LPGA Futures Tour players Juli Erekson, Katie Kempter and Libby Smith joined Boston Celtics TV analyst Donny Marshall and members of the local media for a closest-to-the-pin contest on Center Court at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts on Monday. While Erekson, a native of nearby Chicopee brought along her own cheering crowd, Kempter and Marshall battled for top honors in the contest with Kempter taking home the ING trophy.
The event was hosted by popular radio personality The Dude of The Average Joe Show on ESPN 1450 The Hall. After the contest, the players worked with some junior golfers on their swings. Later, Marshall, Kempter, Smith and some young basketball fans took part in an impromptu, but competitive game of horse. Smith, who played basketball at the University of Vermont on a NCAA Division I scholarship, nearly defeated the former NBA player and University of Connecticut star Marshall.
Erekson, Kempter and Smith will all tee-it-up at the 2011 ING New England Golf Classic this week at Wintonbury Hills Golf Course in Bloomfield, CT.
The top 10 leaders on the LPGA Futures Tour’s 2011 money list are expected to be in the tournament field for this week’s id=”mce_marker”00,000 ING New England Golf Classic.
The third annual event in the Greater Hartford area will be staged Friday through Sunday (July 15-17) at Wintonbury Hills Golf Course. Defending champion Tiffany Joh of San Diego will return this week, hoping to defend her title.
Joh won her first tournament as a professional last year in Bloomfield, defeating Gerina (Mendoza) Piller in a playoff. She and Mendoza share the tournament’s 54-hole scoring record of 10-under 200. Joh also is a member of the 2011 LPGA Tour and divides time competing on both tours. She is currently ranked No. 3 on the Futures Tour’s money list.
Seven professionals with New England ties also will be in this week’s event, which marks the 13th year the LPGA Futures Tour has staged a tournament in the suburbs of Connecticut’s capital city.
New Englanders in the field will include: Molly Aronsson of Shelburne, Vt.; Kim Augusta of Rumford, R.I.; Chelsea Curtis of New Seabury, Mass.; Juli Erekson of Chicopee, Mass.; hometown favorite Natalie Sheary of West Hartford, Conn.; Libby Smith of Essex Junction, Vt.; Briana Vega of Andover, Mass., and Alison Walshe of Westford, Mass.
Sheary will be making her first appearance as a professional in the Connecticut event. She tied for second as an amateur at the 2008 tournament, staged as the CIGNA Golf Classic at Gillette Ridge. Sheary recently completed her collegiate career at Wake Forest University and tied for eighth in her 2011 professional debut earlier this spring at the Ladies Titan Tire Challenge in Marion, Iowa.
Erekson is the LPGA Futures Tour’s only mother-to-be this season. The Massachusetts pro is six months pregnant and expecting her first child. This week’s tournament will be her final event this season, as she plans to return home for maternity leave.
College player Sarah Sideranko of New Britain will be the local amateur in this year’s ING New England Golf Classic. Sideranko earned four varsity letters in golf playing for New Britain High School. She is currently majoring in chemistry at the University of Hartford, where she recently completed her sophomore season on the women’s golf team.
About Tim Branco
Editor/Publisher New England Publishing Group Home of NE Golf Monthy, NE SnowSports and NE Homefinder a family of New England Regional Publications. Media consultant for newspaper & magazine industries and sales and marketing trainer and motivational speaker. Golf & Travel writer for over 20 years with published articles in national newspapers and regional magazines throughout the U.S.
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