Pro Women Golfers Come To Utah Inspiring Local Youth And Community

Southern Utah will be welcoming back the Epson Tour and a new professional golf event to Copper Rock Golf Course.  

This May, Copper Rock Golf Course in Hurricane, UT will once again be hosting the Epson Tour for the fourth year in a row. The Epson Tour is an all-ladies professional golf tournament that was brought to Southern Utah in 2021.  

It was also the first-time professional women’s golf had been in the state in 50 years, Copper Rock Golf Course Volunteer and Event Coordinator Penny James-Garcia said.  

To add to that the LGPA Senior Championships will also be held at Copper Rock Golf Course just one week after the Epson Tour. The best of the best will be coming to Southern Utah to compete. This will be the first time that Utah has ever had such a prestigious major championship.  

The Epson Tour will host 35 countries this year, Garcia said. She has overseen hosting this event since 2021 and has generously given her time to improving it each year. Seeing all the different players come to St. George is an experience with its natural beauty always on display.  

However, what really makes Southern Utah stand out as a place for the Epson Tour is the people. This competition is for the up-and-coming women of the sport who are working hard every week to earn their LGPA card.   

“We are known as the event on tour that has the most volunteers of any event on tour by far, Garcia said. “The average Epson event has about 150 volunteers and we have 450 and the ladies are just absolutely blown away about the way that the volunteer team takes care of them.” 

Volunteers are so many that Garcia has had to put a cap on the number that can sign up. 

It's not just the volunteers who are making a difference either. During the first Epson Tour here in 2021, a little girl whose face made the posters and broadcasts during that event has been watching every year since with her dad.  

Garcia said that the girl whose father brought her on a whim in the first year has fallen in love with the sport and is even in the top bracket for her age. These competitions do more than simply bring tourists, they inspire locals.  

“You know I love what I see this championship evolving into. It started as a as a golf tournament and it has evolved into truly a community event,” Garcia said.  

This double-header event isn’t extremely expensive, and the good news is that if you purchase a ticket for the Epson Tour, you will be able to use that ticket on the same day next week for the LGPA Senior Championship.  

Tickets start as low as $15 and go up from there depending on seating.  

The Epson Tour will be held at Copper Rock Golf Course from May 16-18 and the LGPA Senior Championship May 23-25. There will also be a chance to give back to the Make a Wish Foundation with a long drive contest held at Big Shots Golf on May 14. Tickets will be $10 for an individual to hit a golf ball and $20 to have an Epson player of your choice hit the ball.  

Copper Rock Golf Course will be sponsoring the winning prizes of a night in one of their vacation rentals, two rounds of golf at the golf course, and two VIP tickets to the championship.