Former Auburndale star Brauckmuller gets invite into field that includes five Olympians

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, March 2, 2017 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, tees off the 2017 season on Friday, March 10 with the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic at the Country Club of Winter Haven. The field features two world top 100 players, five Olympians, three LPGA Tour winners and seven 2016 All-Americans.

The field of 132 women from the United States and 27 different countries around the globe will compete from March 10-12 for a total tournament purse of $125,000. The winner will earn $18,750 and move to the top spot on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to start the season. The top 10 on the year-end money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2018 season.

The Tour announced the four exemptions that will compete highlighted by former Auburndale High School star Shelby Brauckmuller, who was a medalist by finishing fourth at the 2015 FHSAA Class 2A girls golf state finals. Brauckmuller, who was a Polkpreps.com four-time All County selection, is now a freshman at Marshall.

“I’m very excited to play in this event,” said Brauckmuller. “This will be a good chance for me to get a feel for playing in a bigger field. I grew up in the area and got to watch my game progress at the Country Club of Winter Haven. I always looked forward to getting out of school everyday and going straight there to practice. I have played in Polk County all of my life and now that I am off at college at Marshall, I am excited to return back home and be able to play a professional tournament at my home course.”

The second sponsor exemption is third-year Epson Tour professional Emily Gimpel, who played college golf at the University of Maryland.

The Tour has also extended contractual invites to Brooke Seay, who recently won the ANNIKA Invitational on the AJGA and Alice Barbieri, who is a 2017 rookie.

The field is very strong with two players who rank in the top 100 according the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings: No. 66 Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Copenhagen, Denmark) and No. 100 Nicole Broch Larsen (Hillerod, Denmark). The field also includes former LPGA Tour winners Julieta Granada (2006 ADT Championship), Lorie Kane (4-time winner) and Silvia Cavalleri (2007 Corona Championship). Granada has earned over $4 million in her distinguished LPGA career with a total of 28 top 10 finishes.

There are five Olympians from the 2016 Games in Rio that are in the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic (Nanna Koerstz Madsen - Denmark, Nicole Broch Larsen - Denmark, Marianne Skarpnord - Norway, Julieta Granada - Paraguay and Alejandra Llaneza - Mexico) and seven 2016 Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-Americans (Lauren Kim - Stanford, Lauren Coughlin - Virginia, Mariah Stackhouse - Stanford, Charlotte Thomas - Washington, Emma Talley - Alabama, Daniela Darquea - Miami and Elizabeth Szokol - Virginia).

Top players from the 2016 Epson Tour season also headline the field. Six players that finished 11 through 20 on the money list are scheduled to compete including No. 12 Erica Popson of Davenport, No. 13 Augusta James and No. 14 Sophia Popov.

Defending champion Samantha Richdale is also in the field and will go for her fifth career Epson Tour victory.

Tickets to the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic are $10 for a single-day ticket and $25 for all three rounds. Parking is free at the Country Club of Winter Haven.

Field Set For Florida’s Natural Charity Classic; Brauckmuller Gets Sponsor Invite

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