Crowded Top of the Leaderboard After the First Qualifying Round of the
PONTE VEDRA, Fla., Nov. 1, 2022 -In a two-day qualifier after which just 64 of the 86 players in the field advanced to the Match Play Championship, Bailey Tardy left nothing to chance. Tardy landed seven birdies on her way to a six-under 66 (34-32), with just one bogey coming on the tough par four 17th hole. Tardy has a one-shot lead over Tampa’s Cindy Lacrosse (for the stroke play title, both women all but securing their spot in Thursday’s Match Play-opening Battle Round. Tardy, of Peachtree City, GA, played her college golf at the University of Georgia and finished this year’s Epson Tour season at 11th on the tour’s Official Money List.
Lacrosse went out with a ho-hum even par front side (36) on the Slammer & Squire Golf Course with one bogey and one birdie and came back to the clubhouse on absolute fire, posting 5 birdies for a 31 to rocket up the leaderboard. An LPGA veteran with too many big stage starts to list, Lacrosse played her college golf at the University of Louisville. Also, in the top three are recent Virginia Tech grad Keera Foocharoen (no stranger to the final group in an ECWPGT event), Nannette Hill (Jupiter, FL) and Natasha Oon (San Jose, CA).
But the real drama is at the cut light where there are 19 players hovering around the 64th position, which right now is 6-over par. Seven players are currently T60 at six over, including Flagler College junior, Jan Brown, playing on a sponsor’s exemption. The other college sponsor’s exemption, University of North Florida’s Christin Eissenbeiss is even par and sitting at T14. Other local players currently within the cut line are Jacksonville’s Kaitlyn Schroeder, currently the top Rolex ranked junior in the country (69, T6), Catherine O’Donnell of Ponte Vedra Beach (+1, T20) and Jacksonville’s Ramya Meenaskshisundaram (+3, T35). Defending Champion Jessica Porvasnik, originally from Hinckley (OH) and now making Nocatee, Florida her home, is sitting at T14.
By this time on Wednesday, November 2, 64 players will have advanced to Friday’s Match Play Battle Round on the Slammer & Squire Golf Course at World Golf Village. Those 64 players will be divided into 16 “pods” of four, the top four players in each pod advancing to Friday’s Sweet 16, the Knock Rounds of traditional match to be contested over the weekend. There is no competitive play on Thursday as all players will be attending the Generation W Links to Leadership Summit presented by Circle K and Baptist Health Care.
The PXG Women’s Match Play Championship is an official event on the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour, one of just three developmental tours for women in the United States. The ECWPGT and the tournament mission are to create more and better playing opportunities for women aspiring to the LPGA Tour. With the goal of putting developmental women’s golf on a big stage and shining a light on the next level of LPGA players. The inaugural PXG Women’s Match Play Championship was held in 2021 and was the first professional women’s golf tournament in the Jacksonville market since 1976.
Tickets for the PXG Women’s Match Play Championship are still available on the tournament’s website, www.pxgwmpc.com. For just $10 per day, fans received general admission and a complimentary beverage courtesy of Manifest Distilling or Dobel Maestro Tequila. Proceeds from ticket sales go to St. John’s County non-profit, Investing in Kids, the tournament’s Official Charity Partner. Follow all the action on social media at @PXGWMPC or @ECWPGT.
About PXG
Founded by entrepreneur and self-proclaimed golf nut Bob Parsons, PXG embodies his belief that every new product – from golf clubs to sport fashion apparel – should be markedly better. Every innovation should noticeably improve your performance. And every moment of impact should elevate your enjoyment. Today, PXG offers a complete lineup of right- and left-handed golf clubs, including drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, and putters, as well as high-performance, sport fashion apparel and accessories. For more information visit PXG.com.
About the East Coast Women’s Professional Golf Tour
The ECWPGT has a dual mission of creating more and better playing opportunities for women aspiring to the LPGA Tour and to create career connections and pathways outside the ropes for female athletes. Based in Florida, the ECWPGT is one of only three women’s developmental tours in the U.S and serves the eastern part of the country with 15 events each year and its Q-School prep events in California. Players come from 26 states and more than a dozen countries. Seeing through his own daughter’s eyes the limited opportunity for women to chase their professional dreams, particularly in comparison to their male peers who have more than 30 “mini tours” leading to the PGA TOUR, Mark Berman, with more than 25 years of golf industry marketing experience, launched the Tour in January The ECWPGT is open to developmental professional players including those on the Epson Tour and Ladies European Tours and is also open to elite level amateurs and college players. Website www.ECWPGT.com. Follow at @ecwpgt.