Riihijarvi Wins Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA

Kiira Riihijarvi Wins Inaugural Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA Powered by the A2 Sports Commission
Kiira Riihijarvi Wins Inaugural Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA Powered by the A2 Sports Commission

Kiira Riihijarvi Wins Inaugural Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA Powered by the A2 Sports Commission

Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA Powered By the A2 Sports Commission continues Ann Arbor’s tradition of supporting women’s professional golf. Ann Arbor has previously hosted Epson/Futures Tour events in 1998 and 2002 – 2004. The LPGA’s Volvik Championship was held in Ann Arbor from 2016 – 2018.

The 2002 Futures Tour event was notable in that the winner was Lorena Ochoa and runner up was Christina Kim.

In 2022, Kiira Riihijarvi took the title for her first Epson Tour win.

The Epson Tour next heads to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for the Island Resort Championship.

2022 Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA Powered by the A2 Sports Commission Results

Course Setup: 36-36—72; 6,438 yards
Weather: Sunshine and a high temperature in the low 70s with wind gusts up to 20 mph.

LEADERBOARD

LEADERBOARD
 PlayerTo ParScore
1Kiira Riihijarvi-1068-69-69
2Pavarisa Yoktuan-866-69-73
3Ashleu Lau-671-71-68
T4Klara Spilkova-566-74-68
T4Linnea Strom-571-69-71
T4Grace Kim-568-71-72


Recap

RIIHIJARVI EARNS FIRST EPSON TOUR WIN

Kiira Riihijarvi was crowned champion of the inaugural Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA Powered by the A2 Sports Commission. The Finn secured her first career victory at -10 after defeating first- and second-round leader Pavarisa Yoktuan. Riihijarvi won by two strokes.

“I’m feeling great,” said Riihijarvi. “I feel odd. I don’t think it’s processed quite yet, but I’m happy.”

Riihijarvi carded four birdies and went bogey-free on the back nine to sign for a 3-under 69. The leaderboard changed throughout the final round, but one thing remained steady – Riihijavari in the top spot.

“I had a good caddie this week, and we talked about a lot of stuff so that was keeping me calm,” said Riihijarvi. “I was really trying to focus on taking it one shot at a time and just doing my best because that’s all I could really do.”

So far in 2022, the Finn has made five cuts in nine starts. She missed the cut at her last two appearances, the IOA Golf Classic presented by LPT Realty and the Inova Mission Inn Resort & Club Championship. This win puts her back on track heading into the second half of the season.

“I think there were some mental blocks I had to work through,” said Riihijarvi. “I missed both of the cuts in Florida, and I was just working through it, so I decided to take a week off and practice a little bit and get a little bit of a better mindset about golf and it seemed to work out for me.”

She started feeling the pressure with two holes left but kept her eyes on the prize. Riihijarvi says there wasn’t a point in her round where she felt like she had it in the bag.

“I started to feel my heart race on 17,” said Riihijarvi. “I was like oh that’s not good, but I just try to keep at it and focus on one shot at a time.”

Two strokes behind Riihijarvi, in second place, is Pavarisa Yoktuan. The first- and second-round leader held steady on the front nine, even par through seven holes, before making bogeys on 8, 9 and 11. But she finished her round with a birdie on No. 18.

In third, two strokes behind Yoktuan and four strokes behind Riihijarvi, is amateur Ashley Lau. The University of Michigan golfer recorded five birdies to go 4 under on the day. Lau came into her first professional tournament with no expectations and is happy with the outcome.

“I just told my sister that I wanted to have fun this week and get the experience of playing with professionals,” said Lau. “I’ve learned so much this week just by playing in such a big tournament and playing with the professionals, I’ve learned a lot from them. It’s been an amazing experience, and I would love to do it again.”

Klara SpilkovaLinnea Strom and Grace Kim shared fourth place at -5. Spilkova climbed up the leaderboard during her final 18 holes, moving from T11 to the top 5. She recorded five birdies on the day. This finish marks Strom’s third top-20 performance and Kim’s fourth of the 2022 season.

QUICK QUOTES 
Malene Krolboll Hansen (E, T20) on her hole in one on No. 3: 

“I was a little nervous getting out there today. We got up there, and suddenly I was afraid I was over the green. I kept reminding myself Lucy’s mom clapped, so it’s okay and it was a good shot. It was so cool, and nobody really saw it, so everyone started clapping and it was a party.”

Gabriela Ruffels (-3, T8) on her hole in one on No. 12: 

“It was really cool. It was my third hole in one and the first one I could actually see, so that was cool. I wasn’t having a great day, I was even for the day, and I wanted something to happen so that was pretty good and it got my round going.” 

Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras (-4, 7th) on back-to-back top-15 finishes: 

“I haven’t been playing really well, but these past two weeks have given me a lot of confidence. I’m ready for next week.”

ABOUT EPSON TOUR
The Epson Tour (formerly the Symetra Tour and Futures Tour) is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour and enters its 42nd competitive season in 2022. With the support of entitlement partner Seiko Epson Corporation, the Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best female professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour. In the last decade, the Epson Tour has grown from 15 tournaments and $1.6 million in prize money to $4.41 million awarded across 20+ events in 2022. With more than 600 graduates and alumnae moving on to the LPGA Tour, former Epson Tour players have won 459 LPGA titles.

Follow the Epson Tour at www.epsontour.com, as well as FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

ABOUT EPSON
Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson’s goal is to become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion. Epson America, Inc., based in Los Alamitos, Calif., is Epson’s regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on FacebookTwitterYouTube, and Instagram.

  • VIA Epson Tour

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