Garden City Charity Classic
Buffalo Dunes Golf Course
Garden City, Kansas
September 15, 2015
Tuesday Pre-Tournament News & Notes

GARDEN CITY, Kan., September 15, 2015 - The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, is now three days away from the 2nd annual Garden City Charity Classic presented by the Mariah Fund from September 18-20 at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course.

The top 132 professionals from the United States and 23 countries around the globe will compete for a $100,000 total tournament purse. The winner will earn a very important paycheck of $15,000 and move up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the year-end money list earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season.

MARGARITA RAMOS ORGANIZING TOURNEY IN MEXICO: Margarita Ramos (Mexico City, Mexico) was playing for a greater cause last week at the Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic. A family friend, Susana, was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and Ramos wanted to help. The only way she knew how was to organize a tournament. Along with her mom, Ramos is organizing the “Macus Invitational” to raise money to help the family with the medical costs associated with treatment. She said the event will take place in Cuernavaca, Mexico - where Ramos grew up playing golf - either the first Monday or Friday of November.

Ramos, who finished second last week in Mayetta, said that putting together this tournament has helped ease her mind on the golf course. She’s much happier now.

“I have my friend in the back of my mind and I know she is suffering a lot so I don’t get as stressed on the golf course and I’m trying to enjoy every moment,” said Ramos, who played in the final group and carded a 3-under 69 on Sunday. “It had been a bit since I was near the top of the leaderboard. When I was finished playing, regardless of the result, I was just really happy on the course.”

Golf has given Ramos a lot - a scholarship to the University of Arizona, a chance to travel the world professionally - and now she wants to give back.

“Ever since I was young, I had it in my mind that I wanted to help out through golf because the sport has given me so much,” said Ramos on Tuesday at the Buffalo Dunes driving range. “I’ve always told myself that I need to get to the next level before I can do something, but I’ve been thinking and I decided not to wait. Everybody has been so helpful in organizing this.”

Ramos moved closer to her dream of playing on the LPGA Tour by jumping 48 spots up the Volvik Race for the Card money list to 45th.

“All year I’ve been thinking about the money list and the rankings and that doesn’t help much,” said Ramos. “This past tournament, I just went out there and played without any expectations. Whenever you don’t think so much about it and let your body do it, good things seem to happen.”

Ramos made the cut last year at the Garden City Charity Classic and finished in a tie for 70th.

“I remember it being very cold here last year, I only warmed up for like five minutes so I wasn’t in the cold any more than I had to be,” said Ramos, who is thankful for the warmer weather expected this week. “I remember it being a tight course and you have to place the ball well.”

‘14 EPSON TOUR PLAYER OF YEAR STEEN FEELING BETTER: Marissa Steen (West Chester, Ohio) won three times on the Epson Tour last year and finished first on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. She played this year on the LPGA Tour and is playing in her second Epson Tour event in Garden City to keep fresh for Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament in December.

“I think it’s everyone’s goal to play on the LPGA and the Epson Tour was obviously a good stepping stone for me to earn my card for 2015,” said Steen. “It’s nice to know that since I didn’t have the season I would have liked on the LPGA, I still have a place to play here.”

Full LPGA Tour members can play in three Epson Tour events. Steen played in the Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic last week and finished in a tie for 33rd.

“The scores have been really low on Epson Tour this year so knowing I have a place to come play with good competition is great,” said Steen. “Obviously my skills still need some work since I didn’t have a great year.”

Steen, although not making any excuses, suffered some bad fortune early in the LPGA season with three cracked ribs.

“I really think things are trending better,” said Steen. “I thought my ball striking held up in the wind last week. Things are tightening up and for whatever reason things felt like they finally clicked last week in Mayetta.”

Steen, who did not play in the Garden City Charity Classic last year, will also play in the IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Florida in two weeks.

SOLHEIM CUP CONNECTIONS TO EPSON TOUR: The 2015 Solheim Cup is this week in St. Leon-Rot, Germany from September 18-20. The top 12 golfers from the United States are pitted against the top 12 golfers from Europe. Of the 12 golfers on Team USA, seven played in at least one Epson Tour event before reaching the LPGA (Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Angela Stanford, Gerina Piller, Lizette Salas and Brittany Lang). Kerr won the 1995 Ironwood FUTURES Classic while Stanford won the 2000 Summit Consulting SBC FUTURES Tour Championship. Piller graduated through the Epson Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2010. She has six career second place finishes on the Epson Tour.

OF NOTE: Italy, United States, Mexico, Sweden, Canada and China are all represented in the current top 10 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list...No. 11 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list Jimin Kang is a 2-time winner on the LPGA Tour - 2005 LPGA Corning Classic and 2010 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

Garden City Charity Classic Pre-tournament News & Notes - Tuesday

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