With less than three months until the SemGroup Championship begins at Cedar Ridge Country Club, tournament officials unveiled the tournament’s new logo Wednesday afternoon and announced the addition of another player with local ties to Team SemGroup.
In its second year, Team SemGroup will once again be a season-long point race with a reward of $25,000 going to the winner’s chosen charity.
Cristie Kerr will look to defend her title when the season begins Feb. 15 in Hawaii, but she will be competing against returning members Helen Alfreddson, Natalie Gulbis, Christina Kim, Carin Koch, Stacy Prammanasudh and newcomer Karin Sjodin.
 The addition of Sjodin, an Oklahoma State alum, now gives the team its second player with local ties. Prammanasudh hails from the University of Tulsa.
“Oklahoma has a great legacy when it comes to golf,” said SemGroup President and CEO Tom Kivisto. “Whether it’s Scott Verplank in the PGA or the accomplishments of the schools, this state is rich with golf, and these two ladies are just another example.”
While Sjodin does have local ties to a team built by a local company, Kivisto said it was not just those ties that earned the second-year tour player a spot on the roster.
“She earned it with her exceptional first year,” Kivisto said about Sjodin, who finished 10th in the 2006 Rookie of the Year standings. “It turned out to be a great thing that she has those local ties.”
According to Tournament Director Doug Eibling, the local ties should make an impact to the fans when the two players compete in the SemGroup Championship April 30-May 6.
“Having both of those ladies as part of the team adds another reason for Tulsans to get involved with our tournament,” Eibling said. “They now know they will have another reason to root for two hometown ladies when they come out to watch.”
While the group of ladies will be battling for the newly raised $1.4 million purse at the SemGroup Championship, Kivisto said Team SemGroup allows the group to continue to challenge each other until the competition culminates at the Northwest Arkansas Championship Sept. 3-9.
“They will stay in touch with each other all season,” Kivisto said. “They will be e-mailing each other, and they will be notified when there is a lead change. They may not do well at a certain tournament, but they may do better than someone else on the team, so they’ll send them an e-mail and gig them, and they will continue to gig each other all season, which creates great comradery.
“We expect it to be a tight race that will only make it more fun to watch.”
By Tim Landes |
