HARRIS, Michigan, June 22, 2017 - The Epson Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, reaches the midway point of the 2017 season with the seventh annual Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass Golf Club from Friday, June 23 through Sunday, June 25. The Island Resort Championship is the fourth event of a six week stretch. The Tour stays in the state of Michigan next week with the Tullymore Classic in Canadian Lakes.

The field of 144 players from the United States and 30 countries around the globe will compete for a $150,000 total tournament purse and the winner will earn $22,500. The Volvik Race for the Card money list is beginning to take shape and players are jockeying for position inside the top 10. Following the Epson Tour Championship (Oct. 5-8), the top 10 on the money list will earn LPGA membership for the 2018 season.

Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. all three days of the tournament. There will be a cut to the low 60 and ties following Saturday’s second round. The Island Resort Championship started in 2011. The field is incredibly strong this week as nine of the top 10 on the current money list will tee it up including the top seven. In fact, 19 of the top 20 on the money list are in the field.

TEAM FERRELL

The Island Resort Championship field includes three players from the state of Michigan: Lindsey McPherson (Flushing), Christine Meier (Rochester Hills) and Elizabeth Nagel (DeWitt) along with three players from Wisconsin: Brooke Ferrell (Edgerton), Allyssa Ferrell (Edgerton) and Jenna Peters (Kohler).

Michigan State grad Allyssa Ferrell is a 2017 LPGA Tour rookie, but is back on the Epson trail this week after missing the last three LPGA cuts. Brooke Ferrell is a recent Wisconsin grad, and she is just getting her professional career underway. Brooke was granted a sponsor invite to play at the Sweetgrass Golf Club for the second year in a row and join her sister Allyssa. While the pair played this event last year together (Allyssa was T5, Brooke was T54) it will only be Brooke’s third Epson tournament.

“It’s nice to be back this year,” Brooke said, “since I’ve seen the course and now I’m actually trying to make money as a professional. I feel like I’ve been very fortunate with the Epson to get this sponsor invitation. Karma is in my favor, and I’m just happy to be back.”

While the sisters will have a lot of friends and family in the gallery, their parents will be a bit closer to the action as mom will be on Allyssa’s bag and dad on Brooke’s. “To be close enough to home that people can come watch us it’s so nice,” Brooke said, “and they’re always so supportive. They think every shot is great, even when we hit bad shots. Even when I three-putt my family still loves me.”

The sisters played practice rounds together in preparation for Friday’s first round, and Brooke especially is gaining a lot from watching her older sister. “It’s really nice having her here because she’s so good on the greens,” Brooke said. “I can watch what she does and I watch how she hits her putts and I try to just mimic that behavior as best I can.”

You hear mostly words of support from the duo, however their competitive fire often turns into impromptu contests on practice days. “When it comes to putting usually I win, but I got beat yesterday,” Allyssa lamented about losing a putting contest on Wednesday to Brooke. Putting contests aside, come tournament days make no mistake that ‘Team Ferrell’ will be cheering eachother on.

“It’s just so nice to have someone who you know is rooting for you no matter what you do,” Brooke said. “I know that if I beat Allyssa or if she beats me we’re still team Ferrell and we’ll move on from that.”

Brooke is set to tee off Round 1 on the tenth tee at 8:03 a.m. alongside Louise Ridderstrom and Manuela Carbajo Re, while Allyssa will be on the first tee at 8:25 a.m. paired with Kristy McPherson and Ann-Catherine Tanguay.

WE’RE HALFWAY THERE

As the 11th of 22 tournaments on the 2017 Epson Tour schedule, the Island Resort Championship marks the midway point of the season.

Heading into the Island Resort Championship Kendall Dye is seventh in the Volvik Race for the Card. This season, Dye has racked up five top-25 finishes including winning her second career Epson victory at the Four Winds Invitational. After playing on the LPGA Tour in 2015, Dye is looking to continue her early season Epson success and stay inside the top 10.

“It’s been hot and cold,” Dye said of her season so far. “I’ve had a lot of good finishes and then I’ve missed some cuts. South Bend definitley helped, it put me back to where I would like to be in a comfortable spot. I think we still have 12 more events so it’s a marathon, there’s still a lot of golf to be played.”

At the midway point of the season Dye knows she has to keep the throttle down week after week, “I cant play conservatively,” she said. “I’ve got to play to win every week. Hopefully I’ll get a few more great finishes so maybe I can afford to take off one tournament, but it’s been a good year so far.”

During the offseason 2015 Epson rookie Chirapat Jao-Javanil went through a fundamental swing change, and although she’s still adjusting to the changes she has been able to finish in the top 20 twice this season.

“I’d like to see myself feeling more comfortable with all the changes,” Jao-Javanil said. “To be able to transform that into more birdies and low scores on tournament days and put myself in good position for good finishes.”

Dye will tee off at 1:04 p.m. on Friday playing alongside Hye-Min Kim and Veronica Felibert, while Jao-Javanil is off at 7:52 a.m. paired with Jennifer Bermingham and Marta Sanz Barrio.

SECOND POTAWATOMI CUP EVENT

The Island Resort Championship is the second of four Potawatomi Cup events. The Potawatomi Cup, which is in its fourth year, provides a $40,000 pot of bonus money available to the players based on performance in the four events sponsored by Potawatomi nation tribes. There is $8,500 up for grabs at each tournament.

Kendall Dye (Edmond, Okla.) won the first Potawatomi Cup event (Four Winds Invitational) and leads the points race with 500 points. The third Potawatomi Cup event is the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship from July 28-30. The player with the most points at the end of the fourth event (PHC Classic in Milwaukee) will pocket a $6,000 bonus.

“Any extra benefit means a great deal,” Dye said about the Potawatomi Cup. “It’s so nice that the casinos do this, it’s a really fun extra incentive. Not that I’m focusing more on casino tournaments, but that was a nice surprise when I won at Four Winds.”

The money earned from the Potawatomi Cup does not count towards the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Min Seo Kwak (2014), Annie Park (2015) and Laura Gonzalez Escallon (2016) are the three winners of the Potawatomi Cup.

OF NOTE

The winner of the Island Resort Championship has gone onto earn a Tour card (through the Volvik Race for the Card money list or Qualifying Tournament) three of the last four years: Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong (2016), Dani Holmqvist (2015) and Kim Kaufman (2013).
This season, six of the ten events have been won by first year players: Daniela Darquea (IOA Championship), Hannah Green (Sara Bay Classic), Chorphaka Jaengkit (Decatur-Forsyth Classic), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Epson Classic and Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY) and Celine Boutier (Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic).
Of the top 20 players on the money list, seven are in their first year on the Epson Tour (No. 1 Nanna Koerstz Madsen, No. 2 Celine Boutier, No. 5 Hannah Green, No. 6 Daniela Darquea, No. 12 Lindsey Weaver, No. 16 Chorphaka Jaengkit and No. 19 Elizabeth Szokol).

Thursday Notes from the Island Resort Championship

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