set up really well for me this week.”

PLAYERS HOST JUNIOR CLINIC

Nine players – Emily Childs, Sara Banke, Kaitlyn Price, Ally Knight, Jordan Britt, Brittany Marchand, Ericka Schneider, Allyson Geer and Kate Scarpetta – took time out of their busy schedules on Tuesday to host a junior clinic for over 30 local kids.

“I think they’re a lot of fun,” Britt said. “You get to meet some really cool kids and they learn something new. Making a 4-footer might not be a big deal to us anymore but to see their faces light up when they do it you kind of wish you were that excited every time you make putts. Just seeing them learn something new and seeing when it clicks that’s really neat.”

Taking part in the youth clinic were local kids as well as children from the charitable partner of the event.

“I always love giving back and helping kids,” Marchand said. “In this case, there were kids in need so that’s a great feeling. It’s also great to see where you started and bring it back to a beginner level. Switch your brain and bring it back to the basics so it’s good. It was great.”

MARY NARZISI MAKES HER FIRST ACE DURING PRACTICE ROUND
Mary Narzisi tallied the first hole-in-one of her life using a 7-iron from 165 yards on the 12^th hole during a Wednesday practice round at Tullymore.

“I’m 26 turning 27 and feel like I’m past my prime for holes in one so I can quit now,” Narzisi joked. “I was actually complaining about the hole before I hit it. We have like four front numbers and then we were waiting for 20 minutes. I hit it and I turn and turn around thinking ok it’s on the green. Then when we get up there Christina was like “is someone playing a Callaway?” and I was like “me” and she said “It’s in the hole!” and we just started celebrating.”

While Narzisi is happy with the ace she is looking for a little bit more this week in the Canadian Lakes.

“I’m just trying to follow my little sister Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong‘s lead.”

Santiwiwatthanaphong recorded a practice round ace last week and then went on to win the Island Resort Championship.

LOCAL TIES OPENING ROUND TEE TIMES

Below are the tee times for the seven players in the field with Michigan ties.

Allyson Geer – 1:08 (10^th tee)
Gabrielle Shipley – 8:30 (10^th tee)
Laura Kueny – 9:20 (1^st tee)
Samantha Troyanovich – 12:35 (10^th tee)
Caroline Powers – 2:36 (10^th tee)
Christine Meier – 8:25 (1^st tee)
Alyssa Ferrell – 8:14 (1^st tee)

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 Pre-tournament News & Notes

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