The 54-hole tournament will feature 144 players competing for a $110,000 purse. The winner will earn $16,500 and move towards the top of the early Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the final money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2018 season.
The field includes the top rising stars from the United States and 28 different countries around the globe. Eight of the top 10 on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list are in the field this week including No. 1 Benyapa Niphatsophon (Bangkok, Thailand), who has finished in second place in two of her three starts. The field is also highlighted by 29 LPGA Tour members including Julieta Granada, who has one career LPGA win (2006 ADT Championship) and 28 top 10 finishes.
There are ten players in the field from the state of Florida: Ginger Howard (Bradenton), Daniela Iacobelli (Melbourne), Casey Kennedy (Venice), Cindy LaCrosse (Tampa), Christina Miller (Bradenton), Erica Popson (Davenport), Madison Pressel (Boca Raton), Kaitlyn Price (Jacksonville Beach), Ericka Schneider (Bradenton) and Carlie Yadloczky (Casselberry).
Last week, the Tour announced the additions of sponsor exemption Nadia Luttner (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and contractual invites Mika Liu and Alice Barbieri. Luttner won the WPIAL Championship in 2008 and 2009 and played college golf at Coastal Carolina. Liu is one of the top ranked amateurs in the world. She currently ranks No. 30 according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and is headed to play college golf at Stanford in September. Liu honed her game at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. Barbieri, a rookie on the Epson Tour, was part of the 2016 Italian National Overall Team Ladies Champions.
First-round play begins on Friday, April 21 at 7:45 a.m. from the first and tenth tees. There will be a cut to the low 60 and ties following second round play on Saturday. The final-round will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 23.
Sara Bay Country Club is generally regarded as one of the toughest courses on the Epson Tour. In five years, the lowest three-round score is 5-under, 211 (2015 - Rachel Rohanna & 2013 - Christine Song). The Donald Ross designed track will play 6,424 yards. The winner of the Sara Bay Classic has been even-par (2016 - Brittany Altomare) or over-par (2012 - Esther Choe) twice in five years. In 2016, only two players finished even-par and T11 finished at 7-over, 223. There are two past champions in the field this week in Christine Song and Rachel Rohanna.
Tickets are $10 for a three-day pass. The spectator parking lot is located just off US 41 across from the Sara Bay Marina. To get to the parking lot, turn onto Magellan drive off US 41 and then right turn on Jungle Way. A shuttle will be provided to and from Sara Bay Country Club.
LOCAL QUALIFIER FOR ONE SPOT
For the second straight year, the Sara Bay Classic will hold one spot in the field for a local qualifier, which begins on Monday, April 17 at 11:00 a.m. There are 15 players that will tee off in groups of three with the final group scheduled for 11:36.
The headliners in the qualifier are Rino Sasaki, who won the qualifier last year to earn a spot in the field and Ya Chun Chang, who is the No. 61 ranked amateur in the world according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Chang was an exemption into the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic on the Epson Tour in 2016 and finished in a tie for second. Sasaki didn’t just earn her way into the event last year, but she made the cut and finished T38.
Another name to keep an eye on is Jaravee Boonchant of Thailand, who ranks No. 131 in the world according to the WAGR.
BRADENTON’S SCHNEIDER RAVES ABOUT AREA
Bradenton’s Ericka Schneider is one of three players from the immediate area and one of five players in the field from the gulf of Florida. The week is very special to the third-year professional, who is making her season debut.
“I get to be home and sleep in my own bed and it is not often while on tour that we get to do so,” said Schneider. “This week is special because all of the love and support I get from my hometown. I find it really special seeing all of my supporters out at the course watching me in action.”
Schneider, who won the Sarasota Junior City Championship in 2008, has played Sara Bay Country Club countless times and knows the challenge it presents.
“The biggest challenge about Sara Bay are the greens,” said Schneider. “It’s definitely a players golf course. You can’t go out and just aimlessly hit golf shots. This is a golf course you have to respect. You have to be diligent in what shots you select to play into the greens because shots can spin off and downhill puts are not very favorable.”
The 2009 Lakewood Ranch graduate is excited to welcome her fellow professionals to the town she grew up in and still calls home.
“I love the Bradenton/Sarasota area because of how laid back and friendly it is. I’m obsessed with the ocean and the beach, so living in a vacation destination is icing on the cake. Also, fresh seafood is never out of season here which my taste buds are big fans of! Another plus to this area is the never ending accessibility to world class golf courses.”
THE COW THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Rachel Rohanna (Waynesburg, Pa.) won at Sara Bay Country Club in 2015 and told reporters after her round that she was going to use the winnings to purchase a heifer. She did and named the female cow Sara Bay in honor of her first professional win. Rohanna went onto to earn her LPGA card for the 2016 season. Unfortunately, she lost her Tour card and is back on the Epson Tour.
Rohanna will return to the site of her first professional win this week.
“I remember going into the week with a good feel for the course because it was one of my best finishes the previous year,” said Rohanna, who finished T4 in 2014. “My dad was on the bag so winning with him made it extra sweet.”
Rohanna, whose family owns a condo in St. Pete, said that the Sarasota area feels like a second home.
Since 2015, her new cow “Sara Bay” has had a bull calf named Sydney and a heifer calf named Valentina. Rohanna raises approximately 100 head of Simmental and Angus with her husband on their farm called ERV Cattle.
“I’m hoping to add another addition to the herd this week (with a win), but my heifer I purchased has turned into a great cow,” said Rohanna, who is now funding her golf career through selling her cows. “It was a great week (in 2015) and turned into a great investment as well.”
Sara Bay’s first offspring, Sydney, is currently for sale.
TAMPA’S LACROSSE OFF TO STRONG START
Former Plant High School (Tampa) star Cindy LaCrosse is back on the Epson Tour this year and is off to a solid start. She has finished inside the top 25 twice including a tie for fourth at the IOA Championship. LaCrosse ranks 13th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
LaCrosse won three times on the Epson Tour in 2010 and was the Epson Player of the Year. She played most of the last six years on the LPGA making 88 starts. LaCrosse has struggled the last two years on the LPGA and is back on the Epson Tour to try to earn back status.
LaCrosse was the 2004 Hillsborough County Golfer of the Year while in high school.
FIRST-TIME WINNERS THE STORY EARLY IN 2017
Through four tournaments, the major story this season has been first-time winners stepping to the forefront. The only winner this year that has won in previous seasons was Olivia Jordan-Higgins, who won the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic to open the season. Since then, rookie Daniela Darquea claimed her first at the IOA Championship, third-year pro Liv Cheng won her first at the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club and fifth-year pro Hyemin Kim captured her first at the POC Med Golf Classic.
All four are currently in the top six on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and three are scheduled to compete. Jordan-Higgins is dealing with bulging discs in her back and was forced to withdraw from the next two events.
Sara Bay Country Club has lent itself to first-time winners. Four of the five winners at Sara Bay were first-time champions on the Epson Tour. The only one that wasn’t was Christine Song in 2013.
The other major storyline to start the year has been the emergence of four rookies: Daniela Darquea (3rd), Lindsey Weaver (7th), Ruixin Liu (11th) and Kyung Kim (15th). Three of the four are in the field this week including Weaver, who has finished inside the top 10 in three of her four starts.
BRADENTON’S NELLY KORDA THRIVING ON LPGA
Bradenton’s Nelly Korda, who finished ninth on the Epson Tour’s money list in 2016, has done very well as an LPGA rookie in 2017. She has made the cut in each of her five starts and has two top 20 results including a tie for fifth at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic.
She currently ranks 35th on the official LPGA Tour money list.
The LPGA is off this week so Korda’s next start will be the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in Dallas from April 27-30. Her big sister, Jessica Korda, currently ranks 27th on the money list.
2016 WINNER AT SARA BAY HOLDING OWN ON LPGA
Brittany Altomare outlasted Nicole Broch Larsen on the fifth playoff hole at Sara Bay Country Club last year to win her first career event. Since then, she has gone onto more than hold her own on the LPGA. Last week, she finished T16 at the LOTTE Championship for her ninth top 25 result since her win at Sara Bay. She currently ranks 68th on the LPGA money list in five starts.
Altomare posted eight top 25 finishes in her first full season on the LPGA in 2016.
Altomare started working with Justin Sheehan last year and was playing out of Longboat Key Club when she won in Sarasota.
OF NOTE
• Two players that made their LPGA Tour debuts last week at the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii - Brittany Benvenuto and Lauren Kim - are in the field this week in Sarasota.
• Bradenton’s Ginger Howard ranks third on Tour in driving accuracy, hitting 85.5% of fairways.
• There are six 2015-16 WGCA All-Americans in the field this week: Lauren Kim (Stanford), Charlotte Thomas (Washington), Emma Talley (Alabama), Daniela Darquea (Miami), Ying Luo (Washington) and Elizabeth Szokol (Virginia).
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