Hutchinson, El Dorado welcome Symetra Tour
EL DORADO — Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Andrew Clyde, president and CEO of Murphy USA, welcomed more than 130 Symetra Tour golf professionals from around the world to Arkansas on Tuesday to launch the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout, a Ladies Professional Golf Association qualifying event.
The 2018 Shootout will be held Friday through Sunday at Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado. Admission is free through support from First Financial Bank.
Hutchinson joined Clyde at the Meet the Pros event Tuesday evening at the Griffin Music Hall, part of the new Murphy Arts District in downtown El Dorado, along with some of the top female professional golfers on the Symetra Tour, which includes players from throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Australia, Africa and Asia.
The top 10 players on the year-end Volvik Race for the Card money list receive their full-time LPGA Tour cards for the following season. Symetra Tour players have gone on to win 428 LPGA Tour events, including 46 major championships.
This is the fourth year Murphy USA and the El Dorado community will host the 54-hole stroke-play format event. Competitors vie for a $150,000 total purse, where the winner will earn $22,500 and take a significant step toward obtaining her LPGA Tour card for the 2019 season.
Activities are held throughout tournament week, including a junior clinic on Monday which exceeded its record attendance. Symetra Tour professionals were paired with local and national sponsors for various pro-am scrambles.
Clyde led Hutchinson on a tour of Mystic Creek on Wednesday. The par-72 course was designed by golf architect Ken Dye.
An El Dorado charity is selected each year to benefit from the tournament. This year’s selected charity is Camp Fire El Dorado, which began in 1961 in response to local parents’ requests for a program combining education and recreational activities with constructive, character-building activities based on leadership. Instead of a mission statement, Camp Fire operates from a promise and belief that youth are the leaders of the future.