First Coast flavor: Area pros, amateurs will be in the field for PXG Women's Match Play
The second edition of the PXG Women's Match Play Championship will have more of a First Coast presence next week at the World Golf Hall of Fame Slammer & Squire.
Last year's inaugural tournament included Nease and University of North Carolina graduate Catherine O'Donnell, and Aneta Abrahamova. But this year's event, which begins on Nov. 1, will include seven players with First Coast ties, with O'Donnell returning and Jacksonville native Kaitlyn Schroeder, currently first on the American Junior Golf Association Rolex Rankings, playing as an amateur.
Schroeder, a two-time Florida Junior champion and the 2021 First Coast Women's Amateur champion, has committed to play at Alabama.
Also in the field will be another Nease graduate, Auston Kim (Vanderbilt), Atlantic Coast graduate Ramya Meenakshisundaram (South Florida) former Flagler College player Abigail Gulla and two active college players who still have amateur status, University of North Florida junior Christin Eisenbeiss and Flagler College senior Fernanda Lacaz.
Kim and Meenakshisundaram are past Times-Union high school players of the year and O'Donnell was the St. Augustine Record player of the year.
The field has been increased from 64 players to 90 this year. After a two-day qualifier cuts the field to 64, they will compete in match-play pods of four players, competing in three nine-hole matches.
Players get a point for every hole won, a half-point for ties and one point for winning. The 16 pod winners will advance to 18-hole match play, with the winner earning $15,000.
The total purse is $60,000.
The PXGWMC is an official-money event on the Ponte Vedra Beach-based East Coast Women’s Professional Golf Tour, whose dual mission is to create more accessible and better playing opportunities for women aspiring to the LPGA Tour. It is one of three tours that directly or indirectly feeds the Epson Tour, the LPGA's major developmental circuit.
Also in the field are defending champion Jessica Porvasnick, a three-time All-American at Ohio State, Georgia graduate Baily Tardy, who finished 11th on the Epson Tour money list, three-time ECWPGT winner J.B. Baik of Mississippi State and past Epson Tour winner Laura Restrepo of Louisville.
Tickets are $10 each and available at womensmatchplaychampionship.com.
Tweaks coming to schedule
The PGA Tour is already turning the wrench on some aspects of its new schedule format, in which the top players have agreed to a 20-tournament schedule that includes 13 "elevated events" that include The Players Championship.
The Tour announced in August that players wouldn't receive their Player Impact Program bonus (which measures their social media impact) until they had played in the 13 elevated events, plus three more of their own choosing.
But the Tour Policy Board voted to allow an out -- players can miss one elevated event for personal or professional reasons and can count a fall event to their three outside tournaments.
Top college player to get card
The PGA Tour University program, in which top senior players get access to the Korn Ferry Tour and international tours in Canada and Latin America, will have an added bonus next year: The No. 1-ranked player on the Velocity Global Rankings will earn PGA Tour status after the NCAA Tournament.
Another proposal would provide an accelerated path for elite underclassmen who hit key benchmarks based on awards, their world amateur ranking and performance in amateur or professional events, including the majors.
Such players would be eligible for PGA Tour membership in June and be exempt into all open, full-field events.
The current standards give the top-five players on the final rankings Korn Ferry Tour membership and an exemption to the final stage of Korn Ferry qualifying, with conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour and full status on PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
Champions Tour schedule set
The PGA Tour Champions schedule was released this week, with a total purse of $66 million for 28 tournaments, an increase of $4 million.
There will be events in 20 states and three countries, with one new stp, the Galleri Classic at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
“Thanks to the strength of our tournament and title sponsors, the future and stability of PGA Tour Champions has never been more secure,” PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have the highest purses in PGA Tour Champions history and to be able to bring the game of golf to the many wonderful venues on this Tour.”
All events will be aired on Golf Channel, with NBC providing weekend coverage of the KitchenAid Senior PGA, the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior Open.
The Constellation Furyk & Friends, at the Timuquana Country Club, will be Oct. 5-8.
Golfweek.com and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
PGA TOUR
Event: Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Port Royal Golf Course, Southhampton, Bermuda.
At stake: $6.5 million purse ($1,170,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).
Defending champion: Lucas Herbert.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 1:30-4:30).
Area players entered: Chandler Blanchet, Jonas Blixt, Jonathan Byrd, Philip Knowles, Russell Knox, David Lingmerth, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg.
Notable: Herbert, an Australian, shot 65-65 in the middle rounds and prevailed by one shot over Patrick Reed and Danny Lee with a closing 69. … PGA Tour Champions member John Daly is playing on a sponsor invitation. … Also playing from the Champions Tour on a past winner’s exemption is Brian Gay. … Luke Donald and Camilio Villegas are also playing.
Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PXG Women's Match Play field to include area standout Kaitlyn Schroeder
