Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans
Drumlins Country Club, East Course
Syracuse, New York
July 31, 2014
Pre-Tournament News & Notes

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, July 31, 2014 – The Epson Tour, the Road to the LPGA, tees off at the 19th annual Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans on Friday, August 1 at Drumlins Country Club, East Course.

The top 144 rising stars in women’s golf will be competing over three days for their share of the $100,000 total purse. The winner will receive $15,000.

There will be a cut following play on Saturday. The top 70 scores plus ties will make the cut and play in the final round on Sunday, August 3.

The Credit Union Classic is the 15th event of 20 on the Epson Tour schedule, the most in 13 years. With just six events left, the race to get inside the top-10 is heating up.

LPGA WINNER NICOLE CASTRALE VISITED SYRACUSE: Epson Tour alum and LPGA Tour winner Nicole Castrale was in Syracuse on Tuesday to participate in a media coaching seminar at Drumlins Country Club hosted by Chief Communications Officer of the LPGA Tour, Kraig Kann.

Castrale won back-to-back events on the Epson Tour in 2005 at the Northwest Indiana FUTURES Golf Classic and the Quality Concepts Kankakee FUTURES Golf Classic.

She finished fourth on the money list in 2005 and has been on the LPGA Tour ever since.

Castrale won the 2007 Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika on the LPGA Tour. She is also a two-time member of the United States Solheim Cup team in 2007 and 2008.

FIRST-TIME WINNER AGAIN?: The last four winners on the Epson Tour have all been first-time winners. Madison Pressel won the Decatur-Forsyth Classic, Nicole Vandermade won the Four Winds Invitational, Molly Aronsson won the Island Resort Championship and Sadena Parks won the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills.

There have been ten first-time winners this year on the Epson Tour.

LOTS OF ATTENTION ON OLIVIA: The spotlight has been on Olivia Jordan-Higgins this week, the defending champion of the Credit Union Classic. She shot a three-day 6-under 207 to win at Drumlins Country Club last year.

“This is my first time as a defending champion and I’m really enjoying it,” said the 26-year-old. “I have a lot of special memories here at Drumlins and it’s great to be back.

A large highway billboard appeared last month with Olivia holding the trophy to promote the Credit Union Classic.

“It’s quite surreal actually. It’s an unusual opportunity so I’m very excited about it (being on a billboard). This is something I will remember for the rest of my life and be able to share with my children and grandchildren.”

This season has been admittedly tough for Jordan-Higgins, who has missed the cut in three of the last four events. She has just one top-10 finish.

“My season as a whole has not been as good as I would have liked, but I’m really hoping coming back to Drumlins, where I feel comfortable, is really going to boost my season and hopefully get me inside the top-10.”

Jordan-Higgins finished 11th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and missed getting her LPGA Tour card by just $114 last year.

“Finishing 11th was not fun, it was a little heartbreaking. I just have to look at it as I have the talent and I have the potential to finish in the top-10. It’s just a matter of it being the right time. It will happen when I am ready.”

SADENA GETS NATIONAL ATTENTION FROM espnW: After her dramatic win at the SEFCU Championship on Sunday, Sadena Parks did an interview with espnW on Tuesday from Syracuse.

“It’s still hard for me to believe,” said Parks. “I’ve worked so hard to get to this point.”

Parks explained how she came from seven shots back to win the event.

“I was over reading putts the first two days. I was hitting shots in the fairways and I was giving myself opportunity to make birdie and I had 15-footers and 20-footers and they were just dropping.”

The Scottsdale, Arizona resident is now sixth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list with six events to go.

WHO IS HOT COMING INTO EVENT: Nobody has played better golf than Sadena Parks over the last month. She has finished inside the top-20 in each of the last four events and inside the top-30 in the last five.

Parks finished T17 at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, T11 at the Decatur-Forsyth Classic, second at the Island Resort Championship before winning the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills.

Min Lee, who finished second last week, has also been playing great golf coming into the Credit Union Classic. Lee has finished inside the top-25 in four of the last five events.

Lee, 19, was 20th on the money list after the Epson Classic in Charlotte. She now ranks ninth with $29,522.

Hye-Min Kim (Seoul, South Korea) finished in a tie for sixth last week at the SEFCU Championship. She moved from 39th to 27th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Kim has two top-10 finishes in the last four weeks. Prior to the Decatur-Forsyth Classic, Kim was 53rd on the money list.

NOTABLE PAIRINGS: Here is a look at some notable pairings in the first-round of the Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans.

8:10 a.m., first tee – Sadena Parks, who won the SEFCU Championship, will be paired with Desiree Dubreuil and Epson Tour winner Sara Brown.

8:45 a.m., tenth tee – Volvik Race for the Card number one Min Seo Kwak will be grouped with Daniela Iacobelli, who ranks 24th on the money list and Calle Nielson, who is 40th on the money list.

8:50 a.m., first tee – Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece, will be paired with former Big Break winner Taylor Collins and Nicole Sakamoto of Honolulu, Hawaii.

12:25 p.m., first tee – Defending champion Olivia Jordan-Higgins will be grouped with Garrett Phillips and Ithaca, New York native Rebecca Studin, who won the Post-Standard Women’s Amateur to earn a spot in the Credit Union Classic.

12:30 p.m., tenth tee – Popular Big Break star Blair O’Neal will be paired with Carolin Pinegger (Schladming, Austria) and Krista Puisite (Riga, Latvia).

1:15 p.m., first tee – Volvik Race for the Card number five Kendall Dye will be paired with Four Winds Invitational winner Nicole Vandermade and Rochester Hills, Michigan native Amy Meier, who had a hole-in-one during the final round of the SEFCU Championship at Capital Hills.

1:20 p.m., tenth tee – Big Break Florida winner Jackie Stoelting will be paired with Marta Silva, who ranks 20th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and LPGA Tour member Veronica Felibert.

KEEP AN EYE ON MADISON: Madison Pressel finished ninth last week at the SEFCU Championship and moved up three spots on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to 22nd.

Last year, she was a sponsor exemption at the Credit Union Classic and finished in a tie for 11th at even par 213.

The Tour rookie has two top-10 finishes in her last four events.

Prior to her win in Decatur, she ranked 110th on the money list. She moved to 17th after the win and now is inside the top-25.

Madison’s older sister is Morgan Pressel, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour.

Media Contact
Bret Lasky, Coordinator, Epson Tour Media, 386-679-1292, bret.lasky@lpga.com

Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans Pre-Tournament News & Notes

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