Epson Tour set for 20-event schedule
HONOLULU — The Epson Tour remains the primary path to the LPGA Tour, now with larger purses and a new wrinkle on how to get into those tournaments.
The Epson Tour released its 2024 schedule on Tuesday, most noteworthy the five tournaments with $300,000 purses or more – the largest at $400,000 for the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic – and the Tour Championship moving from Florida to California.
New to the circuit is switching from money to points to determine the top 10 players who receive LPGA cards the following year. That now is in line with the Race to CME Globe on the LPGA Tour, and the Tour Championship will get a 30% boost in points.
The wrinkle is the end of Monday qualifying, relying instead on the Epson Tour’s relationship with the Women’s All Pro Tour sponsored by Annika Sorenstam. The winner and runner-up at those 10 events get into future Epson Tour events.
Among the goals was to allow the players to compete for more money while spending less. Epson Tour players typically drive to tournaments when they can.
The season starts March 8 with three straight weeks in Florida, capped by the new Atlantic Beach Classic and its $300,000 purse. Next are four tournaments in the West, two in Arizona. The Arizona Women’s Golf Classic moves to the second course at TPC Scottsdale.
The Midwest swing in June includes two in Michigan and a new tournament in Indiana (Otter Creek Championship with a $300,000 purse).
“It’s been a focus of mine to create not necessarily a drivable tour, but one that athletes can keep expenses as low as possible,” said Jody Brothers, the chief business and operations officer of the Epson Tour. “The worst thing is the athlete who can play at the next level but didn’t have the finances.”
The average purse is $250,000, and every tournament offers at least $200,000.
The Epson Tour Championship moves from the LPGA International at its Daytona Beach, Florida, headquarters to Indian Wells in the California desert, closer to Epson’s headquarters in North America. That will be Oct. 3-6.
The Epson Tour officially became the feeder tour in 1999 and has produced such players as Karrie Webb, Lorena
Ochoa and Inbee Park, all of whom are in the LPGA Hall of Fame. Current players include Nelly Korda and double major winner Lilia Vu.
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Michael Block is in The American Express this week as the PGA section winner, a longstanding tradition. Block is best known for his hole-in-one in the final round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill last year that led to a tie for 15th and return to the PGA Championship this year.
Ken Weyand is not in the field for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the European tour, and for that most people should be thankful.
Weyand earned the wrong kind of attention last week when he accepted a sponsor invitation to the Dubai Invitational, which had a 60-man field for the proam format. He is the golf director at The Grove XXIII, the exclusive club in South Florida belonging to Michael Jordan.
How he got into the field is unclear, though Abdullah Al Naboodah is believed to be a member at The Grove and his family sponsored the Dubai Invitational.