Category: Symetra Tour

Fatima Fernandez Cano, Symetra Tour money leader, misses tour finale after second positive COVID test

Fatima Fernandez Cano hopes to remain in the top 5 on the Symetra Tour money list despite being in quarantine. That means a lot for 2021.

The Symetra Tour’s season finale is happening this week at River Run Country Club in Davidson, North Carolina, but the top-ranked player on the season-long money list isn’t there. Instead, she’s hunkered over an e-reader in a hotel room roughly 20 miles away in Charlotte, North Carolina.

So continues the year of COVID.

Fatima Fernandez Cano, a 25-year-old from Spain, has now tested positive for the virus two times. In mid-July, she had to sit out of the Symetra Tour’s Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship, the first event on the tour’s restart, because of a positive test. Now, Cano is missing the season finale.

“Before our first event back post-quarantine, I tested positive as well,” Cano said. “That time I didn’t have any symptoms or anything. The way protocol worked back then, it wouldn’t matter whether I got retested right away or anything like that, I had to quarantine for 10 days anyways, unfortunately.

“So I did that and then of course this time around, I do have some symptoms so there was no chance for me to play at all.”

Cano reports a loss of smell and taste this time that she didn’t experience this summer. She thinks the first positive test was likely a false positive. Cano hasn’t experienced any other symptoms this week.

When Cano found out on Nov. 1 that she had tested positive again, she was driving from Pinehurst (where she finished T-32 at last week’s Carolina Golf Classic) to this week’s stop in Davidson. She was supposed to stay with a host family for this week’s tournament, but the tour found her a hotel instead. She’ll remain there for seven days from her positive test date of Oct. 30.

“I actually did some grocery shopping online and they drop it off at my hotel,” she said. “Ordering food online and stuff like that. They literally just drop it off at my door, which is great. It’s super easy.”

Early week, she was taking book recommendations by Twitter, having spent her first day in isolation doing nothing but watching TV and movies.

“I kind of decided that would not be very good for me,” she said. “I’m putting a limit on how much TV I can watch and just start reading.”

Fortunately, Cano’s hotel room is plenty big. She also has yoga and at-home workouts she can do.

None of it is ideal, but Cano recognizes it’s a situation out of her control.

“Honestly, I was actually very happy that I am or was leading the money list, having to miss one event due to this circumstance that is out of my control. I was pretty proud of the way I came back,” she said.

At stake at this week’s Tour Championship? LPGA status for 2021 as well as a spot in the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open for the top 5 players on the season-ending money list.

Cano leads that list with $48,069 for eight events, and is $12,471 ahead of Lucy Li, who sits in the No. 6 position. For now, Cano is hoping not to be bumped out of the top 5.

“My goal was to finish the season No. 1,” she said. “That was something I was working toward.”

Cano, a Spaniard who competed for Troy University from 2013-17, has never had LPGA status. She’s trying not to get too excited about that prospect yet for fear of the jinx.

At the end of the 2019 Symetra Tour season, Cano was 24th on the money list. She attributes this year’s better play to work in the gym, which allowed her to gain some distance. She also feels more confident over putts.

“COVID in a way taught me how much I love competing, how much I love being out there,” she said. “Not having that tour life, that competition for four or five months that we didn’t have it, it made me appreciate it more.”

For the past three years, Cano has been based in Birmingham. After graduating from Troy in 2017, she realized she needed a place to practice and a way to make money as she worked her way up the professional golf ladder. Cano began working in the golf shop at Shoal Creek Country Club.

After playing in LPGA Q-School that fall, she was accepted into Shoal Creek’s Tour Hopefuls program, which includes about 15 players. Cano is currently the only female among them, but LPGA player Emma Talley, the 2015 NCAA individual champion, is an alum.

When Shoal Creek hosted the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open, Cano got to tee it up on the weekend as a marker. She played in the first group out with Daniela Darquea. Cano also qualified for the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston, but missed the cut with back-to-back rounds of 74.

Having been inside the ropes makes Cano all the more hopeful that in the end, it will all work out. After all, she’s due for a bit of good luck.

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Player Diary: New pro Sierra Brooks on COVID-19 test anxiety, Chipotle bowls and finding an edge

In her latest player diary, new pro Sierra Brooks opens up on her COVID-19 test anxiety, Chipotle bowls and finding an edge.

Editor’s note: This is the third of a four-part series with 22-year-old Symetra Tour rookie Sierra Brooks, who will chronicle her 2020 season on Golfweek.com. The former Florida standout finished second at last year’s NCAA Championship to Maria Fassi and was a finalist at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She won three times in college and represented the U.S. at the Curtis Cup, Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup. Part I | Part II

I have severe test anxiety. Not the written kind. Spit tests, actually. COVID-19 tests on the Symetra Tour require us to fill a tube with saliva, and I get cotton mouth every time.

Test monitors have tried everything to help me. I’ll rub my throat, grab food – like coffee beans – to sniff, hoping that will trigger something. I’ve even looked at food on Instagram, hoping to literally drool over pictures of cheeseburgers, fries and cookie skillets.

I’ve been on Zoom calls for 45 minutes waiting to fill a tube. On the road, we go to a host hotel for testing where tables are spread 6 feet apart. My anxiety really starts to rise when the player next to me finishes up, and I’m not even halfway done.

The good news is that all my tests have been negative. I’ve competed in six tournament so far as a rookie on the Symetra Tour, and we’re in the middle of my backyard swing. Last week’s tournament in Longwood, Florida, was about five minutes from my parents’ house in Heathrow. I’ll drive back and forth to this week’s event in Daytona Beach, Florida, too.

We have four events left on the schedule in 2020. I’ll also compete on an LPGA sponsor exemption in November at the new Pelican Women’s Championship in Belleair, Florida. I made my first cut at an LPGA event earlier this summer at the Marathon Classic.

Sierra Brooks walks across the bridge to the 3rd hole during the final round of the Marathon LPGA Classic at Highlands Meadows Golf Club
Sierra Brooks walks across the bridge to the 3rd hole during the final round of the Marathon LPGA Classic at Highlands Meadows Golf Club. (Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports)

Being around LPGA pros again reminded me of the importance of leaving my cluttered swing thoughts on the range. I needed to be freer on the golf course, so I broke down my practice routine to add more structure. Now when I warm up, I put a stick down about 10 yards in front of my start line and work on hitting a cut, draw and straight shot on demand. That gives me all the confidence I need heading to the first tee.

I made the mistake of playing 18-hole practice rounds in the lead-up to Q-Series and lost too much energy. Figuring out what works to sustain that energy on the road has been a challenge, as has figuring out how to sign up for practice rounds. I kept getting stuck with the worst times.

I stay at Airbnbs as much as I can because I like to cook boring food like chicken, rice and veggies. I spice it up with stir fry, tacos and homemade pizzas when I’m at home. I should own stock in Chipotle given how many chicken bowls I’ve consumed – mild salsa, corn, fajitas and, of course, a side of guac.

With no gyms open, I use bands, jump rope and water jugs to keep in shape. It’s strange not being able to room with other players or travel with them. Sometimes I drive around town just to sightsee by car. I stayed in Palm Springs for our Beaumont stop and enjoyed driving through the mountains.

I’ve tried to incorporate more balance in my daily routine since the pandemic started. I’ve become more aware of my poor sleeping habits after wearing the Whoop band. I’ve always been an early riser, waking up around 5 a.m. most days. Whoop has made it clear that my five to seven hours of sleep weren’t cutting it. I make sure I’m hydrated and meditate before bed to get more quality sleep.

I also bought a pair of Felix and Gray blue light glasses. I put them on around 7 p.m. when I’m ready to chill. My parents think I’m ridiculous, but they don’t have a Whoop band that shows about a 6 percent difference in recovery after wearing them.

Every athlete is looking for an edge.

I’m optimistic about this last stretch of tournaments. This first year on tour has forced me to dig deep and learn a lot about who I am as a golfer and person. There’s an endurance factor to this lifestyle, and I’m learning something new every week.

My goal remains the same: finish in the top 5 of the money list to earn an LPGA card. Two wins and I’ll be right back in it.

When Sophia Popov won the AIG Women’s British Open one week after she played alongside us in Arizona, I remember Casey Danielson getting emotional watching the broadcast and FaceTiming with her afterwards. It was such an inspiring moment for us all to see.

I know my game stacks up to players at the next level. Breakthrough could be just around the corner.

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Holey Moley: Sarah White’s leap from mini-tour unknown to Symetra Tour winner better than Hollywood

A nine-week stretch of focusing on putting has turned big-hitting Sarah White into a force on the Symetra Tour.

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Sarah White has known since age 5 that she wanted to be a professional golfer.

When a producer from ABC’s “Holey Moley” discovered White on Instagram and asked if she would be interested in trying out for the extreme mini-golf show, it wasn’t exactly the role she’d pictured growing up. But she’s competitive, and well, why not. It could be fun.

“I don’t know how to train for this,” she said of the ziplines, inflatables, hazardous port-a-potties, mechanical gopher and daunting solar system. The road to the LPGA doesn’t typically go through Hollywood, but nothing about 2020 has been predictable.

White turned pro at the start of the year and planned to attend LPGA Q-School after she finished her degree at Texas State in the spring. The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, canceled qualifying for the season.

Suddenly mini-tour golf was the only thing left.

A fifth-place finish at the Texarkana Children’s Charities Open on the Women’s All Pro Tour earned White $1,690 and a spot in the Symetra Tour’s Tribute at Longbow Golf Club in Meza, Arizona. White took full advantage of the opportunity by winning in her first Symetra Tour start, edging Casey Danielson and Sophia Popov by one stroke. Popov went on to win the AIG Women’s British Open the next week at Royal Troon in extraordinary fashion.

“I was just a nobody on the mini-tours,” said White, who won $18,750 for her efforts.

This week White enters the IOA Classic in Longwood, Florida, at 69th on the Symetra Tour’s money list with $2,505. Her winner’s check in Arizona doesn’t count because she was a non-member at the time. If her unofficial earnings and official earnings were combined, she’d be sixth on the money list. The top five players this season earn LPGA cards for 2021. There are five events left on the schedule.

White, 23, understands why her money isn’t official, but “it just stinks.”

“Just makes me want to work harder,” she said.

When the pandemic hit, White and her coach, Craig Piscopink, went to work on overhauling her putting. If you’re going to make a cake, her asked her, what’s the main ingredient?

Flour.

When it comes to putting, he said, speed is the flour.

White focused on the main ingredient for nine weeks and it changed everything.

Piscopink said she shaved a significant number of strokes on the greens. At the Texarkana event, White led the field with 20 birdies. At Longbow, she finished 15 under par.

Couple that with the raw athleticism White possesses, and her potential skyrocketed.

Sarah White
Sarah White poses with the Joan Waters Trophy after winning the Symetra Tour’s 2020 Founders Tribute at Longbow Golf Club. Photo courtesy Symetra Tour

White, inspired by older brother Brett, played boys hockey for 14 years. She started out as a forward until puberty hit and the game got more physical. Move to girls hockey, her dad told her, or move to goalie.

“You’re not getting thrown around on the boards,” he said.

Competing against the boys fueled Sarah’s competitive drive. She had to prove to that she wasn’t going to be scared off by a hard shot. Wasn’t going to be outworked either.

“I didn’t want to be as good as them,” she said. “I wanted to be better.”

Brett was on the bag for his sister’s Symetra Tour victory and won the Michigan Open two weeks later.

“He was trying to one-up me,” she said.

The White siblings have a habit of scripting remarkable tales. Golf Digest’s Joel Beall detailed Brett’s comeback from a life-threatening brain infection in 2017 that left him unable to walk or talk. In November of 2019, he won the Nevada Open.

The Whites are fighters. When asked about her goals for the rest of 2020, Sarah said she’s in a “never settle” mindset.

“I don’t necessarily write them down because I don’t want them to just be a stopping point,” she said. “I want to break through them.”

Watching the best

In high school, Sarah used to volunteer at the LPGA’s Meijer Classic, which takes place 25 minutes from her house. One year she directed foot traffic in a booth. One year she worked in the kids zone. She’d go out on the course and watch players like Gerina Piller and Lexi Thompson go about their business and noted that while she had the length, her short game is what needed to improve.

White currently ranks third on the Symetra Tour in driving distance at 295.63 yards. She carries her 3-wood 250. Piscopink said her cruising speed with the driver is 107 to 108 mph, but that she has an extra gear that kicks it to 115.

“When I first saw her walk in the door,” said Piscopink, “I said ‘Wow, this is it.’ She’s got the complete package.”

And it’s all coming to together at warp speed.

Kim Kaufman cashes in with Four Winds Invitational victory on Symetra Tour

It’s a good thing Kim Kaufman decided not to go home after missing the cut by a shot at the LPGA’s Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It’s a good thing Kim Kaufman decided not to return home to Fort Worth, Texas, after missing the 36-hole cut by a shot at the LPGA Tour’s Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship.

She and husband-caddie Johan Wolkesson would have missed out on a couple of big paychecks.

No one would have blamed the 29-year-old South Dakota native for not playing for a seventh straight week in either an LPGA or Symetra Tour event. Kaufman could have easily driven the 380 miles home from Rogers, Arkansas, two Fridays ago after missing the cut. Instead golfer and caddie decided to drive 670 miles or so northeast to South Bend’s Blackthorn Golf Club, site of the Four Winds Invitational this weekend.

Scores: Four Winds Invitational

It turned out to be a great boost to the family bank account — $32,500 to be exact — after Kaufman two-putted from 80 feet, making an 8-foot par-saving putt on the 18th green Sunday to finish off a 3-under-par round of 69 that gave her an 11-under-par total of 205 and a one-stroke victory over Australia’s Robyn Choi in the LPGA Symetra Tour event.

“I was tired, and I wanted to go home,” said the former Texas Tech All-American after earning the first-place check of $22,500 to leap into the Symetra money lead with $37,232. “But when I got here, I remembered this course from playing here a couple of years ago (in 2013) and I really liked it.”

With her Sweden-born husband carrying her golf bag, helping with yardages, giving her the right clubs and encouraging her when she needed it, Kaufman finished the week with 16 birdies in 54 holes to overcome just five bogeys.

Two came on Sunday at Nos. 8 and 10, dropping Kaufman temporarily behind the hard-charging Choi, a 22-year-old from Australia who played collegiately at Colorado.

The traditional front and back nines at Blackthorn were flipped for the tournament.

Choi, who had six birdies during Sunday’s round that started in rain and ended under sunny and windy skies, had a one-shot lead before she three-putted the par-3 17th hole. One hole behind, Kaufman sank a 15-footer for birdie, and the two-shot swing resulted in a change on the leaderboard that remained until the end.

“I was really just trying to concentrate on the shot ahead of me,” Kaufman said in winning for the third time — she captured the Island Resort Championship during her Symetra rookie season in 2013 and won the Volvik Championship in 2014. “I putted very well which saved me.”

Kaufman made birdie at 11 after the two bogeys and then followed with birdies at Nos. 13 and 16. “I love this golf course and these greens,” Kaufman said.

Additionally, Kaufman earned $10,000 for winning the Potawatomi Cup awarded to the golfer who accrued the most points in two events — the Four Winds Invitational and the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek July 24-26 that began Kaufman’s summer travels. Despite the missed cut, Kaufman earned $59,699 for her seven weeks of work.

Meanwhile, Choi finished with a closing 5-under 67 for 10-under 206, two strokes ahead of former University of Georgia player Bailey Tardy, who closed with a tournament-best round of 6-under 66 thanks to two eagles in her final nine holes.

“I thought I had a good chance — I was hitting it well on the range and putting well before we started,” said Choi, who earned $13,978 for second place. Choi missed an 8-footer for birdie at No. 16 and then had a 40-footer for birdie at 17 and ran it past the hole and missed the 10-foot comebacker for par.

“I gained a lot of confidence from today,” Choi said. “I learned how to manage myself and control myself when I’m under pressure.”

Tardy earned $10,174 after driving the par-4 11th green and sinking a 6-foot eagle putt and then chipping in for another eagle from just off the green at par-5 13th.

“I knew the forecast didn’t look that great; I just tried to keep a positive mindset,” Tardy said after opening with birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 on her front nine. Tardy hit a 3-wood from the tee on the 11th that carried bunkers in front of the green and carried onto the green on way to making an eagle 2. Then she hit a pair of 3-woods for her first two shots at 13 and then holed a 30-foot chip for eagle 3.

Two Americans tied for fourth at five-under 211 – Lucy Li, who shot 69, and Samantha Warner, who shot 72. Four player finished at 212, including Cheyenne Woods, the niece of PGA Tour Hall of Famer Tiger Woods, who carded a 3-under 69.

Former high school hockey goaltender Sarah White wins Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute at Longbow

Sarah White capped off a final-round 68 with a birdie on the 18th hole to finish at 15 under to win the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute at Longbow.

Sarah White capped off a final-round 68 with a birdie on the 18th hole to finish at 15 under to win the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute at Longbow.

White, the starting goaltender for two seasons for East Kentwood High School’s varsity hockey team in Grand Rapids, Michigan, edged Casey Danielson and Sophia Popov by a shot.

“I have that competitive spirit in me from playing ice hockey for so many years,” White said after Saturday’s second round. “I know what it takes, the grind and all of that. I hit a 354-yard drive today and this course sets up for me really well. I’m also putting well, which trusting that frees me up.”

Danielson shot a final-round 65, a score that was matched by Demi Runas and Min-G Kim for the best scores of the day. Popov’s 63 on Saturday was the best score of the week.

Founders Tribute at Longbow scores

Fatima Fernandez Cano finished solo fourth at 12 under. Lucy Li shot a final-round 66 and finished in fifth.

Sunday’s final round in Mesa, Arizona, was played under an excessive heat warning, with the temperature reaching 109. Longbow Golf Club in Mesa withstood high temperatures for all three days of the 54-hole event, the Symetra Tour’s second on its restart. It was 112 during Friday’s first round. The Thursday pro-am saw temperatures climb to 114.

The Symetra Tour should find cooler weather in Beaumont, California, for its next tournament, the IOA Championship Presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Aug. 21-23.

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Lucy Li returns to competition on Symetra Tour

On Thursday, at the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute in Arizona, Lucy Li hit her first shot in a competitive round of golf since March 8.

She turned pro last November and she’s only played one tournament as a professional.

The global COVID pandemic put her career on hold, as it did for many others.

But on Thursday, Lucy Li hit her first shot in a competitive round of golf since March 8.

Even though the high temperature at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, for the Symetra Tour’s Founders Tribute is expected to reach 115 during Thursday’s first round, Li, 17, isn’t sweating the small stuff.

“It’s been fun,” she said after Wednesday’s pro-am regarding her extended time off from competition. “I started taking some college courses online. I took a few of those over the spring and summer and that’s kept me occupied.”

Many LPGA and aspiring LPGA players took to the mini tours over the summer. The Cactus Tour in Arizona had several events with good fields. But Li chose to work on her game at home.

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“I was practicing and studying and just doing random stuff to keep myself occupied,” she said. “Cooking, playing video games with my brother. I’ve actually been really busy.

“I make this really good pan pizza. My dad is obsessed with it. I was making it like every two, three days and my dad would always be asking for more. It was funny.”

Li shot 75-73-77 to post a T-43 finish in the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in March, earning her the first $627 of her pro career.

She did not play in the Symetra Tour’s restart at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan, two weeks ago.

So are there any extra nerves after more than five months away from competition?

“Not really, I mean, I haven’t played in so long, so who knows what’ll happen. But it’ll be fun to get back out and back in the groove.”

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Symetra Tour back in action with new event in Arizona

The LPGA Symetra Tour returns to action this week with the inaugural Founders Tribute, an event new to the schedule this season.

The Symetra Tour returns to action this week with the inaugural Founders Tribute, an event new to the schedule this season.

Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, is host of the event. It was on that course in 2015 that Hannah O’Sullivan at 16 years, 9 months, 11 days old became the youngest winner in Symetra Tour history, a distinction she still holds.

The Founders Tribute, a 54-hole event that starts Friday, is the second tournament of the Symetra Tour’s return to play following a four-month hiatus due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament is named in honor of the 13 women who established the LPGA in 1950.

Notables in the field

Sophia Popov, who won three times on the Cactus Tour in Arizona, is in the event.

Leigh Chien defended her title at the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational earlier this summer, earning an AJGA sponsor exemption in the process. The 14-year-old will cash it in this week in Arizona.

For Janie Jackson, the Symetra Tour season was called off at a bad time in March. She had just won the season-opening Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, and thus spent the off-season atop the Volvik Race for the Card standings. She finished third at the tour’s restart event in Michigan last month.

Gigi Stoll was a member of Arizona’s 2018 NCAA title team while in college. She memorably defeated UCLA’s Lilia Vu in the quarterfinals to help the Wildcats keep advancing.

Sierra Brooks is just starting her professional career, having earned Symetra Tour status at last fall’s Q-School. The former Florida player was T-11 at last month’s Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship.

Frida Kinhult is in a similar position to Brooks. She authored a strong freshman season for Florida State, finding herself in the conversation for player-of-the-year honors, and left last fall to pursue her professional career.

Ana Belac is a former Duke standout who was part of the Blue Devils’ 2019 NCAA title team. She will be making her second Symetra start this week after turning professional earlier in the spring.

Sophia Schubert is coming off a notable TV gig after offering analysis and commentary during last week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur broadcast on the Golf Channel. Schubert won the Women’s Amateur in 2017 while playing for the University of Texas.

Local sponsor exemptions

Sydney Bryan and Ariana Macioce, two golfers with Arizona ties, are in the 144-woman field on sponsor exemptions. Macioce played at Xavier College Prep in Phoenix before attending Georgia Southern and the University of Tennessee. Bryan is a senior at Mesa Red Mountain High School and is set to attend UNLV in 2021. Her mother Stacie Bryan and step-father Jeff Fisher are the co-founders of the Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow.

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Shipley sisters poised for Symetra Tour return in Michigan

The Shipleys return to the Battle Creek Country Club — together. Both were given a sponsor’s exemption for this week’s tournament

When Gabrielle Shipley and her sister Sarah Shipley teed off at the Symetra Tour’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship last year, it was special.

It was special because they were playing a professional tournament together for just the second time — on their home course.

But it was extra special because of the year they were having.

Gabrielle, a former NCAA champion at Grand Valley State, was coming off of her first LPGA event, the Meijer LPGA Classic, while Sarah had just won the Western Amateur and the Golf Association of Michigan’s Women’s Championship.

Gabrielle Shipley (left) and Sarah Shipley share a moment after last year’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek. [Dan D’Addona/Sentinel Staff]
Now, the Shipleys return to the Battle Creek Country Club to compete again — together. Both were given a sponsor’s exemption for this week’s tournament that begins Friday.

“The opportunity again is a blessing. With the year being so unknown and not having a lot of status to reach some of these events, it comes at a really great time. It is another chance to go represent my community,” Gabrielle said. “I want to go out and prove I can do this and I want to keep fighting for it.”

Gabrielle had that fight last year, needing two birdies in the final three holes to make the cut, which she did, sparked by a 30-foot birdie putt.

“I knew where I was and knew I had to get something going. I drained a 30-footer on 16 and I made it happen. It was a huge finish,” she said. “It just shows that anything is possible. I can do it and I did it before. I put myself in position where I had to fight.”

While Sarah didn’t see Gabrielle’s finish, since she was still playing her round, she was still inspired by it.

“It was so exciting to hear. I was so happy for her. I know she had been to do what she did in past years. You are just so excited as a sister to see her be clutch and accomplish a goal,” Sarah said.

Both players still have big goals in the sport of golf with Sarah hoping to join Gabrielle in the professional ranks next year after her fifth-year season at Kentucky.

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“If I didn’t have a fifth year (because of COVID-19), I would be out there trying to make a living at this,” she said. “It is huge. Now, it is an even bigger deal. It is more special with the situation with professional golfers. They are banking on exemptions, so it was even harder for us to get. The fact that my sister and I were given the exemption is even more special.”

The sisters trained together for some of the pandemic, living together in Lexington, where the cases were low and courses were open.

It allowed them to take some time and work on fine-tuning some details in their games.

“For me, it is adjusting small swing things here and there. I have been focusing on my putting a lot,” Gabrielle said.

Sarah agreed.

“My putting has improved a lot. The couple of tournaments I played in, my putting has been my strong suit. I am continuing to work on the other parts of my game, but I still have to keep narrowing down on my putting,” she said.

The duo is hoping that short-game work will pay off this week.

“Both of us love to compete. Sarah has been scoring really low and always seems to give herself the opportunity to have a low round,” Gabrielle said. “To both be in the field and representing where we grew up playing is really cool. That doesn’t get to happen very often.”

— Follow Holland (Mich.) Sentinel Sports Editor Dan D’Addona on Twitter @DanDAddona and Facebook @Holland Sentinel Sports.

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Symetra Tour announces July restart; nine tournaments remain

The Symetra Tour will return at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship at Battle Creek Country Club in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 24-26.

Professional golf slowly is coming back to life. With the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour a week into their restart for the men, the LPGA and now the Symetra Tour have both announced firm plans for their return to action.

A day after the LPGA announced it would return with back-to-back events in Ohio in early August, the developmental tour has said its first event back after a three-month hiatus will be the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship at Battle Creek Country Club in Battle Creek, Michigan, from July 24-26.

Only one tournament in the 2020 Symetra Tour season has been played, and that was the tour’s kick-off event, the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in mid-March. Now, the Symetra Tour will actually return to action a week earlier than the LPGA, which is slated to begin the LPGA Drive On Championship on July 31.

“We are extremely grateful to our partners and host venues for continued flexibility and support,” said Mike Nichols, Chief Business Officer of the Symetra Tour. “They have worked tirelessly to keep all hopes and dreams alive for the next generation of LPGA Tour stars. In addition to Symetra Tour sponsors, the ANNIKA Foundation recently showcased an unparalleled form of generosity with their Crisis Relief Fund providing $50,000 in grants to Symetra Tour players financially affected by the coronavirus.”

The FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship will be the first of nine tournaments on the remaining 2020 Symetra Tour schedule, making an even 10 tournaments for the 2020 campaign. Purses are still being finalized, but players on the Symetra Tour will be competing for more than $1.5 million during the shortened season. Five LPGA cards – down from the usual 10 – are also available to the top money earners.

In addition to the tour’s restart announcement, two Symetra Tour events have changed dates. The Founders Tribute at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, a recent addition to the schedule, was bumped up from Aug. 27-29 to Aug. 14-16. The IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa will follow from Aug. 21-23. Meanwhile, the Four Winds Invitational at Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend, Indiana, will now be played Sept. 4-6 instead of July 31-Aug. 2.

The revised 2020 Symetra Tour schedule now looks like this:

July 24-26 FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship
Battle Creek Country Club; Battle Creek, Michigan
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Former Solheim Cup player Emily Pedersen wins men’s pro event in Denmark

The nine women in the field played from about 5,875 yards while the men played from 6,944 yards. “Some were annoyed,” she said.

Emily Pedersen is on a bit of a roll. On Wednesday, she won a men’s professional event on the ECCO Tour in Denmark. Last Sunday, she won an amateur event on the Danish Golf Union’s Elite Tour.

That probably sounds a little confusing given that Pedersen is a professional, but she said in Denmark, pros are allowed to compete in amateur events. At this point, players are excited for any opportunity to tee it up in the COVID-19 era.

Pedersen was one of nine women invited to play in this week’s ECCO Tour event, the Bravo Tours Open. The 24-year-old carded rounds of 66-67 to clip Oliver Suhr by one at Romo Golf Club and earn about $5,150.

“It’s just been great to compete again,” said Pedersen, who was back at home on the sofa after a four-hour drive home. “To get that little nerve and feel your heart pump again. It’s just fun to have a scorecard in your pocket again.”

LPGA player Nanna Koerstz Madsen, a winner on both the LET and Symetra Tours, took a share of third.

The women played from about 5,875 yards at Romo while the men played from 6,944 yards. Pedersen said she felt the yardage was set up so that both genders were hitting comparable irons into the greens.

“Some were annoyed that we had to play forward,” said Pedersen of male players’ reactions to the women playing a shorter course.

Others were “cool with it.”

“I always feel like there’s a little bit more pressure,” she said of playing alongside the men, “kind of like you want to show off more when it’s the guys.”

Pedersen said there were no spectators or caddies at the ECCO event. Rather than exchange scorecards, players inputted scores on their phones. Hand sanitizer was on every tee box.

Pedersen, who represented Europe at the 2017 Solheim Cup, last competed on the Ladies European Tour in mid-March at the Investec South African Women’s Open where she placed seventh. The 2015 LET Rookie of the Year and former Ladies British Amateur champion planned to come over to the U.S. to compete on the Symetra Tour before the coronavirus halted tournament play. Now she’s not sure what’s next.

She’ll be in the fields for the both the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and AIG Women’s British Open in August, the next two events on the LET’s schedule.

“I think it’s toughest not knowing when you’re going to be able to potentially earn some money,” said Pedersen. “I think that’s the hardest part. Everything is so unknown.”

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