PHC Classic
Brown Deer Park Golf Course
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
July 31, 2015
First Round News and Notes

MILWAUKEE, Wisc., July 31, 2015 - On a windy day where only five players were able to break par, Erica Popson (Davenport, Fla.) fired an opening round 68 to take a two shot lead after the first round of the PHC Classic at Brown Deer Park Golf Course.

“You just need to stay comfortable and not really think about the wind,” Popson said of the wind that reached gusts of 30 miles-per-hour. “So many people out there are going to be thinking about the wind and it’s going to get in their head but you’ve just got to realize that everyone has got to play in it so the person who addresses it with the best attitude is going to play good.”

Popson carded five birdies against a lone bogey to post her 4-under round.

“I hit my driver really well. I’ve been struggling with that club a lot this year and I hit it better than I have been so that’s always good to hit some fairways and give myself some opportunities out there,” Popson said. “I was happy with the way I played out in tough conditions today.”

The University of Tennessee grad also credited a new mindset as the key to her strong play.

“It’s just trying to figure out what makes you calm, even if you have to walk down the fairway looking at the sky and just saying how beautiful of a day it is,” Popson explained. “You’ve got to do whatever you’ve got to do to keep your mind off of golf because I’ve been so focused on golf and it’s been hurting me so the more I can keep my mind off of golf, the better I play. It’s definitely a new approach that I’ve been taking the past couple of months and it’s finally something that I’m starting to get a lot better at.”

Chasing Popson down will be Lee Lopez (Whittier, Calif.) and Nontaya Srisawang (Chiang Mai, Thailand) who each sit a 2-under and Natalie Sheary (West Hartford, Conn.) and Krista Puisite (Riga, Latvia) who are at 1-under.

Second round play will begin off the first and tenth tees starting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The top 144 up-and-coming professionals from the United States and around the world are competing for a $100,000 total tournament purse in the 54-hole stroke play format. The winner of the PHC Classic will earn $15,000 and take a big step up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the end-of-season money list will earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season.

ITALIA/AGNEW STAYING WITH SKIP KENDALL’S COUSIN: Haley Italia (Pace, Florida) is staying basically across the street this week with cousins of Milwaukee’s own Skip Kendall, who has 26 career top 10 finishes on the PGA TOUR.

“Skip and I practice at the same course in Florida (Keene’s Pointe) and we started practicing together when he qualified for the U.S. Senior Open and I qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open,” said Italia, who posted a 1-over 73 that included a long birdie putt to end the day. “I told him we were playing at Brown Deer and he said ‘that is where I grew up’ and we got in touch with one of his cousins.”

The first time Italia ever played with Kendall was in a foursome with another former PGA TOUR player Steve Flesch, a four-time winner on the PGA. The only problem was she forgot her clubs.

“I took Natalie Gleadall to the airport and swapped her clubs with mine and then I packed a quick lunch and got to the course and popped the trunk and no clubs,” said Italia. “I texted my normal playing partner and he was like ‘are you kidding me, you are playing with two PGA professionals and you are a professional’ but they tried to round up clubs for me and said it was an honest mistake.”

Italia said that she can learn a lot from Kendall and has in a short amount of time because they have similar games.

“He has taught me the 30-40 yard spinner wedge shots,” said Italia. “He is like me, not very long off the tee, so it is hard to reach the par-5 holes, but I used to lay up to a number and he told me to get as close as possible. Every time I hit one, I’ll text him and say that I just hit a Skip Kendall special. His short game is unbelievable.”

Although they haven’t seen each other much this summer because of their busy schedules (Kendall is in Minneapolis this week on the Senior Tour), Italia knows what she’ll say next time their paths cross.

“Let’s go, it’s time for more wedge practice.”

FAMILY AFFAIR FOR LEE LOPEZ: Lee Lopez (Whittier, Calif.) has a familiar face on her bag this week at the PHC Classic, her mom.

“I couldn’t be more excited. This is the first time that she’s come out since California,” Lopez said with a smile. “It’s been a long nine weeks for me so I really needed her out here to help me on the last leg of this stretch.”

As Lopez mentioned, she is in her ninth consecutive week of competing. The fatigue hasn’t show as Lopez was able to shoot a 2-under, 70, on a difficult scoring day to sit two shots behind the leader Erica Popson.

“I was just trying to take it a shot at a time and just really think about staying in the moment because it was definitely tough out there,” Lopez explained. “You had to be patient.”

While Lopez, who sits at No. 6 in the Volvik Race for the Card moneylist, is in the hunt yet again don’t expect her to be scoreboard watching come the weekend.

“I actually never look at scores. I just go out there and play my game.”

SOLID SHORT GAME SPARKS PUISITE: Krista Puisite (Riga, Latvia) sits a mere three shots back of the lead following an opening round 71 at the PHC Classic.

“The conditions are really tough,” Puisite admitted. “It’s crazy windy. On this course, so many holes are side wind and that’s the toughest on par 3s. The greens are really firm and really fast. I think that explains the higher scores so far today.”

What makes Puisite’s 1-under round even more impressive is that she was able to bounce back after starting off with bogeys on three of her first four holes.

“I was three over after the first four holes and then I had three birdies in a row and started to play better. It was just a really eventful day,” Puisite admitted. “I am very happy. I was trying to focus on one shot at a time and I knew that it was going to be tough but I didn’t think it would be that tough.”

Puisite managed the tough conditions thanks to an exceptional short game brought on by some razzing from her dad and boyfriend.

“I was thinking that my short game has to be very good and then it was very good. I started chipping better than I have in the past few weeks,” Puisite said. “My dad and my boyfriend were giving me a hard time about not getting up and down from the bunkers so today I made one from the bunker and got up-and-down on two or three others so I think I rose to the challenge.”

OF NOTE: Eleven of the top 25 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list are T13 or better…Nontaya Srisawang (-2) posted a bogey-free round – the only such round on Friday…Despite a four hole stretch of double-par-bogey-bogey, Annie Park carded an even-par 72 and is T6. Park has finished inside the top 15 in three straight events including a win at the Toyota Danielle Downey Classic in Rochester…No. 1 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, Giulia Molinaro, posted a 4-over 76, her first over par round since April 26…Wisconsin soon-to-be sophomore Gabby Curtis carded a 16-over 88 and has been disqualified based on Epson Tour Rules and Regulation Article XVI 2 which reads “Epson Tour Officials will withdraw any player who shoots a score of 88 or higher before the cut of any tournament.”…Allyssa Ferrell (Edgerton) posted the best score of the Wisconsin players at 3-over 75.

Erica Popson Takes Two Shot Lead at PHC Classic

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