Click the AUDIO buttons to hear RRN's interviews with Rachel Niskanen and Taylor Kehoe.
HARRIS---The LPGA Epson Tour professional women's golf tournament is now two weeks away at the Island Resort & Casino's Sweetgrass Golf Course in Harris, and two Michigan golfers are among the 144 from around the world who will be here for the event.
Recent Michigan State University graduate Taylor Kehoe got a sponsor's exemption after finishing in the Top 25 at the NCAA National Championships for the Spartans. She is from London, Ontario, Canada, and will be coming to Sweetgrass for the first time.
“I'm real excited,” Kehoe told RRN Sports Thursday afternoon. “It will be my first Epson event, so I'm looking forward to the opportunity and getting some experience playing with some pros, and learning from them. Just getting to play in a really high-end tournament.”
She finished her Spartan career with a 23rd finish at nationals, the best finish by an MSU women's golfer for more than a decade (2013).
“It means a lot,” Kehoe said. “I mean, it was my last-ever college tournament, so it was nice to end on a positive note, and then be there with my whole team and my two coaches, and my dad was there, so it was really nice.”
A local Upper Peninsula golfer also got a sponsor's exemption. Negaunee High School graduate Rachel Niskanen, who will be a senior at Central Michigan University this fall, will come back to Sweetgrass after her debut in last year's Epson Tour event.
“It's just an incredible opportunity,” Niskanen told RRN Sports on Thursday. “I had just the greatest time last year. Genuinely, the best golf experience of my life. So, I'm just super-excited to go again, have fun, try my best. It's just so, so great.”
Niskanen says she could feel the support from the large gallery last summer, and she appreciated the way everybody treated her.
“It was just incredible,” said Niskanen, who spoke from South Carolina where she will compete in another tournament this weekend. “I think that's what made it so fun. There was this one hole where I made this huge putt. It was the par-three with the big dip in the middle. There was just a roar from a different green, the Island Green with the bridge over there. There was a bunch of people there and they were like 'yeah, Rachel, let's go!'”
“It was so fun to take that moment in,” she continued. “Everybody was just so supportive of me. I didn't know half of those people, so, it was fun to just know that they knew my name and they knew who I was.”
Kehoe is not turning pro just yet, and before she comes to Sweetgrass, she will compete in the Meijer LPGA Classic at the Blythefield Country Club in downstate Belmont. That's a course that has been around since 1929, and it will mark two consecutive professional tournaments for the Canadian golfer.
“I've just been at home, seeing my coach, and then also just enjoying the time at home with my family,” Kehoe said from her home in Canada. “I think I just have to focus on my game, and not worry as much about things going on around me with all the pros. I think just keep doing what I'm doing. Also, having a caddie will be nice.”
As for Niskanen, she is also staying amateur for now, but she says last year's event taught her a few things.
“I definitely learned a lot about being under that pressure,” Niskanen said. “Being on that stage is just so different. I mean, the gallery is a lot bigger, and the players I'm playing against, I mean, they're a lot better than a lot of the players I play against. It's definitely nervewracking.”
The 54-hole tournament runs from June 26-28, with the girls playing for a share of the $225,000 prize pool, as well as that coveted LPGA tour card going to the winner. For spectators, tickets cost $10, and that gets you in for all three days of the tournament, and allows you to get up close and personal with the golfers for conversations and autographs. Kids 17 and under get in for free.
Bleachers are available at the 9th and 18th greens, or you can bring a lawn chair.
