The Journey to the Pure Michigan Cup | MGL TV & Epson Tour Exclusive

🎥 Michigan Golf Live TV presents a special feature: “The Epson Tour Journey to the Pure Michigan Cup”

In this unique multi-stop edition of MGL TV, we take you inside the world of the Epson Tour, the official qualifying tour of the LPGA, as it made a 3-week swing through Michigan in June. This isn’t just a golf story — it’s a journey of ambition, competition, sacrifice, and determination.

Host Bill Hobson and the MGL team followed the Epson Tour as it rolled through some of Michigan’s most beautiful golf destinations – from Battle Creek to Boyne Highlands to the Upper Peninsula’s Harris near Escanaba, capturing every key moment — from tee box to trophy presentation — culminating in the awarding of the first-ever Pure Michigan Cup.

🌟 You’ll meet the future stars of the LPGA, discover what drives them, and gain a new appreciation for the grind and grit it takes to compete at the highest level.

With cameras rolling on the course, behind the scenes, and during the off-hours, this MGL TV special gives you an intimate look at:

🎯 The fierce competition on tour

💬 Raw and personal interviews with players chasing their LPGA dreams

🚗 The realities of life on the road — shared rooms, long drives, and tight budgets

🤝 The friendships and support systems that keep these athletes grounded

Whether you’re a dedicated golf fan or new to the Epson Tour, this special episode delivers powerful storytelling, inspirational profiles, and scenic views of Michigan’s finest courses — all through the lens of one unforgettable three-week journey.

👇 Be sure to:
👍 Like this video if you love underdog stories
📲 Subscribe to Michigan Golf Live TV for more original golf content
🔔 Hit the bell so you never miss a new episode

#PureMichiganCup
#EpsonTour
#MichiganGolfLive
#LPGA
#WomensGolf
#RoadToLPGA
#GolfLife
#GolfMichigan

This trophy is unlike anything you’ve seen before, largely because until right now it didn’t exist. You are looking at the Pure Michigan Cup and it represents the culmination of a three-w weekek journey throughout the state of Michigan by the young ladies on the Epson Tour. They are the dreamers, the future LPGA stars. This trophy at the end of this program will go to one of them. It’s a journey that started in Battle Creek, then moved to Boone Highlands, and culminates here at Island Resort, just outside of Eskanaba. There are a lot of cool stories to share with you in the moments ahead. So, join us as we take you on a 3-w weekek journey of life on the Epson Tour in pursuit of the Pure Michigan Cup. Welcome to Michigan Golf Live Television, shining the spotlight on the best places to play, stay, and celebrate the greatest game on earth. MGLTV is brought to you by the Golf Association of Michigan, Donald Ross Sportsear, the Meer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, and Grand Travers Resort and Spa. Stay connected to Michigan Golf Live 247 on Facebook, X, Instagram, and our YouTube channel. And subscribe for free to our weekly for golfers network podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere podcasts are found. [Music] Hello friends, Bill Hobson here and welcome into a very special edition of our program because today we are about to take you on a three-w weekek journey in roughly 30 minutes. We have a lot of story to tell because it’s the story of young dreamers on the Epson tour which is the LPGA’s developmental tour. They are now on a tour throughout Michigan that will stretch from here in Battle Creek to Boone and then to Michigan’s upper peninsula just outside Eskanaba in pursuit of the first ever Pure Michigan Cup. These young ladies are the dreamers. It’s a journey filled with intense competition, community engagement, triumphs, and setbacks, and more compelling individual stories than we could tell in a 10-part documentary. So, in the moments ahead, we will present the June journey of the Pure Michigan Cup and invite you in to experience life in the traveling family circus known as the Epson Tour, where dreams have and can come true. This guy’s the vice president of the Epson Tour, Tim Kramer. Nutshell, 30 second elevator speech. What is the Epson Tour? So, the Epson Tour is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA. So at the end of the year based upon points accumulation throughout the year, top 15 players on our tour will automatically graduate to the LPGA tour. So some notable graduates include Nelly Corda, uh Lily Vu, Hannah Green, uh a lot of players that have gone on to have pretty good success on the LPJ tour, which I would think is the rewarding payoff for the team that travels with this circus every week. It’s got to be really cool to see that happen. I think that’s probably I know that’s been the highlight of my career, the 14 years that I’ve been doing this is to see our players go on to to not only compete on the LPGA tour, but to win major championships is pretty cool. Is it accurate for me to describe them as dreamers? It is. I mean, a lot of a lot of players, you know, they’re, you know, everybody’s chasing their dream. I mean, they they want to play on the LPGA tour. It’s not easy. It’s not I mean it’s it’s expensive uh for players to travel week in and week out. I think it’s it’s nerve-wracking for the players. Um you know competitively our tour has gotten so much better in the last 13 14 years. It’s really you know last year we had 19 tournaments. We had 19 different winners on the tour which has not happened in probably 30 years. So the quality of play is really pretty special. And so here we are in this unprecedented brand new idea of a pure Michigan cup. What a cool concept it is. The road to the cup starts this week. So um yeah, we’ll we we were able to partner up with the Michigan Economic Development Council in Pure Michigan and um you know obviously the state of Michigan has some really good golf courses. Uh plus they’ve been really good to women’s golf. You cannot have these Epson Tour events without community involvement and sponsorship involvement. Why do you do it? Why does Firekeepers have such a a fingerprint on this championship? You know, we’ve been doing it for 12 years now and our uh our CEO who launched this endeavor really wanted to create a worldclass uh event and so he really sought a lot of community engagement. Uh he really got our team involved and he said that this really has a purpose. It’s a great sport. you know, there’s a lot of great lady athletes out there that we should be highlighting and be part of. And so, we really felt that with that energy and we had the drive that we really focus on making this really a world-class event. What is it that Battle Creek does so well? Well, we are Firekeepers Casino Hotel. So, we pride oursel on our service and our amenities, but I think the service is is the big piece of it. You know, I think it’s uh really what uh drives people to remember it. You know, they remember those special events. And I think by golfing here and experience everything that Battle Creek has to offer, Firekeepers, the community, uh the charities that we support and just the camaraderie uh is very memorable in this experience and it truly takes a team. I think Battle Creek just in the area with the golf and us with our product uh is a match made in heaven at times. This story of the Epson Tour journey through Michigan culminating with the Pure Michigan Cup, it can’t be all about golf. This is a traveling family on the Epson Tour. So, in every city, there’s something unique for the players to do, to enjoy. In Battle Creek, that really can only be one place, the world famous Binder Park Zoo. If you play golf for a living, it can’t all be golf 24/7. So, Lindsay, how important is it to get away from the course and just kind of clear your head? Um, I think it’s really important. I mean, we’re at the golf course all day long and we’re going to all these really cool places, so why not take advantage of some of the cool places that they have? We’re in Battle Creek and let’s just go enjoy something fun that’s off the golf course. It’s not every day you get to feed giraffes. How many times have you done that in your life? I think this is my first time. This zoo seems pretty unique. I haven’t been to a ton of them, but just to be able to walk up and approach you and just feed them, it’s very relaxing and it’s kind of peaceful and yeah, it’s very nice to be off the golf course doing something fun like that. I always look for um things to do uh in every city that we go to and uh you know to come out here and and walk around like this is one of the largest zoos in the country. So um just it’s it’s very calming uh to to kind of just get to walk around in nature, get to see these really really cool beasts. Uh it’s uh it it takes you kind of way away from the golf course. You know, you don’t even feel like you’re here for a tournament. You’re just on vacation or something. This Pure Michigan Cup Epson Tour story requires three incredible venues for these championships to be held. And starting things off is the Battle Creek Country Club, the historic Battle Creek Country Club. Doug Christ is the PGA Pro here. Guys have to be super pumped to host this event for the 12th year. Really excited. It’s nice to see a lot of familiar faces come back. you know, get some girls that come back year to year, but um it’s also nice to watch some of them on TV when they make it up to the LPGA. Over the 12 years we’ve played here, there’s been uh 14 15 women have won on the LPGA tour. Seven have won majors. Girls that played here, not just on the Epson tour, but actually played in Battle Creek. When you look at the putting green, when you walk down the range and you see these players grinding and pursuing the dream, and you’re a guy who’s been in this game for for a while, you know, if you had them all sitting in a room for a motivational speech from Doug Christ, what do you want them to know? They’re all great ball strikers. The putting is the difference. It’s amazing. Especially having Cat even watched out there, they’re all good ball strikers. So, even though our range will get destroyed this week with them hitting balls relentlessly, they could probably all spend a little more time behind me. It’s easy to forget that with all the excitement and fun and hospitality and special touches the Battle Creek community brings to this event, there’s an actual professional golf tournament at the center of it all. And in a thrilling three-day championship, American Samantha Wagner broke away from the pack to win the Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship by two shots. You’ll hear from Samantha in just a moment as we continue on this Epson Tour journey to the Pure Michigan Cup. Next stop, Boone Highlands and the historic Heather Course when we continue at the Great Lakes Championship in a moment. [Music] Welcome back to the program as we continue our tour with the Epson tour throughout Michigan. Now, last week in Battle Creek, it was the Firekeepers Championship. Well, look who’s here. It’s the champion. This is Samantha Wagner. Congratulations. Thank you. And on this three-w weekek journey to the Pure Michigan Cup, you’re currently the leader. Yeah. How’s that feel? Pretty awesome. Um, I’m really excited for for the Michigan Cup and to see how it pans out the next two weeks. You’ve had quite a journey in this game. How long have you been a professional? This is my eighth season. Okay, so that’s the grind, right? What was it like to get that breakthrough? Oh my gosh. Um, I kind of blacked out to be honest. I didn’t really think about it too much. Um, you know, I had a great group. I was playing with a good friend of mine. So, we just kept having fun and I thankfully didn’t see any leaderboards, so I didn’t get to think about it and I just kept playing golf the way I was and kept it going and got to the 18th and I was like, “Oh, I’m in the lead.” I I can’t even estimate the tens of thousands of hours of working on your game over all these years to see that pay off. The next day, did you wake up like, “That was kind of fun. I wouldn’t mind doing that a lot more.” Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I uh I woke up and I was like, “Okay, I’m a little tired and overwhelmed, but that was awesome.” And let’s do that again soon, hopefully. Not as easy as it sounds. No, no, it’s not. And I mean, we’re we’re extremely competitive here on the Epson Tour. So, I know it’s it’s great that I’ve got my win so far this year, and I just need to keep putting myself in that position. Well, you met the week one champion. Who will be crowned champion at the Great Lakes Championship? We’ll find out at the end of this segment. Meanwhile, let’s introduce you to what led to the Boone Heather Course becoming a stop on the Epson Tour. The Great Lakes Sports Commission is behind all of this. He’s the executive director. So, Eric Marvin, where did this dream get born? Well, we have so many beautiful golf courses in Northern Michigan. Uh, as a sports commission, we knew that we had a huge opportunity uh to bring professional golf to this particular area of the state. Um, obviously we’re one of three Michigan events as you referenced, but we felt like the lower northern part of the state was missing a big opportunity with the number of phenomenal courses that we have and beautiful properties like we’re standing at here today. So, as an organization, we’re a 501c3 nonprofit with the mission of promoting sports uh tourism and recreation around the region. This was a natural fit for us. Um it’s one of the biggest best professional events that you know we can get behind and support. And so we uh observed the other events that are held in Battle Creek and Esanaba and thought that we could do one here in this part of the state as well and are so happy to be here uh now on uh the opening night of kicking things off of the Great Lakes Championship. Uh so it’s been a labor of love for us over the last year and a half, but we’re happy to be here getting things going. What a blessing to have so many possible venues on which to stage a championship and to end up on the Boone Heather which has so much history to it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean obviously their first resort course. Um it’s a very walkable course which is great for the pros that are going to be competing can be very challenging as well. So you know the the team at the course has done a phenomenal job of setting this up. I think it’s going to be uh a great challenge for all the pros throughout the course of this week. Um, I just can’t say enough great things about the Boon team and the support that they have provided. Obviously, we all know they’ve got phenomenal golf courses, but uh the the support and effort that they have put into all the things that go into making a championship like this happen, we couldn’t have done it without their support. When you think of great championship venues in Northern Michigan, you’ve got to start that conversation at the Heather, part of the world of Boone Golf. And at Boone Highlands, this course has seen so many great championships over the years. Josh Richtor is the senior VP of golf operations. When I say the Heather to you, you say what to our audience? Uh, you know, tradition, uh, classic. Um, you know, where it started really, Northern Michigan golf in championship golf. Uh, I think about the tradition of championships here, you know, from the Michigan Amateurs to the HGA events and Michigan PGA state program. It’s been hosted here for darn near 50 years. So, I I I just I I think about uh just what a great showcase place this is, you know, what a natural amphitheater there is and so many places to watch it. And and uh we’re just really excited to host another one. This is the place to have an event like this. This is this is a place to ho host championship golf in Northern Michigan in our opinion and uh we’re very blessed to have it here and uh excited about the week. these dreamers, these young ladies who aspire to greatness when they come up here and they get to look at Northern Michigan perfection, right? What’s the impression that you want Boone to leave with them whether they win the event or or don’t make the cut? We we want we want him to leave with having a great experience and you know when you we talked about hosting this event that you know the Heather was the natural fit in terms of playing the championship, but we wanted him to experience Northern Michigan. You know, we started last night with the welcome reception at the in at Bay Harbor and and looking over the waters of Little Traverse Bay and and and just everything is about Northern Michigan, not just the Highlands, not just the Heather, but experiencing what we have up here and how special it is and uh how fortunate we are to to be here this week and how fortunate I am and others to live here. You do not stage a championship without key sponsors from the area, from the community, and Turtle Creek is one of those sponsors of the Great Lakes Championship. The CEO, Johnny Barrentos, is here with us. What is it about this event that captured your attention and said, “We want to be a part of that.” Well, one for us as an organization for the Grand Travers Band of Ottawan Chipo Indians, we want to make sure that our area, Northern Michigan is secure and helping uh not just our organizations, but organizations in the community uh build the reputation of Northern Michigan is a place to be. And with uh partnering with the Great Lakes Championship here, uh that adds one of those pieces to our repertoire where we think we’re going to do a uh a great deed and helping these young ladies get to their their final destination hopefully. And uh you know, really just we wanted to make a focus this year to get out in the community and really get our name out there, get our presence out there. uh and my families and our community is always looking after our youth and looking after our young people to help them advance their careers. So, this is a great part and a great way for our organization to do that. As we tell the story of these three Epson tour stops in Michigan, it’s always fun to share with you the personal stories of some of the players, especially when they’re from Michigan. Sarah White’s a Grand Rapids girl. Y making making your way in this crazy game. Yep. How’s this journey going for you? Um amazing so far. Overall, I’m really excited about where my game is and happy to be back in my home state. I wouldn’t say it’s my backyard, per se, but I did play the AJGA event here at the Highlands. And so, I’m just excited to be back, be back on bent grass. I will never take the Midwest for granted again. I don’t care how cold it gets in the winter. I mean, this grass is just immaculate in the golf course and the conditions in the Midwest. It’s so hard to mess up. I mean, they’re all elite. The second leg of the Pure Michigan Cup brought with it tremendous drama all the way through the famous 18th hole on the Heather Course at Boone Highlands as American Riley Smi carded a sixunderpower final round to hold off the rest of the field in a true Northern Michigan nailbiter by winning the inaugural Great Lakes Championship. O’Reilly also moved into the lead for the Pure Michigan Cup because of the points she earned with her top 15 finish the previous week in Battle Creek. So now with one week left in the Epson Tour Journey throughout Michigan, the Pure Michigan Cup is up for grabs as we all head to Harris, Michigan just outside of Esanaba and Island Resort and Casino coming up next. See you in the UP. [Music] Welcome back into the program. There are two tournaments behind us in this race to the Pure Michigan Cup. The third and final stop brings us to the beautiful Island Resort and Casino in Harris, Michigan in the beautiful upper peninsula. Last week’s winner at Boone Highlands on the Heather Course is Riley Smi who is smiling because as we sit here right now, she’s the current points leader in this race to the cup. What was it like to pull out that victory at Boone? Yeah, I mean obviously it meant a lot. Um, I mean it was a great week knowing that I already had a win under my belt in Winter Haven and just being in the race um for my LPGA Tour card. To be able to pick up that win meant a lot and then also for the Pure Michigan Cup obviously that that helps a lot. How hard is it to win on the Epson Tour? It is so hard. The competition just keeps getting better year after year and everyone’s so good. the leaderboard so tight every week that you have to play really good golf in order to win a tournament. So to get these breakthrough moments means a lot to you. What would it mean to you to close it out here with another top finish here? I don’t you don’t really even have to win because of the points and be the winner of the first ever Pure Michigan cup. It would mean a lot. I mean obviously that’s that extra money goes a long way out here. Just having to pay expenses every week to be able to have a little extra cash in the pocket means a lot for this season. Now, as thrilling as it would be for you to win the Island Resort Championship and thus the Pure Michigan Cup, where would a win in the Basters Fishing Tournament fit into all of this? So, fortunately, I do have a win in the Basters tournament already. Uh, two years ago, I won it my rookie year. That’s the major. But yeah, obviously that that’s one of the highlights of my year every year to come up here and compete in that. Obviously that that would be great to be able to come back and get another win at the Basters. One of the special touches here at Island Resort. What is the Basters, you ask? It’s one of the great annual traditions here at this tournament. In fact, players line up 4 hours before registration begins just to get in to the Basters Fishing Tournament. Let’s take a look at this year’s edition. The Bastards is the major championship of the year. We are so excited to be here and I don’t really know how to fish, but I’m here for the experience and to learn something new and it’s so fun. So, we have a great time here. And catching a fish, there’s nothing like it. How long did you wait in line to sign up? I waited for about an hour and 15 minutes and I was one of the last teams. Well, I like uh I like fishing over the bridge. I think the the big ones tend to float in this area, but this is my uh second year doing it. I wish more tournaments had fun events like this instead of, you know, just golf golf all the time. During the week of the Island Resort Championship, there is nobody with a bigger smile or a bigger sense of pride than this guy. This is Tony Mancia and he runs a great team here at Island Resort Casino. What is tournament week like in your world? It’s very exciting. You know, it’s it’s one week we look forward to. We bring in our sponsors. Uh they’re basically our business partners. They come in for the week and uh they buy proam teams and we get to meet with them and get, you know, get to know them again. And so that’s one probably the most positive aspect. But then we bring in professional golfers and the the kids get to see them. Uh they’re all heading up, not all of them, but a lot of them are going to the LPGA. And heck, I always tell people there’s probably a Hall of Famer here today. Your heart gets warmed at the idea of being a part of their dreams. And that’s what this is. You know, even if they don’t make it in golf, these are some fantastic people. They’re hardworking. They’re determined. A lot of them are going to go to the LPGA. A lot of them are going to win majors. And but if they don’t, they’re great people and they’re going to be successful at whatever they do. As was the case in Battle Creek and as was the case in Boone, you cannot have a championship of this caliber without a course of this caliber. And Sweetgrass is such a special venue to be the capper to this Pure Michigan Cup tour throughout the state. Nathan Russo is the director of golf here. For those who have not played Sweetgrass, how do you describe this beauty? Sweetgrass is a I mean, it’s a beautiful kind of open style golf club. Um, it’s there’s water, there’s trees, there’s a little bit of everything. It’s a championship style golf course. It can be played from I think anywhere within 2,000 yards, you know, from our different TE’s. It’s playable for everybody. All of our customers love it. And I mean, it’s it’s great for an event like this. Open golf course means you have to contend with some breezes that are very common here in the Upper Peninsula. That is the biggest issue is when we get high winds. I mean, it’s it’s a difficult golf carts when when it’s windy. There’s no doubt about that. I actually sat next to one of the players on a plane ride over here last yesterday. Um, and she was telling me about how much she enjoyed playing this golf course and how she says a lot of her colleagues enjoy coming up here. That was music to my ears and it really made all the efforts and all the stuff that we go through worthwhile. So there’s always a little tweaks that I want to do and I like all the good stuff that came out, but we’re always looking at how we can always make things better. So this is really almost to where I want it. And the evolution of my design philosophy over the years is interesting, too. So there’s some things I might even do today, a little differently than I would have done 15 years ago. But overall, it’s a it’s a great track, and I’m very proud of it. We definitely celebrate our golf in Michigan. Um, golf is an important tourism destination. We have over 650 public golf courses in Michigan and have the third most courses in Michigan uh across the across the nation. So the idea was how do we celebrate a combination of golf in general and the industry the communities that support the golf as well as the athletes that we’re able to witness over over the last two weeks and coming this week. So the idea was to uh to celebrate that using our state brand of pure Michigan and uh offer an additional side uh purse for the golfers uh for the competition that they have this week. The impressions that these golfers have and that they talk around the country helps us as ambassadors of golf to be able to spread the word that Michigan is a top place to come play golf. And as is the case every week on the Epson Tour, the tournament title and the Pure Michigan Cup came down to the very end with New York native Melanie Green grabbing both titles in a thrilling come from behind surge during the final round on the Sweetg Grass Course. The 23-year-old Green surged to the top of the 3-week Pure Michigan Cup standings with strong performances at all three stops within the state. and she takes home the top prize of a $10,000 bonus with previous winners Riley Smith and Samantha Wagner rounding out the top three. Congratulations to all of the ladies who have spent three weeks in the great state of Pure Michigan pursuing this Pure Michigan Cup while also pursuing their dreams. You now know that you’ve got an entire tour of dreamers that you can root for. It’s called the Epson Tour. And someday one of these young ladies may very well exchange a Pure Michigan Cup for a major championship trophy. And you’ll all know where that journey began. Thanks for being with us. We’ll see you next time. [Music]