In unseasonable heat, the Epson Tour Championship hands of 15 LPGA exemptions
Despite heat hovering around 110 degrees, the Epson Tour Championship was played Indian Wells and awarded 15 LPGA exemptions for 2025
The Epson Tour Championship will return to the Coachella Valley on Oct. 2-5 at the Indian Wells Golf Resort, and this time the players on the LPGA’s development tour will certainly be hoping for better weather than the tour had in its debut in the desert in 2024.
Last October, the tour was faced with unseasonably hot weather, with temperatures over 110 degrees. Caddies were able to ride in carts, but players had to walk in the heat of the day to complete their four rounds. For 15 of those players, the Epson Tour Championship was the stepping stone to exempt status on the LPGA.
Not only will the Epson Tour return to the desert in six weeks, the city of Indian Wells has already extended its deal to host the women’s developmental tour through 2026. The city also still hopes that the Epson Tour Championship will be a path to spark interest from the LPGA in returning to the Coachella Valley, perhaps at the Indian Wells Golf Resort.
With just four regular season events remaining before the Tour Championship – two in August and two in September – here are five things to know about the upcoming Epson Tour Championship:
A new course
The Epson Tour golfers played in ridiculously hot conditions last year on the Players Course at the Indian Wells Golf Resort. But that course is unavailable this year since it is going through a renovation and redesign bringing seven new holes to the layout. That means the Epson Tour will play on the golf resort’s Celebrity Course this October.
The Celebrity Course, designed by La Quinta resident Clive Clark, is no stranger to professional golf. The course hosted the Skins Game in 2007 and 2008, the last two years that event was played. The course is ranked 30th by Golf Magazine on its list of best golf courses you can play in California.
Fifteen cards
The main reason for the Epson Tour Championship is to cap the season-long points race for golfers looking to secure an exemption for the 2026 LPGA Tour.
The top 10 players on the points list at the end of the year earn an LPGA exemption in one category, while the players finishing this season 11th to 15th earn an exemption in a slightly lower category. It’s just like the Korn Ferry Tour for the men. Getting to the LPGA and staying on the LPGA are two different things, but you have to get there first.
One qualifier already
Even with four regular-season tournaments left before the Tour Championship, one golfer has already sewn up an LPGA exemption for next year. That would be Melanie Green, the 23-year-old who is at the top of the Race for the Card standings entering this week’s event in Pendelton, Ore.
A collegiate golfer at the University of South Florida, Green is a rookie on the Epson Tour. But she has made the cut in 11 of 15 starts, has eight top-10 finishes and one win on the way to just over $134,000 in earnings. She’ll still want to play well down the stretch to secure the best exemption possible, but she already knows she is going to the LPGA next year.
A major championship winner?
Remember Sophia Popov? In 2020, she was a non-member of the LET Tour and the LPGA Tour when she won the AIG Women’s British Open, one of the five major championships played each year on the LPGA. A college player at USC, the 32-year-old Germany native never had any success on the LPGA after that, and recently she’s been known more as a television commentator. But in her only start on the Epson Tour this year, she won a tournament in Arizona. That makes her 27th on the season-long points list with just one start on the year. She could be a threat in the Tour Championship if she chooses to play.
International players
The LPGA is known for the number of international stars who play and win on the circuit. The same is true on the Epson Tour, perhaps to a lesser extent. A look at the current top 15, the players who would move on to the LPGA if the season were to end today, shows that nine Americans are in the group. But the other six players are from South Korea, Colombia, China, Japan, Israel and Spain. At least a few of those international players should join the LPGA next year.
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