Symetra Tour's hunt for LPGA Tour cards arrives at Mystic Creek

EL DORADO - The Symetra Tour, the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA, returns to Mystic Creek Golf Course for the third annual Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout from September 15-17. This is the 19th tournament of the season and there are just four remaining in the chase for 10 LPGA Tour cards.

First-round play begins on Friday, September 15 and the 54-hole event wraps on Sunday, September 17. There will be a cut made to the low 60 and ties following second-round play on Saturday.

Play will begin at 7:15 a.m. on Friday and Saturday while the final-round will start at 7:30 a.m. All three rounds will be split-tee starts so the awards ceremony on Sunday will take place at approximately 2:30 p.m.

The field of 132 players from the United States and 27 countries around the globe will compete for a $100,000 total purse and a winner’s payout of $15,000.

This is the third week in a stretch of six straight weeks to conclude the season. The top 10 on the final Volvik Race for the Card money list after the Symetra Tour Championship (October 5-8) will earn LPGA membership for the 2018 season.

The race for a Tour card is about as tight as it can be with four tournaments left. No. 10 Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador) has only a $64 cushion on No. 11 Katelyn Dambaugh (North Charleston, S.C.). No. 12

Sophia Popov (Heidelberg, Germany) is only $291 outside of the top 10. The top seven on the money list have separated a bit, but spots eight through 12 are only six thousand and change apart, which can be made up very quickly.

The field this week features eight of

the top 10 on the current money list including No. 1 Benyapa Niphatsophon (Bangkok, Thailand) and No. 2 Celine Boutier (Montrouge, France), who have both already earned enough money to secure spots on the LPGA next year. The only members of the current top 10 not in the field are No. 3 Nanna Koerstz Madsen and No. 7 Emma Talley.

There is one player in the field from the state of Arkansas. Summar Roachell (Conway), a 2017 Arkansas graduate, is in the field on a sponsors exemption making her Symetra Tour debut. Julia Roth (Karlskrona, Sweden) played college golf at Central Arkansas from 2009-2013. There are two that played college golf in Louisiana: Kate Machado (McNeese State) and Gemma Dryburgh (Tulane).

There are 19 LPGA Tour members in the field this week.

The winner’s of the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout are both currently competing fulltime on the LPGA Tour. In 2015, Jackie Stoelting won with a rounds of 73-70-70 (-3) while Madelene Sagstrom won in 2016 with rounds of 69-68-72 (-7). In 2015, Stoeling was the only player under-par while nine players were under-par in 2016. Mystic Creek is widely regarded as one of the best courses on Tour and very LPGA-like in its degree of difficulty. The best single-round score in the two years is a 67 (Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong and Lauren Kim in 2016).

Mystic Creek will play as a par72 with a maximum yardage of 6,509.