ALBANY >> The courses and sponsors may have changed, but the minor league of the LPGA has been here for 30 years. The latest incarnation, the Symetra Tour, is back at Capital Hills at Albany for an 11th straight year and will tee off Friday for three-days.
The top 144 up-and-coming professionals on tour will compete for their share of the $100,000 total purse in the SEFCU Championship. The winner receives $15,000 and takes a significant step toward an LPGA Tour card for the 2015 season.
In 1985, Saratoga Springs’ native Dottie Pepper won the Albany-Colonie Chamber Open and went on to win 17 times on the LPGA Tour including two majors. Two weeks ago, a six-year veteran of the tour, Mo Martin, won her first LPGA title when she won the Ricoh Women’s British Open. Martin won three times and recorded 23 top-10 finishes. She finished third at the then-“Price Chopper Tour Championship” in 2011 and at the “ILOVENY Championship” in 2009.
“It’s one of those golf courses that you have to hit good golf shots. You can’t just hit it around and get lucky,” said Jackie Stoelting, who is sixth on the money list. The top five earn their LPGA cards, the next five earn some status on the big tour.
Stoelting’s parents grew up here – her father Ed Barenborg is from Niskayuna and her mother is from Clifton Park – and both will be here this weekend. Ed will be her caddy while her husband stays home in Florida to work.
“Just really being around my family’s friends up there is just great,” Stoelting said. Albany Advisor Group is one of her sponsors.
The Albany stop comes after a three-week break on tour and begins four straight weeks of play for the women. There are seven events left. From 2013 to 2014, the Tour schedule has grown from 15 to 20 events, the most in 13 years.
Last year, then 18-year old Wei-Ling Hsu fired a 4-under 67 to win in Albany. Hsu is back in the field this year and currently ranks fourth on the “Volvik Race for the Card” money list. Hsu is from Chinese Taipei has only played in eight events this year and has missed he last three. The field features both players that finished in second last year, Kendall Dye and Olivia Jordan-Higgins. Players between 10-20 on the money list are separated by less than $7,000. The winner’s paycheck would potentially move player No. 40, Calle Nielson, inside the top-10.
There are also 15 players with LPGA Tour status in the field. The 11 winners on the Symetra Tour this year are also all in the field. The entire “Volvik Race for the Card” top-10 are scheduled to play. In addition, the top-20 on the money list are all in the field.
“There’s really no pressure and so it just allows me to play freely unlike a lot of other girls on my tour,” said Kendall Dye, who is fifth on the money list with one win and six top-10s. “I don’t really have to stress.”
Five different courses have hosted Futures tour events: Town of Colonie Golf Course (1984-1998), Western Turnpike Golf Course (2000-2001), Orchard Creek Golf Course (2002-2003), and Capital Hills (2004-present).
“I started playing good golf and just kind of kept it going,” said tour rookie Cindy Feng, who is third on the money list with six top-10s including a win. “I wasn’t thinking too much. There’s no pressure. There’s nothing to complain about.”
Feng is tops in scoring average (71.6) and greens in regulation (77.4%). On Monday, before a pro-am at Normanside Country Club, 2001 champion Angela Buzminski said she always looks forward to returning to the Capital Region. She visited her coach and did some fishing during her three-week break and hope that revives her game. She has played on both tours since 1995.
“We love coming here,” Buzminski said.
