St. Augustine, FL – Professional women's golf returned to Northeast Florida today and started off by raising more than $50,000 for the Investing in Kids (INK!), the Official Charity Partner of the PXG Women’s Match Play Championship. INK! Is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization which raises money for underserved public schools in St. Johns County (FL). The INK! Charity Pro-am presented by Davidson Realty was hosted on King & Bear Course at World Golf Village, host site for the event. 32 teams, each featuring one professional women golfer and three amateurs, competed for bragging rights and a unique collection of custom designed trophies donated and made by Ocean Sole Africa specifically for the PXGWMPC.
The first round of professional competition for PXG Women’s Match Play Championship opens Tuesday, October 26 for the stroke play portion of this unique back-to-back tournament series. 54-holes of stroke play are being contested on King & Bear Golf Course from October 26-28 which seeds the following week’s Match-Play tournament being held on the Slammer & Squire Course. Today’s INK! Charity Pro-am doubled as a practice round for many of the professional players in the field who are coming in from the second stage of LPGA Q-school, including 6th place finisher Alyaa Abdulghany and Sophia Garcia (T7) who both advanced to the final stage.
Said INK! Executive Director, Donna Lueders, “This our first golf tournament of any kind, and this women’s professional pro-am has created amazing exposure for us, and it has been our largest fundraiser in recent history serving the public school kids in St Johns County.” She continued, “To have this tournament and its pro players wrap their arms around us, and then to have more than 100 amateurs and our local corporate community embrace this effort, is truly very special.”
Mark Berman, executive producer of the PXGWMPC, a 25-year area resident had never heard of Investing in Kids before reading a newspaper article about them in early April which inspired him to invite INK! aboard. “I immediately fell in love with their mission and wanted to help shine a light on this small organization that does such noble work. This tournament is all about creating opportunities, and INK! fits right in with what we are trying to accomplish.”
The PXGWMPC is an official event on the WAPT, which is one of only three US women’s developmental tours for women and the only one which provides a pathway into the Symetra Tour. While sanctioned by the WAPT, the PXG Match Play Championship is open to all professional players who are not current LPGA players. “This is a pretty significant distinction as a professional event,” said the Berman, the Managing Partner of Jacksonville’s MediaShare Consulting Group, Inc., which conceptualized and is running the PXGWMPC. “We are very intentional in providing opportunities for the up-and-coming professional female players, for whom very few tours and tournaments exist, particularly compared to the men’s game,” Berman shared. 2021 WAPT money list winner, Jessica Porvasnick, is also in the field. She finished T47 at Second Stage, just one stroke outside of the advancing score.
To claim complimentary tickets, golf fans are required to register in advance on the tournament’s website (www.pxgwmpc.com) where they can print a voucher. Upon arrival at the Tournament Gate, vouchers will be exchanged for a wristband, which provide access to tournament grounds, its Pop-Up Retail Experience and fan hospitality. The free admission is provided by women-owned business, Kessler Creative, the tournament’s Official Printing Sponsor, which designed the tournament signage and graphic materials. Said CEO Dina Kessler, “We want people to see these amazing women play. There is so much talent and competitive drama, and so many great stories inside and outside the ropes. It is our pleasure to provide access for free to our community.”
The PXGWMPC is a collaboration with Jacksonville’s women’s empowerment organization, Generation W. Competitors and other area female athletes and executives will participate in the Generation W Links to Leadership Summit presented by Circle K on October 29. Said Berman, “We are shining a light on women’s initiatives not just on the golf course, but in the workplace and in the community.”
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TOURNAMENT FACTS/INFO
- The PXG Women’s Match Play Championship is a back-to-back tournament series with the first week of 54-holes of stroke play being contested on King & Bear Golf Course from October 26-28. The second tournament is a 64-woman Match-Play tournament, seeded by the stroke play event, with its own unique format. The 64 competitors will be split into 16 four-player groups. Each player will play each group member twice in nine-hole head-to-head matches. Each hole is worth one point to be either won, lost, or halved. The winner of each of those nine-hole matches will also receive a bonus point. The player after her six matches with the most cumulative points, advances to the Knockout Rounds, starting with the Round of 16. Pool Play will be contested on November 1 and 2, beginning at 9:00 AM EST. The Round of 16 and the Quarterfinal matches will be played on November 3 starting at 9:00 AM EST. The Semifinal matches will commence on November 4 at 9:00 EST AM, following by the consolation match and then the Championship Match.
- Admission and parking for fans will be free with website registration, courtesy of Official Printing Partner, Kessler Creative, a St Johns County-based woman-owned print marketing firm, Said president Dina Kessler “The goal is for people to see these amazing female athletes play, and we want to provide that experience at no charge to our community.” Kessler Creative is creating all the on-course and promotional signage for the @PXGWMPC.
- In addition to $50,000 in prize money and a PXG equipment and apparel stipend, players will compete for a one-of-a-kind trophy supplied by Ocean Sole Africa, a Ponte Vedra Beach-based non-profit which fashions sculptures out of recycled flip-flops from Kenya. The 2021 PXG Women’s Match Play Championship will receive a manatee sculpture resting on top of a piece of driftwood found on a local Northeast Florida beach. It was created by Kenyan artist Mwrani and took her 22.5 hours to make and used more than 40 pounds of recycled rubber flip flops. Ocean Sole Africa will also provide similarly crafted one-of-a-kind trophies for the Runner Up and each semifinalist as well as for the Stroke Play winner and runner up.
- Nashville band Them Vibes, founded and managed by Ponte Vedra native Kim Paige, will be the featured band in the St Johns County VCB Between the Tournaments Concert, hosted by the and Jacksonville International Airport. The invitation-only VIP concert will be held on October 30 at the host hotel, the Marriott World Golf Village Renaissance Resort Hotel.
BACKGROUNDER
The PXG Women’s Match Play Championship will feature 64 female professionals who are pursuing their dream of playing on the LPGA Tour. The golfers will battle it out over two weeks in two separate, but connected, tournaments. The first week will feature a 54-hole stroke-play format on the King & Bear course, which will also seed the second week’s event, a 64-woman match play championship at Slammer & Squire.
Information on elevated hospitality opportunities, Pro-Am spots, tickets, key sponsorships, and volunteering is available on the tournament website at www.PXGWPC.com and by calling MediaShare Consulting Group at 904.838.4962. You may reach the Tournament Office by email at mberman@mediashareconsulting.com.
Contact: Mark D. Berman
mberman@mediashareconsulting.com
904.838.4962