Tag: Founders Tribute

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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