Symetra Tour golfers Madison Pressel and Katelyn Sepmoree visit with TV 13WHAM Good Day Rochester’s Jennifer Johnson and Doug Emblidge.

Jen J:  All right, funny we talk about golf on such a cold day.

Doug E:  I would.  You know what?  It warms me up all over.

Jen J:  After 38 seasons, Rochester would no longer be the home of an LPGA event but women’s golf will have a presence locally.

Doug E:  Yeah, the newest professional golf event in Rochester will be The 2015 Toyota Danielle Downey Classic named in memory of the golfer from Spencerport, and two of the golfers on the Symetra Tour are here to talk about the tournament that’s coming up in July.

Jen J:  Katelyn Sepmore and Madison Pressel, welcome!  I apologize already that it’s so cold.  We have one from Texas and one from Florida and it will be nice in July, yeah, much better in July when the tournament will be.  You guys are in town to help promote this newest stop.  This is exciting time for Rochester.  We’re going to hear much more about it.  What part it are you guys most excited about in this new stop in our region?

Katelyn S:  I’m just excited.  Just like you said before, Rochester has been a great golf community and this tournament is being run at the finest point and I’m really excited to compete because I really think this is going to be Symetra’s major and I’m excited to just get out there and play at a really great event.

Doug E:  Yeah, it is kind of continuing the tradition of women’s golf here that, I mean, it began with, you know, back in the late ‘70s.  Then, Nancy Lopez won five in a row including here.  What do you guys know about Rochester as a golf town?  I know your sister has played here before…

Madison P:  Yeah.

Doug E:  Morgan Pressel, who’s on the LPGA Tour.

Madison P:  So my sister played here for, I want to say this is her either ninth or tenth season so she’s been in Rochester for a very long time.  And she actually has a host family here who I’ll be staying with…

Doug E:  Oh, that’s great.

Madison P: …when I come to town so they’re almost like a family.  She’s been here for so long.  And it’s really neat that she was able to take that route and now I’m able to come back here even though the LPGA doesn’t necessarily have a stop here anymore, so we’re able to continue that tradition.

Jen J:  And to have a stop that is honoring a gal, a hometown gal for us who played amongst the ranks of you all, I think our town is ready to embrace all of you in her memory.  You guys are – I know you guys didn’t know, necessarily know Danielle very well but as a community of golfers you all are pretty close?

Madison P:  Absolutely.

Katelyn S:  Absolutely.

Madison P:  And we were both in school when Danielle passed and she was coaching as a volunteer, Auburn, where one of our good friends goes to school.  So it was very close to me and knowing how much she had helped the Auburn Program and my friend in particular.  So to just came up across the one year mark a couple, I think even days ago…

Doug E:  Yeah.

Madison P:  …maybe a couple of weeks ago, and I was talking to her and it was just a really rough day in Auburn and to be able to be here and help promote this event for someone who did so much for golf in the area, so much for women’s golf in college and everything, it means so much.

Doug E:  We’re going to talk a little bit more about the tour and women’s pro golf coming up in just a few minutes but real quickly for people who maybe were regulars at Locust Hill and Monroe for all these years, seeing the LPGA come to town, what’s the Symetra Tour?  These are the players of the LPGA Tour of the future, right?

Katelyn S:  That’s correct.  The Symetra Tour is the road to the LPGA and it’s just one step to get us to our final goal and that’s to play with the LPGA.  So this one here has allowed us to compete at a very high level and pursue our dreams.

Madison P:  The Top 10 on Symetra Tour will get their LPGA Tour card at the end of the season so this is going to be – this event will be I think pretty much the mid-point with $150 purse, $150,000 purse.  It’s one of our bigger purses so it’s a big event towards getting to that goal and reaching our dreams.

Doug E:  So what they’re saying Jen is that unlike me and your husband Vinnie who often golf together, their putts actually matter.

Jen J:  He always acts like they matter.

Doug E:  Yeah!  No, we think they matter.

Madison P:  Yeah.

Doug E:  But if you put it in perspective, they don’t matter.  Coming up, we’re going to have more with Katelyn and Madison, talk about their life as pro, their lives as pro golfers.  Stay with us.