Preview: LPGA Symetra Tour’s PKBGT IOA Golf Classic Junior Qualifier

Insurance Office of America, LPGA Symetra Tour and The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour presents the inaugural LPGA Symetra Tour’s IOA Golf Classic Junior Qualifier

LONGWOOD, FL. — In partnership with the Insurance Office of America (IOA), the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour (PKBGT) has announced the final field for the LPGA Symetra Tour’s IOA Golf Classic Junior Qualifier, a qualifying event in which the winner receives an exemption into the LPGA Symetra Tour’s IOA Golf Classic on September 28-30, 2018 at Alaqua Country Club in Longwood, FL.

The IOA Junior Qualifer takes place September 8-9, 2018 at Alaqua Country Club. The elite field features 18 players from Florida, New Jersey, New York, Nigeria, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Ten of those players are ranked inside the top-500 on Junior Golf Scoreboard National Rankings: Sophie Guo (Orlando, FL 2019) ranked 22nd, Sophia Bae (Norwood, NJ 2021) ranked 88th, Meiyi Yan (Windermere, FL 2019) ranked 122nd, Melanie Green (Medina, NY 2020) ranked 143rd, Georgia Oboh (Lagos, Nigeria 2019) ranked 197th, Karoline Tuttle (Lake Mary, FL 2022) ranked 209th, Lauren Clark (Orlando, FL 2021) ranked 251st, Chloe Schiavone (Jacksonville, FL 2020) ranked 263rd, Savannah Hylton (Hilton Head Island, SC 2021) ranked 339th and Rory Weinfurther (Midlothian, VA 2020) ranked 391st.

Along with this past April’s LPGA Symetra Tour Women’s Health Classic Junior Challenge, the IOA Golf Classic Junior Qualifier offers the opportunity for a junior player to compete at an LPGA Symetra Tour professional event. The champion of this event will receive a sponsor exemption into the 2018 LPGA Symetra Tour’s IOA Golf Classic — played September 28-30 at Alaqua Country Club.

Previously called the LPGA Futures Tour, the Symetra Tour is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour. Known as “the Road to the LPGA,” the Symetra Tour has graduated a total of 127 women to the LPGA since 1999.

The sponsor’s exemption marks IOA’s second involvement with the PKBGT this year. This spring, IOA was also the title sponsor of the PKBGT’s most recent expansion into Florida, the Central Florida Regional Series. The initial series consisted of five one-day events aimed at bringing girls-only competitions to the developing junior golfer.

The PKBGT was founded out of a local LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program in Greensboro, North Carolina. LPGA-USGA Girls Golf is the principle initiative of the LPGA Foundation, the non-profit arm of the LPGA.

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About Insurance Office of America

From the very beginning, IOA’s leadership formed the company not only to provide its clients with expert insurance and risk management services but also to serve the community in meaningful ways.

Insurance Office of America (IOA) is a full-service insurance agency founded in 1988 and one of the fastest-growing independent agencies in the United States. IOA is ranked 12th on Insurance Journal’s 2017 Top 100 Independent Property/Casualty Agencies report and 23rd on Business Insurance’s 2018 100 Largest Brokers of U.S. Business list. Headquartered in Longwood, Florida, part of the greater Orlando community, IOA has more than 1,000 associates located in over 50 branch offices in the U.S. and London.

About PKB Girls’ Golf Tour

Founded in 2007 by the Triad Youth Golf Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, as a local girls’ golf tour in the Triad region of North Carolina, the tour began as a simple concept from Tour Founder Robert Linville, PGA: create more effective competitive playing opportunities for girls in the Carolina’s. Developed as a partnership with Tour Director Mike Parker and two LPGA teaching professionals, the tour set out to change the landscape of junior girls’ golf. By utilizing innovative yardage-based divisions instead of the traditional age-based format, the tour focused on developing tournament experience at the players pace. Learn more about the PKBGT at http://www.pkbgt.org/.

About LPGA-USGA Girls Golf

LPGA-USGA Girls Golf prepares juniors for a lifetime of enjoyment of the game and provides a solid foundation for girls who want to play for fun with friends and family, to compete at the high school, college, and/or local, state and national levels or to learn for future career purposes, both inside and outside of the golf industry. The only national initiative of its kind, Girls Golf is administered through a partnership between The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Foundation and the United States Golf Association (USGA), both non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. With more than 300 Girls Golf programs in communities across the country, Girls Golf members receive golf instruction overseen by LPGA and PGA teaching professionals who are equipped to take participants from beginner to advanced players. Girls Golf programs also focus on inspiring girls to feel confident, build positive self-esteem and live active and healthy lifestyles by incorporating the “Five E’s of Girls Golf” into their curriculum. Learn more about the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program at http://www.girlsgolf.org/.

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