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Swede Holmqvist Wins Island Resort Championship
 HARRIS---Sweden's Dani Holmqvist birdied on the final hole to avoid a playoff and win the LPGA Symetra Tour's Island Resort Championship by one stroke on Sunday at the Sweetgrass Golf Course. The story from the Symetra Tour follows below. Dani Holmqvist (Stockholm, Sweden) raced her birdie putt on the 72nd hole six feet by and need to make a tough putt coming back to avoid a playoff. The Cal grad stepped over the putt and calmly put it right in the heart to capture the Island Resort Championship. “I saw the leaderboard and I knew that I had to make it in order to not go to a playoff,” Holmqvist explained. “I’ve been actually practicing those kinds of putts back in my home course in Jupiter. I end every practice by saying ‘if I make this putt I’ll win the tournament’ and ironically that’s what happened today.” The victory is the first of Holmqvist’s career and moves her up to 13th on the latest Volvik Race for the Card Money List. “It feels great right now,” Holmqvist said. “It still hasn’t quite sunk in but it’s very exciting.” Holmqvist, who received national headlines in 2013 after she was bit on the ankle by what officials believed was a redback spider during a qualifier for the Australian Women’s Open and used a golf tee to pierce her skin and squeeze out the venom and then finished her round and shot a 74, has status on both the Symetra Tour and Ladies European Tour (LET) but has chosen to primarily focus on the Road to the LPGA this season. “For me, ultimately I want to play on the LPGA Tour and I think the Symetra Tour is the only way to get there outside of Q School,” Holmqvist explained. “The schedule is really great here. For me, as a fairly new pro I just need to play a lot of tournaments and the Symetra Tour has 23 events this year.” Holmqvist will have a quick turnaround as she will be competing in another one of those 23 events next week at the Tullymore Classic but she plans on taking some time to savor her victory. “I’m just going to try and let it sink in and then celebrate with a couple of friends out in the casino.” Samantha Richdale (Kelowna, British Columbia) finished second, while Brooke Henderson (Smith Falls, Ontario) took third. BROOKE HENDERSON FINISHES THIRD IN FIRST EVENT AS A SYMETRA TOUR MEMBER: Brooke Henderson n (Smiths Falls, Ontario) shot a final round 67 to finish at 8-under for the tournament and take home solo third at the Island Resort Championship. “It was fun,” Henderson said. “There was some good holes and some bad holes but overall I was hitting the ball well. I missed a couple of putts the past two days but I made up for it a little bit today.” The event this week was Henderson’s first as an official member of the Symetra Tour. Following her victory last week in South Bend, Henderson petitioned to waive the minimum age requirement and was granted Symetra Tour membership by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. With her new membership, Henderson was able to get into the field this week based on her Category C status. The 17-year old will also compete in next week’s Tullymore Classic. “I’m really excited that I have the exemption to play out here now and have status and have a Tour to play on,” Henderson said. “I’ve been playing pretty well out here. I have a T2, a win and a third so I’m very happy moving forward.” MADDIE SHEILS GOES LOW: Playing in the first group out, Madeleine Sheils (Boise, Idaho) went out and shot the round of the tournament, a 6-under 66, to jump from a tie for 63rd to a T19 place finish. “That was awesome,” Sheils said. “It was my best ever in a competitive round so I’m pretty thrilled.” The Nebraska grad tallied eight birdies against two birdies to finish her week at 2-under par. “It was so much fun. If you’re going to play early on a Sunday you want to be first and you want it to be with two friends. We hit a great time and it couldn’t have worked out better.” GIULIA MOLINARO WINS SYMETRA SWIFT AWARD: Giulia Molinaro (Treviso, Italy) is the recipient of the 2015 Symetra Swift Award. The award is presented to the player with the fastest start to the season recognized by her number one spot on the money list at the Tour’s midway point. Molinaro will be presented a check for $1,500 thanks to her solid start to the 2015 season. In addition to the prize money, Symetra will make a donation of $1,000 in Molinaro’s name to the charity of her choice, the Big Life Foundation. EAGLES FOR CHARITY: For each eagle made at the 2015 Island Resort Championship the player carding the eagle will receive $100 and the Island Resort Casino will donate $100 to the Wounded Warriors Project. “I didn’t know until I made putt that it was for $100 and then I didn’t know that they were going to match it with a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project until after the round and I just got goosebumps because any time that we can give back to a cause like that it makes this all worthwhile for us,” said Brittany Benvenuto (Langhorne, Pa.) who tallied the first eagle on Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, 11 eagles were made and $1,100 was donated. Sunday, three additional eagles were carded bringing the total raised for the Wounded Warriors Project to $1,400. |
