Decatur Forsyth Golf Classic Begins Friday

FORSYTH -- The Symetra Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, returns to Illinois for the 33rd playing of the Decatur Forsyth Classic at Hickory Point Golf Course. The tournament has been played at Hickory Point Golf Course since 1985. First-round play begins on Friday, June 16 with the final-round scheduled for Sunday, June 18.

The low 60 and ties will make the cut following second round play on Saturday. Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. all three rounds.

The Symetra Tour arrives on the third week of a six-week swing. The swing started in Albany, New York with the Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY and then last week the Tour played the Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Indiana. Next week, the Tour heads to Harris, Michigan for the Island Resort Championship.

The top 144 rising stars in women’s golf from the United States and 30 countries around the globe will compete for a total purse of $130,000 and the winner will receive $19,500, which would be a great mid-season boost up the Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the final money list earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2018 season.

Last year, Clariss Guce (Artesia, Calif.) fired a three-day score of 10-under, 206 to win by two shots over Laura Gonzalez Escallon. Guce went onto to finish 11th on the money list, narrowly missing a spot on the LPGA. She is back in the field this year in search of her first top 10 of the season. There are three former champions of the Decatur Forsyth Classic in the field. Madison Pressel, who won the 2014 event in a playoff, also returns as does two-time winner Nicole Jeray (1998, 2000).

The field is strong this week as eight of the top 10 on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list are scheduled to compete including No. 1 Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Copenhagen, Denmark), who has won twice and is ranked No. 90 in the world according to the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Number two on the money list, Celine Boutier (Montrouge, France), is also in the field. Boutier finished in a tie for second last week and has one win this season. Both Koerstz Madsen and Boutier are rookies on Tour. In fact, there are four rookies in the top ten through nine events and five first-year Symetra Tour players.

There are two players in the field that hail from the state of Illinois: Nicole Jeray of Berwyn and Elizabeth Szokol of Winnetka. Jeray first played in the Decatur Forsyth Classic in 1997.

Samantha Richdale, a four-time winner on the Symetra Tour, played college golf at Illinois State.

Past winners of the Decatur Forsyth Classic include Lorena Ochoa (2002), who won 27 times on the LPGA Tour, Tammie Green (1985, 1986), who won seven times on the LPGA and Emily Bastel (2007), who is now the head coach of the very successful Florida Gators women’s golf team. She was named the 2017 SEC Coach of the Year.

RECAP OF LAST EVENT: Kendall Dye (Edmond, Oklahoma) put together a final-round for the ages on Sunday at the Four Winds Invitational. She entered the day six shots off the lead and posted an 8-under, 64 to finish with a three-shot victory. Dye’s bogey-free round included four straight birdies from holes eight through 11. She also closed with birdies on 17 and 18 for her second career victory.

The first-place payout of $22,500 moved her from 36th to sixth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.

“I came out here with a mission,” explained Dye on Sunday. “I had two hole-in-ones on this course and a double eagle so what more is there to do on this golf course than win. I’ve been playing really good golf and it was only a matter of time.”

Dye’s 64 is the lowest round on the Symetra Tour this season.

NO. 2 ON MONEY LIST IS CLOSING: Celine Boutier is now just $1,156 short of moving to the top spot on the money list. She is closing on Nanna Koerstz Madsen because of her recent success. She finished in a tie for second last week. About a month ago, she won the largest purse of the season (Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic) and had another top 10 four starts ago.

Boutier was the 2013-14 WGCA National Player of the Year at Duke. She won four times during her college career and had 13 top 10 finishes.

FORMER 2012 ILLINOIS WOMEN’S AMATUER CHAMP IN FIELD: Elizabeth Szokol (Winnetka, Illinois) is a rookie on the Symetra Tour and coming off her best finish of the 2017 season last week at the Four Winds Invitational when she finished in a tie for second. Szokol led by three shots going into the final-round, but made double early on the back nine and was bested by Kendall Dye. The second place finish moved her up from 53rd to 18th on the money list.

“I’m definitely excited to be competing close to home again,” said Szokol. “I actually played the course for my high school state championships for my last two years. My family may be coming to watch over the weekend and I’ll be able to go home for dinner on Father’s Day.”

Szokol didn’t start playing golf seriously until she was 14. Even with the late start, she had a very good high school career at New Trier High School. She led New Trier to the 2010 Illinois state title and won the 2012 Illinois Women’s Amateur Championship. She also finished in the top 10 of the Illinois State High School Golf Championships in her final two years.

Szokol went onto play college golf at the University of Virginia before turning professional after graduating in 2016.

Szokol has two top 10 finishes in her rookie season on Tour.

OLYMPIAN TIFFANY CHAN MAKES DEBUT: Tiffany Chan (Tuen Mun, Hong Kong) represented Hong Kong last year in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. She will make her Symetra Tour debut this week at the Decatur Forsyth Classic. She is currently listed as an amateur, but is expected to turn professional.

Chan finished 37th at the 2016 Olympic Games. She is currently the No. 27 ranked amateur in the world.

Chan played her final two years of college golf at USC.

There are now three 2017 USC Trojans in the field this week. Gabriella Then and Victoria Morgan made their debuts last week at the Four Winds Invitational.

BRITTANY MARCHAND COMES TO DECATUR AFTER MAKING HEADLINES ON LPGA: Brittany Marchand made lots of headlines in Canada and the U.S. for her impressive play on the LPGA Tour last week at the Manulife LPGA Classic. Although it didn’t end as she would have hoped - a final-round 81 - she proved she could compete.

She finished T46, but was in a tie for ninth after three days. She posted rounds of 67-70-67 Thursday through Saturday.

Marchand plays primarily on the Symetra Tour. She has played in eight of nine events and returns this week in Decatur. She ranks 42nd on the money list.

There are 19 players in the field this week that competed on the LPGA last week in addition to Marchand (Shannon Fish, Silvia Cavalleri, Maia Schechter, Kristy McPherson, Samantha Richdale, Katie Kempter, Rachel Rohanna, Caroline Westrup, Alejandra Llaneza, Bertine Strauss, Luciane Lee, Brianna Do, Julieta Granada, Daniela Iacobelli, Nannette Hill, Michelle Piyapattra, Briana Mao, Allie White and Mindy Kim).

MORE ABOUT THE TWO SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: The two sponsor exemptions into the field this week are Ashley Tait and Gabrielle Shipley. Tait returns to the course that nearly delivered her first professional win. She led the Decatur Forsyth Classic late in the day in 2014, but was unable to finish. She went to a playoff and lost to Madison Pressel. The second place finish is the best of her career.

Tait hasn’t played on Tour since the end of the 2016 season.

Shipley played in two Symetra Tour events on sponsor exemptions in 2016 and will make her first start of 2017 this week. Shipley won the DII National Championship as a senior at Grand Valley State in 2016.