Epson Tour concludes 2022 season this week at LPGA International
DAYTONA BEACH — While many area courses are still digging out and drying out after Hurricane Ian, LPGA International’s Jones Course isn’t just in play, it’s hosting an annual tournament with big consequences.
The Epson Tour, formerly known as the Symetra Tour, is in town for its 2022 Tour Championship, which concludes its season and sends 10 golfers on their way to the 2023 LPGA Tour.
The 108-player field heads to the tee Thursday to begin the 72-hole, four-day event, which carries a total purse of $250,000 and a winner’s check of $37,500. Tee times begin at 7:30 each of the first two mornings.
Epson, the Japan-based tech company known primarily for its printers and imaging equipment, became the title sponsor this year for the LPGA’s developmental tour, and increased the tour’s funding. Average purse size was $210,000 for this year’s 21 tournaments, topping the previous high of $194,000.
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Entering the final week of the season, 17-year-old Chinese golfer Xiaowen Yin leads the 2022 money list with $117,443.
Sitting on the 10th-place bubble is Lake Worth’s Alexa Pano, who has had five top-10s, including two runner-up finishes, this season. As a teen amateur, Pano, now 18, was a regular contender in the annual Sally Championship at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach.
The annual Tour Championship in Daytona Beach is unique because along with the traditional leaderboard, competitors also keep their eye on the effects to the overall 2022 money list. At tournament’s end, when the tallies are complete, the top 10 on the season-ending money list earn exemptions onto next year’s LPGA Tour.
Admission is free. More info: EpsonTour.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: LPGA's Epson Tour Championship this week at LPGA International
