Copper Rock by way of LA
I’m in Hurricane, Utah for my second Epson Tour event of the season at Copper Rock.
It’s absolutely beautiful here.
It’s been a wild couple of weeks since I got back from Hawaii. After a few days in Oregon with my family, I flew back to San Diego. After just a day, I was on my way to Santa Clarita for a practice round at the Oaks at Valencia. The next Epson Tour event is at Copper Rock and a couple weeks out, I was still pretty far down the wait list. In order to give myself some chances to compete, I signed up for the Monday qualifiers for the LPGA tournaments in Honolulu and at Wilshire Country Club (the qualifier was at Valencia, though). Most LPGA events host a Monday qualifier, which is 18 holes. The top two finishers get a spot in the LPGA tournament.
Qualifying for Wilshire would be a great alternative to Copper Rock.
I have to admit being on the wait list is pretty stressful. Players with more status than me can enter up to a week before the tournament, which bumps me further down the wait list. This has happened in three of the first four Epson events. If you remember, I didn’t find out I was in the Morongo tournament in Beaumont until the Tuesday before it started. Fortunately, I was able to drive to that event. Players also withdraw, even after the tournament closes, so the wait list is always moving. Not knowing whether I’ll get in, and trying to decide whether to go to the tournament when I may not actually get in is tough. I’m fortunate that Morongo and Copper Rock were within reasonable driving distances. Most of the tournaments in the next three months are on the east coast, so it won’t be an option for me to just load up and go on short notice.
After the deadline for Copper Rock closed, I was still #7 or so on the wait list. I didn’t think I had a real chance to get in. Even so, I had my car packed and ready to go to Hurricane if anything changed.
By the time I got to the end of my qualifying round at Valencia on Monday afternoon, I had moved up to the first spot on the wait list for Copper Rock. I didn’t qualify for Wilshire, but the two golfers who did were also signed up for Copper Rock and as a result, I got in! I started driving to Utah about 5 p.m. after finishing my round. It was about four hours to Las Vegas, where I was able to spend the night with Mike and Diane Studer, good friends from Salem. Tuesday morning, I finished the drive to Hurricane and got a practice round in.
I played nine more holes today and am looking forward to the tournament, which is Thursday through Saturday. I tee off Thursday morning at 7:30 Mountain Daylight time. You can follow live scoring at this link.
I’m working on the March/April newsletter with more updates about what’s been going on and what’s coming next!
