Epson Classic
Raintree Country Club
Charlotte, N.C.
May 19, 2014

Storylines

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Epson Tour, the Road to the LPGA Tour, will wrap up a five tournament in five week stretch, at the Epson Classic. The three-round event will begin on Thursday, May 22, and run through Saturday, May 24, at Raintree Country Club.

The 143 player field will be competing for a share of a $100,000 purse with a top prize of $15,000. The top-10 on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list will receive their LPGA Tour cards for the 2015 season.

In 2013, Laura Kueny fired a final-round, 1-under, 71 to capture her first Epson Tour victory at the second-annual Epson Classic. The Michigan State University graduate headed into Sunday’s final round at Raintree Country Club trailing Alena Sharp by 2-strokes but fought back recording two birdies and one bogey to take home the trophy. Kueny will be back to defend her title in 2014.

The Epson Classic has been a part of the Epson Tour's schedule since 2009. Prior to moving to Charlotte in 2012, it was played at The Dominion Country Club in San Antonio, Texas from 2009 to 2011.

Past champions
2013 - Laura Kueny*
2012 - Mi Hyang Lee*
2011 - Lisa Ferrero
2010 - Paola Moreno
2009 - Allison Hanna-Williams
* - champion when event was held in Charlotte

Local Connections: 17 players in this week’s field have connections to North Carolina, including Charlotte natives Laura Wearn (Charlotte Country Day) and amateur Allison Emrey (Ardrey Kell High School).

Below is the list of players and their ties to the area.

Player	Hometown	College
Allie White	Lancaster, Ohio	University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Allison Emrey	Charlotte, N.C.	Wake Forest University
Ashley Tait	Littleton, Colo.	UNC-Wilmington
Brooke Baker	Edmond, Okla.	North Carolina State University
Casey Grice	College Station, Texas	University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Catherine O'Donnell	Ponte Vedra, Fla.	University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Cheyenne Woods	Phoenix, Ariz.	Wake Forest University
Heather Angell	Winston-Salem, N.C.	University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Jean Chua	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Wake Forest University
Jennie Lee	Henderson, Nev.	Duke University
Lauren Wearn	Charlotte, N.C.	Furman University
Lauren Doughtie	Suffolk, Va.	North Carolina State University
Michelle Low	Ipoh, Malaysia	Belmont Abbey College
Michelle Shin	Cape Coral, Fla.	Wake Forest University
Nanette Hill	Pelham Manor, N.Y.	Wake Forest University
Sandra Angulo Minnaro	Torreon, Mexico	Campbell University

TOBACCO ROAD WELL REPRESENTED IN CHARLOTTE:
13 players in this week’s field attended college at Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State or Wake Forest.

There are six players in the field this week that played collegiately at Wake Forest - Cheyenne Woods, Nannette Hill, Natalie Sheary, Michelle Shin, Jean Chua and amateur Allison Emrey.

Woods was a two-time All-American and three-time All-ACC member while in school at Wake Forest. She is in her first season on the Epson Tour.

Hill was a two-time All-ACC selection at Wake Forest. She placed in a tie for 13th at the 2008 NCAA Championships. Hill has one victory and a pair of top-10 finishes on the Epson Tour. She won the City of Hammond Classic in 2010.

Sheary, who has conditional LPGA Tour status, was the 2009 ACC Player of the Year. She was also a 2011 NGCA Honorable Mention All-American. Sheary has seven career top-10 finishes on the Epson Tour.

Shin played two years of college golf at Wake Forest before turning professional. She was a two-time NGCA Honorable Mention All-American.

Chua turned professional in 2009 and has recorded a trio of runner-up finishes on the Epson Tour, most recently in 2013.

Emrey, who just concluded her junior season with the Demon Deacons at the NCAA West Regional, has competed in 29 tournaments in her college career with her best finish being a tie for fifth at the 2012 Landfall Tradition. While in high school at Ardrey Kell, Emrey won the 2010 4A West Regional title and then led her team to a NCHSAA 4A State Championship, was the 2008 4A Individual State Champion, finished runner-up at the state tournament in 2009 and helped Ardrey Kell to a runner-up state finish in 2009.

UNC has the second largest contingency with four alums in the field in Casey Grice, Allie White, Catherine O’Donnell and Heather Angell.

Grice is coming off her best finish of the year at the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic when she placed T8 and earned $4,490. Grice was an Honorable Mention All American following her 2011-12 season at UNC. She finished fifth at the ACC Championships that same year.

White, who was named to the NGCA (National Golf Coaches Association) All-America Scholar Team three times at UNC, finished sixth at the 2012 ACC Championships. White was named to the All-ACC teams in 2009 and 2011. Her best finish on the Epson Tour this season is a tie for 54th at the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial.

O’Donnell was a three-time All-ACC selection in 2009, 2010 and 2011. She was named the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year. She was also named to the PING Golfweek All-America Third Team in 2011. O’Donnell is in her second season on the Epson Tour with three top-10 finishes on her resume.

Angell has competed on-and-off on the Epson Tour since 2003 and won the 2012 Ohio Women’s Open.

The Wolfpack will be represented by Brooke Baker and Lauren Doughtie.

Baker will be competing in her third career Epson event while Doughtie is a six year vet who won the 2012 Ladies Titian Tire Challege on Epson and who has also competed in a pair of U.S. Women’s Open Championships (2008 and 2011).

Jennie Lee will represent the Duke Blue Devils. Lee currently sits seventh on the Volvik Race for the Card money list and has a trio of top-10 finishes on the 2014 season. In her career, Lee has competed in four

U.S. Women’s Open Championships and was a member of the LPGA Tour from 2011-13.

14 PLAYERS WITH LPGA STATUS IN THE FIELD:
There are 14 players with LPGA Tour status competing this week at the Epson Classic.

The list includes: Brittany Altomare, Dottie Ardina, Veronica Felibert, Yueer Cindy Feng, Louise Friberg, Jamie Hullett, Nicole Jeray, Maue-Aimee Leblanc, Jan Rah, Reilley Rankin, Natalie Sheary, Marta Silva, Jackie Stoelting and Kris Tamulis.

PLAYER DEBUTS IN 2014: 10 players will be making their 2014 Epson debuts at the Epson classic. Below is a list of players who will be competing for the first time this season on the Road to the LPGA.

Player	Hometown
Shannon Aubert	Reunion, Fla.
Kirby Dreher	Fort St. John, B.C., Canada
Allison Emrey	Charlotte, N.C.
Erika Llagan	Cypress, Calif.
Scooby Liu	Taichung, Taiwan
Lauren Mielbrecht	Gulf Stream, Fla.
Amy Park	Gwangju, South Korea
Agnes Sudjasmin	Jakarta, Indonesia
Chessey Thomas	Spokane, Wash.
Alisara Wedchakama	Chiang Mai, Thailand

INTERNATIONAL FIELD: This week’s Epson Classic features a field with an international flavor as 27 different countries are represented by 53 players.

VOLVIK RACE FOR THE CARD PLAYER TO WATCH: With her solo third place showing at the Friends of Mission Charity Classic Casey Grice moved up to 17th on the latest Volvik Race for the Card money list.

Grice’s third place finish backed up a tie for eighth at the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic and capped an impressive move up from 76th on the money list a mere two weeks ago.

She finished 3-under over the three-day event and earned $6,837 to increase her year-long total to $13,311.

BIG BREAK FLORIDA FINALIST IN FIELD: The season finale of Golf Channel’s reality series Big Break Florida is will air Monday at 9:00 p.m. Jackie Stoelting, who is in this week’s field, is one of the finalists who will be competing for a 2014 Manulife Financial LPGA Classic exemption, a 2015 Epson Tour season exemption, cash prize of $65,000, a handful of other perks, and the title of 2014 “Big Break Florida” Champion.

In addition to Stoelting, three additional members of this season’s Big Break Florida cast – Mary Narzisi, Sadena Parks and Renee Skidmore - will be competing in this week’s Epson Classic.
The show was filmed on location in October, 2013 at Omni Amelia Island Plantation’s three award-winning golf courses – Oak Marsh, Ocean Links and Long Point Golf Courses.

Epson Classic Top Storylines

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