Jun 20, 2025
Epson Tour golfer Dana Fall, right, and her unidentified fishing friend show off one of their trophies from last year’s Island Resort Championship pretournament event known as The Bassters. Each year on the day before the Epson Tour event begins in Harris, 30 golfers head out to the 15th hole’s island green in pairs for this fishing competition. (Photo courtesy Epson Tour website)
HARRIS — Today is the first of three rounds in the Island Resort Championship women’s professional golf tournament to be held at Sweetgrass Golf Club in the Delta County community of Harris.
A stop on the Epson Tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s developmental tour for up-and-coming pros, the Island Resort event is being held for 14th time at one of the premier courses in the Upper Peninsula.
From this year’s purse of $225,000, the winner receives a trophy, a tribal honor quilt handmade by an elder of the Hannahville Indian Community and a check for $33,750.
New this year, the Island Resort event joins the other two Epson Tour events being held in Michigan for a series called The Pure Michigan Cup, which is also in collaboration with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
It will award an extra $20,000 in prize money, including $10,000 for first place along with a trophy, to the top three point-earners among these back-to-back-to-back events. The Island tourney is the final stop, which follows the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek two weeks ago and last week’s Great Lakes Championship in Harbor Springs.
In the Epson Tour, now in its 45th year, players can earn an LPGA Tour membership through its Race for the Card. This year, 15 LPGA cards will be distributed to the top point earners after a 20-event season.
Among the golfers in the 144-player field this weekend is amateur Rachel Niskanen, a 2023 graduate of Negaunee High School who now golfs at Central Michigan University.
She was one of a pair of state amateurs receiving sponsor’s exemptions for this weekend, the other recent Michigan State University graduate Brooke Biermann.
There will be two other MSU grads in the field, pros Valery Plata and Yurika Tanida, and three University of Michigan products, pros Ashley Lau, Monet Chun and Hailey Borja. In addition, Grand Rapids native Sarah White is also in the field.
Niskanen was a two-time MHSAA Upper Peninsula individual champion in Division 1, her titles actually coming at Sweetgrass and its companion Island Resort & Casino course, Sage Run, located just down the road.
At CMU where she has competed for the past two years, Niskanen was a runner-up at last fall’s Bronco Fall Classic at Western Michigan and had five other top-20 finishes during the school year, averaging 77.79 per 18-hole round over 28 rounds.
The Island Resort Championship is a 54-hole stroke play event, with a cut made after 36 holes on Saturday evening to the top 60 players and ties for Sunday’s final round.
Sweetgrass plays as par 72 at 6,476 yards.
The most recent champions have been Soo Bin Joo in 2024, Tsai Ching Tseng in 2023, Ssu-Chia Cheng in 2022, Morgane Metraux in 2021 and Daniella Iacobelli in 2019 with no tourney held in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 54-hole scoring record is shared by Cheng and Metraux of 17-under-par 199 in their victorious years, while the 18-hole mark is a 9-under-par 63 by Anne Chen in 2024’s first round and Metraux in 2021’s second round.
One past Island Resort champion is entered this weekend, Iacobelli, who actually gained LPGA Tour status this year but was left out of this week’s LPGA major, the Women’s PGA Championship, so the 37-year-old returned to make it a visit here every year since she won in 2019.
With this being the LPGA’s developmental tour, the season-long standings help determine which players receive cards for next year on the “big” tour.
This year, 15 LPGA cards will be distributed to top season points leaders after the 20-event season, with this weekend being the midpoint 10th event.
This weekend’s winner receives 500 points along with tournament prizes, which could go a long way to earning the winner that coveted card.
Currently through nine events, Gina Kim of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, leads the Race for the Card with 1,209.9 points as she has played in and made the cut in all nine.
Last week’s winner in Harbor Springs, Riley Smyth of Tequesta, Florida, jumped six spots up to No. 2 with 1,189.6 points, closing in on Kim and well ahead of third-place Sophia Schubert of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with 990.262 points.
On the edge of qualifying in 15th place is Laney Frye of Nicholasville, Kentucky, with 505.843 points. She is one of five Epson rookies in the top 15, joining Yana Wilson of Henderson, Nevada, in fourth with 984.363, Carla Tejedo Mulet of Spain in eighth with 804.962, Erika Hara of Japan in ninth with 701.628 and Melanie Green of Medina, New York, in 12th with 564.254.
For The Pure Michigan Cup, the bonus afforded for the most Epson points accumulated at the three consecutive Michigan stops, Smyth also leads with 547 points after her Harbor Springs win, with Samantha Wagner of Orlando, Florida, second with 500, followed by Hara with 333.33, Schubert 325.26, Frye at 262.33, Isabella Fierro of Mexico and Tejedo Mulet each at 225, Sophie Hausmann of Germany at 201.75, Wilson at 200 and Riley Rennell of Columbia, Tennessee, rounding out the top 10 with 184.75.
Fans of the Island Resort tournament are encouraged to come out and watch the competition. Tickets are $10 that covers all three days for adults, with admission free for youth ages 17 and under.
Tickets are available at the gate during the event, at The Island Club located inside the casino, from the Delta County Area Chamber of Commerce or by phone with credit card at 877-ISL-HOW (877-475-7469) or 906-466-2941, ext. 5001.
Fans are encouraged to bring a chair or utilize the bleachers around the ninth and 18th greens, as well as at the center of the course. Fans can also follow competitors as they play their rounds and get autographs or photos taken with golfers at the end of their rounds.
Inexpensive food and beverages are available on the course, with prices for food items like burgers and brats for just $3 each.
Story contents based on emails received from the Island Resort & Casino, along with an examination of the Epson Tour website, www.epsontour.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.
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