On Monday-Tuesday, July 1-2, the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour plays the 2019 PKBGT Irish Creek Girls’ Classic at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, NC.
In a change of scenery from Davidson to Kannapolis, the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour is set to hold a special weekday national event to open the month of July. Members travel to the northeast outskirts of Charlotte for a two-day taste of the award-winning Davis Love III signature course design.
Typical Monday morning misery will be offset for the field of 27 by the first round of the 2019 PKBGT Irish Creek Girls’ Classic. What better way to kick off the week, and the month, than 36 holes at the immaculate and scenic course at Irish Creek? Aside from several accolades as a top-ranked course in the state of North Carolina, The Club annually hosts the PGA Tour Q-School First Qualifying Stage and the prestigious Irish Creek Collegiate Championship.
The PKBGT’s national season is winding down. Only seven events remain, including the Tour Championship at Pine Needles Lodge and GC in mid-August. The remainder of the schedule presents a handful of opportunities for players to move up in the Order of Merit standings, which comes to a close along with the season in Southern Pines.
Players, traveling from as far as Tennessee and New York to Kannapolis, will compete in one of two divisions: Bell National at 5,906 yards and Futures National at 5,271 yards. With an open field and a mid-week championship trophy on the line, let’s take a look at the players to watch in this year’s PKBGT Irish Creek Girls’ Classic.
Bell National
In search of her first top finish in the Bell National division, Emily Matthews (Mebane, NC 2023) looks to carry success from her Prep Preview campaign up to the next level. Matthews holds two top-ten finishes this season: T7 at the Vicki Disantis Qualifier in Sanford and eighth place at the 2019 PKBGT Tar Heel Classic.
Though she hasn’t appeared in many events through the 2019 season thus far, Emilia Pack (Browns Summit, NC 2019) is poised to generate buzz at the PKBGT Irish Creek Girls Classic. Pack kicked off the season by competing in the PKBGT Invitational at Bermuda Run Country Club. Her second tournament resulted in a T8 finish at the Cape Fear Classic in Wilmington, NC. She seeks her first top-five finish of the season to open July.
Cindy Song (Waxhaw, NC 2023) enters as the highest ranked player on the PKBGT Performance Index in the field. Song, currently in 64th place on the Performance Index, only competed in two events in 2019 thus far. She finished T20 at the Palmetto Classic and returned to Greenville for her season-best second place finish at the Vicki Disantis Qualifier at Green Valley Country Club. The Waxhaw native also competed in the 2019 PKBGT Linville Cup.
Futures National
2019 has treated Ellen Yu (High Point, NC 2026) generously to date. Yu stormed onto the Futures National scene, taking home three championship trophies in her first year. She won the inaugural PKBGT Spring Invitational, followed by the Carolina’s Classic and the PKBGT Open Championship. Add a regional win at the Gate City Classic to her resume and another five top-ten national performances. Yu hopes to continue her successful season with another top finish in Kannapolis.
Searching for a fourth top-ten finish to her season, Elizabeth Lohbauer (Huntersville, NC 2021) hopes to best her most recent T3 finish at the Imperial Girls Classic in early-May. Lohbauer has a T8 finish at the PKB Junior and a fourth-place finish at the Palmetto Classic on her 2019 resume as well.
Maya Beasley (Croton on Hudson, NY 2023) travels south from New York to compete in the 2019 PKBGT Irish Creek Girls Classic. Beasley found success early in the year with a fourth-place finish at the Tar Heel Classic in Chapel Hill. Her latest performance came in the form of an 11th place finish at the Carolina’s Classic at Carolina Trace Country Club. Look for Beasley to push toward the top of the leaderboard to kick off her month of July.
Final Thoughts
We would like to wish all of our competitors the best of luck in the upcoming 2019 PKBGT Irish Creek Girls Classic! A special thanks to The Club at Irish Creek for hosting the event which promises to provide an exciting challenge to all of our participants! To stay up to date on where the leaderboard stands, be sure to follow live scoring!
About the PKBGT
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: create more effective competitive playing opportunities for girls. By utilizing innovative yardage-based divisions instead of the traditional age-based format, the tour focused on developing tournament experience at the player’s pace. The 2019 season will feature over 90 tournaments in 9 states on the East Coast and with over 900 members, the PKBGT is the largest girl’s only tour in the country. Learn more about the PKBGT at http://www.pkbgt.org/.
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