CANADIAN LAKES, Michigan, June 26, 2017 - The Epson Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, returns to Tullymore Golf Resort for the third annual Tullymore Classic from Friday, June 30 through Sunday, July 2. This is the 12th event of the 2017 season and the fifth week of a grueling six-week swing. There are now 11 events remaining in the 2017 season.
Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. all three days of the tournament. A split-tee start will be used on Friday and Saturday while a single-tee start is scheduled for the final-round. There will be a cut made to the low 60 and ties following second-round play on Saturday.
The field of 144 players from the United States and 27 countries around the globe will compete for a tournament purse of $100,000. The winner will earn $15,000 and move up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top ten on the final money list following the Epson Tour Championship (October 5-8) will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2018 season.
The Tour comes to Canadian Lakes from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Harris) where the Island Resort Championship wrapped up on Sunday. The six-week stretch started June 2-4 with the Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY in Albany, New York. The Tour has also made stops in South Bend, Indiana and Decatur, Illinois during the stretch.
The Tullymore Classic is the second of three events in the state of Michigan. The FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek (July 28-30) is the final event in the Wolverine State. The only other state that has more tournaments is Florida (4).
The first two Tullymore Classic’s have produced dramatic finishes. In 2015, Daniela Iacobelli (Melbourne, Florida), who was born in Detroit, posted a final-round 66 including a birdie on number 18 to hold off Lee Lopez, who carded a final-round 10-under, 62. Last year, Paola Moreno (Cali, Colombia) also turned in a final round 66 to come from behind after a 74 on day two of the tournament. Both Iacobelli and Moreno are in the field this week.
The field is mighty strong at the top as the entire top 10 on the money list is in the field including No. 1 Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Copenhagen, Denmark), who is a two-time winner and ranks No. 95 in the world, and No. 2 Celine Boutier (Montrouge, France), who has four top 10 finishes. In fact, the top 20 on the money list are all in the field for the first time this season.
There are also several Michigander’s in the field: Misia Conklin (Grosse Ile), Allyson Geer (Brighton), Sarah Hoffman (Saline), Laura Kueny (Whitehall), Lindsey McPherson (Flushing), Christine Meier (Rochester Hills) and Elizabeth Nagel (DeWitt). There are six former and/or current Michigan State Spartans in the field:
Allyssa Ferrell, Laura Kueny, Lindsey McPherson, Allyson Geer, Christine Meier and Elizabeth Nagel.
The field also includes 20 players with LPGA Tour membership.
Tullymore Golf Resort will play 6,418 yards this week as a par-72.
RECAP OF LAST WEEK: TALLEY PICKS UP #1
There were two storylines that arose in Harris, Michigan last week - the weather and the play of Emma Talley (Princeton, Ky.). The second-round was suspended on Saturday night due to rain and subsequent unplayable course conditions and then the final-round was cancelled before the leaders even started so Talley was declared the winner. She posted a 66 on day one and a 69 on day two to win at 9-under.Her first professional win moved her to No. 4 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with $43,618. Talley has now finished inside the top 10 in three straight starts and has six total for the season.
“It’s definitely a dream come true,” said Talley on Sunday in Harris. “It feels like all the work has finally been clicking and I’m really excited for the win.
Talley enjoyed a tremendous amateur career before turning professional in 2016. She won three state titles in Kentucky, won the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and won the 2015 NCAA individual title at Alabama.
The 23-year-old also saw success last year at the Tullymore Classic. She finished in a tie for fourth at 9-under with rounds of 68-68-71. She was actually just one off the lead heading into the final-round last year.
MOST OF TOP FINISHERS FROM 2016 TULLYMORE CLASSIC BACK
While many from the 2016 Tullymore Classic have moved onto the LPGA, the majority of the players that finished in the top 10 return. Paola Moreno, who won, returns to defend. Erynne Lee, who finished in a tie for second, is also back. Emma Talley, Dottie Ardina and Yu Liu finished in a tie for fourth and they all return. Carleigh Silvers and Amy Ruengmateekhun shared seventh place last year and both are back this year. Seven of the top 10 from last year’s Tullymore Classic return this year.“Winning with the birdie putt at 18 was pretty special,” Moreno said last week. “That tournament (in 2016) really let me know I was back from the injury, and that I could win again. Of my three Epson Tour wins, that one is the most special because of the work I went through to get my game back.”
Moreno has three top 10 finishes in six starts this year and ranks ninth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. She has not finished outside the top 30 and has finished inside the top 20 in five of six starts. Moreno did not play last week at the Island Resort Championship.
GEER, CONKLIN ARE TWO SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS
For the second straight year, Allyson Geer, one of the top amateurs in the state, received an exemption into the Tullymore Classic. Conklin, who is the Membership Director at Tullymore Golf Resort, will play in the event for the first time.Geer, who recently completed her freshman year at Michigan State, made the cut last year and finished T50 with rounds of 69-73-75. Geer won the 2015 and 2016 Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship and has been the No. 1 Michigan junior golfer since 2013. This year, she was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and made First Team All-Big Ten. She finished second on the team with a scoring average of 74.08.
Conklin played on the FUTURES Tour from 2004-06 when she was Misia Lemanski. She played in 26 career events and her best finish was a 15th place result at the 2005 Albany FUTURES Pro Golf Classic. Conklin played college golf at the University of Michigan where she was the 1998 Freshman of the Year. She was the runner-up at the 2002 Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship.
“My goal is just to get back into that competitive spirit and really play within my own game,” Conklin said last month. “I remember when I played on tour that Decatur (Ill.) and Syracuse (N.Y.) were tournaments that had great support and spectators. That’s what I saw last year at Tullymore. Canadian Lakes really embraces it as their tournament, and everybody at Tullymore in ownership, on staff and all the members really work hard to make it a great event.”
A WHOLE NEW CROP OF WINNERS
Emma Talley became the eighth first-time winner this year in 11 total events. Here is a list of the first-time winners this year.
| FIRST-TIME WINNER | TOURNAMENT |
|---|---|
| Daniela Darquea |
IOA Championship |
| Liv Cheng |
Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club |
| Hyemin Kim |
POC Med Golf Classic |
|
Hannah Green |
Sara Bay Classic |
| Nanna Koerstz Madsen | Epson Classic / Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY |
| Celine Boutier | Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic |
| Chorphaka Jaengkit | Decatur-Forsyth Classic |
| Emma Talley | Island Resort Championship |
First-year players have had a major impact this year as four of the top five on the money list are first year players on the Epson Tour (No. 1 Nanna Koerstz Madsen, No. 2 Benyapa Niphatsophon, No. 3 Celine Boutier and No. 5 Hannah Green). No. 7 Daniela Darquea is also a rookie on Tour. Eight of the current top 20 players are in their first year on Tour.
ROHANNA SUCCESSFUL SPLITTING TIME ON BOTH TOURS
Rachel Rohanna (Waynesburg, Pa.), who played college golf in the Big Ten at Ohio State, is successfully splitting time between the LPGA and the Epson Tour. Balancing both tours is not often easy to do.Rohanna finished T5 last week at the Island Resort Championship to climb to 17th on the money list. She has four top 25 results in eight starts on the Epson Tour.
Two weeks ago, Rohanna made the cut at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids and finished T43 to pocket just over $8,000. She has made three starts on the LPGA this year.
OLYMPIAN TIFFANY CHAN STARTS STRONG
Since graduating from USC and turning professional, Tiffany Chan (Hong Kong) has finished second and T13 in her two starts on the Epson Tour and is already 28th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.Chan transferred to USC after her starting her college career at Daytona State. She was a Second Team All-American in 2016.
Chan is one of two 2016 Olympians in the field. Alejandra Llaneza, who represented Mexico last year in Rio, is the other.
OF NOTE
- There is one 2016-17 WGCA First Team All-American in the field (August Kim, Purdue) and one Honorable Mention All-American (Victoria Morgan, USC).
- There are two 18-year-olds in the field (Ruixin Liu, Mind Muangkhumsakul) while the oldest player is Nicole Jeray at 46.
- Hannah Green, No. 5 on the money list, has finished inside the top 10 in two straight events and three of her last four starts.
- Sara Banke (Danville, Calif.) finished a career-best fourth last week to move to 54th on the money list. It was her first cut made of the season in seven starts.
- France’s Marion Ricordeau picked up her second top 10 finish of the year last week to move to 29th on the money list. She played a full season on the LPGA in 2016.
- Riuxin Liu, who finished 2nd at the 2015 Annika invitational, finished a career-best T2 last week to move up to 11th on the money list. She is a rookie on the Epson Tour.
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