(12 September 2011 – Albany, NY)
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Rookie of the Year Sydnee Michaels put the exclamation mark on her first professional season today with her second win at the season-ending $120,000 Price Chopper Tour Championship. The win marked back-to-back victories for the Californian, who won two weeks ago in Vidalia. She stormed through the rain-soaked course in the final round with a 5-under par 65 to win by one shot at 8-under 202. She edged out Jessi Gebhardt who also posted a final-round score of 65 for her career-best, runner-up finish of 7-under 203, while three-time tournament winner Mo Martin carded a 3-under par 67 to finish third at 5-under 205.
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rnMichaels pocketed $16,800 for her win and grabbed the honours as the LPGA Futures Tour’s Gaelle Truet Rookie of the Year. She also secured her card for the LPGA in 2012, finishing fourth on the Money List with $56,232 in prizemoney. “I took the lead because I was having fun and making good shots,” said Michaels, who joined the tour this spring after graduating from UCLA. “The pressure was on the other girls to come up and beat me today.”
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rnThe rookie carded four consecutive birdies on holes 5 through 8, nearly acing the 153-yard par-3 seventh hole with a shot that landed one inch from the hole, adding a fifth birdie from four feet on the 14th hole.
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rn“This win was way tougher than the last one,” said Michaels’ caddie, Lorcan Morris. “The last one, she won by eight shots, but this one, she had to go out and win it. She’s the complete package as a player, but mainly, she just has it between the ears.”
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rnGebhardt also recorded five birdies in her bogey-free round and said she was “going for a hole-in-one” on the par-3 finishing hole as she chased Michaels’ lead. Her 8-iron landed 10 feet from the cup, which she converted for runner-up honours.
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rnThis week’s season-ending tournament got off to a soggy start when heavy rains hammered the course, depositing nine inches of rain in 10 days. Flooding of swollen creeks and rivers forced tour officials to make modifications to the fifth hole. With eight feet of water rendering the fairway unplayable, the par-4 was converted into a par 3, with a “tee” mowed on the highest possible spot of the fairway.
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rnWhile the mood was celebratory as the top 10 players “graduated” to the 2012 LPGA Tour, today was memorable for many reasons for Michaels. She had earned her second professional win at the conclusion of her short career on the LPGA Futures Tour. She had earned top rookie honours and her card to play on the 2012 LPGA Tour. And she had won on a day in the state of New York that most Americans were thinking about one of the darkest times in modern history.
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rn“I watched the 9/11 tributes this morning on TV and I know there’s something way bigger than this happening today,” said the rookie. “All day, I felt like I was playing for my country. And that’s so special.”
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rnStephanie Na has found form at the wrong end of the season, adding another Top-10 finish to her tally, finishing in a tie for 9th at 2-under par. Cathryn Bristow also finished in the money in a tie for 38th.
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rn“J Golf Race For the Card” Concludes In Albany, N.Y.
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rnThe LPGA Futures Tour’s annual “J Golf Race For the Card” concluded this week at the Price Chopper Tour Championship. Players finishing in the Top-10 at the conclusion of the tournament season earn membership on the 2012 LPGA Tour.
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rnThis week’s winner, Sydnee Michaels jumped from No.5 to No. 4 on the money list. Today’s win was her second consecutive win and it came in the tour’s last tournament of the year. In two events, she improved from 13th to fifth, to fourth on the season money list.
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rn“I’m not going to lie, I was doing a little bit of math coming into this tournament,” said Michaels, who also earned honours as the 2011 Gaelle Truet Rookie of the Year. “This was such a huge week. I could have missed the cut or anything could have happened, but I’ve been playing well all season and it was just a matter of it all coming together.”
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rnAt the conclusion of the Price Chopper Tour Championship and the 2011 LPGA FUTURES Tour, players finishing in the top 10 spots on the money list to earn 2012 LPGA membership are as follows:
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rn1. Kathleen Ekey (Ohio), $66,412; 2. Lisa Ferrero (California), $58,808; 3. Mo Martin (California), $58,218; 4. Sydnee Michaels (California), $56,232; 5. Jane Rah (California), $46,669; 6. Tiffany Joh (California), $37,566; 7. Valentine Derrey (France), $34,572; 8. Hanna Kang ( South Korea), $32,992; 9. Jenny Gleason (Florida), $30,331; and 10. Tzu-Chi Lin (Chinese Taipei), $29,861.
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