Circling Raven Championship: A bit of a local flavor, among the international standouts
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
WORLEY — Idaho native Gabby Lemieux is excited about playing a professional golf event in her home state.
Sophie Hausmann is from Germany, but played four years at the University of Idaho, where she was the two-time Big Sky Conference Player of the Year.
And Allyn Stephens, at 17 the youngest player in the 132-person field, said it was "cool" — and it might not have been the tournament she was talking about.
The Circling Raven Championship makes its debut on the Symetra Tour as part of the tour's "Road to the LPGA," as the top 10 money winners by season's end qualify for the LPGA Tour.
Practice rounds at Circling Raven Golf Club were held Monday and Tuesday, with pro-ams today and Thursday.
The 54-hole tournament, with a total purse of $200,000 and $30,000 going to the winner, begins Friday. Play on the first two days starts at 7 a.m., with players (in threesomes) going off the No. 1 and No. 10 tees. The low 60 and ties after 36 holes advance to Sunday's final round, which begins at 7:30 a.m. with all players going off the No. 1 tee.
GABBY LEMIEUX played at Vallivue High in Caldwell, where she won a state title in 2014, and also played volleyball and basketball for the Falcons.
She's also a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, so playing at a course owned an operated by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe carries extra meaning.
"Just to have a part of a tribe and my tribe come together and celebrate this special place ... is a great opportunity," Lemieux said.
Ditto for just playing a tourney in her home state, albeit some 380 miles from her hometown.
"Honestly, it’s the best feeling in the entire planet," said Lemieux, noting that her college team, Texas Tech, never played anywhere near here. "To play in Idaho this year is absolutely fantastic because friends and family can actually come out and watch."
Lemieux said she played Circling Raven in 2019 "for fun," and likes that they flipped the nines for this tournament — the first hole is No. 10 this week, and No. 10 is No. 1 this week. The par-4 ninth hole is now "a great finishing hole," she said, in part because the ninth green is near the clubhouse, and set up better for spectators around the green.
Lemieux's husband, Jared, who attended tiny Rimrock High in Bruneau, is her caddy.
"It’s tough, because it makes our relationship a little more difficult because we have to go from caddie mode to husband mode — just kinda switch back and forth," said Lemieux, who first qualified for the Symetra Tour in 2018. "But overall, we’ve learned a lot about each other, in terms in trying to make golf work … and it’s nice to have him here, especially because he’s from Idaho — so he also gets to have his family out here as well."
SOPHIE HAUSMANN played at Circling Raven during her Idaho days, usually at early season retreats with her Vandal teammates.
"I remember the pretty views," she said. "You have the mix of open holes, and it can get windy, definitely."
With no event on the Symetra Tour last week, Hausmann decided to return to the area a week early.
"The week before we played in South Bend, Ind., so I was debating whether to go back to Orlando, Fla., where I live now, but then I was like, 'Sophie, it’s a week off, school’s about to start, so everybody’s there,'" she said of Moscow. "I still have friends there, because I only graduated two years ago … so I went back."
She spent a couple days in Spokane, then visited friends in Moscow. She played the University of Idaho Course, practiced at Palouse Ridge in Pullman, and played Black Rock on Sunday.
Spokane for two days, then to Moscow … saw some friends. …
"Never going to say no to that course," she said.
Hausmann, from Nottuln, Germany, notched her first Symetra Tour win earlier this year in the second event of the season, the IOA Championship in Beaumont, Calif.
"That was huge. I really had a good start to the season … you also see how long the season is," she said. "That’s kind what I’ve struggled with down the stretch — 'OK, you really have to stay in the moment, and say yeah, you can do it, but don’t beat yourself up' — so it was definitely cool. Winning is always fun."
She's currently 12th on the tour's money list, just two spots away from automatic advancement to the LPGA Tour.
Hausmann's only objection to flipping the nines for the tournament — "I really like 16, 17, 18, so I was a little bummed that it’s 7, 8 and 9 (this week)," she said.
She noted a few members of the LPGA Tour — including Bianca Pagdangana, who played at Gonzaga from 2015-17 — are in this week's field at Circling Raven.
"It’s great, because you can compete and see where you’re at against them — what do you need to work on?" she said. "But in the end, you kinda play against the course."
ALLYN STEPHENS, who turned 17 on Monday and will be a high school senior in Houston this fall, arrived at Circling Raven on Tuesday afternoon and dressed warmly for the mild temperatures.
"It’s very cool; it’s the first time I’ve ever had to wear a sweater in the middle of August," Stephens said. "At 4 o’clock in Houston, you don’t come outside. You’re inside, in the air conditioning."
Stephens earned a spot in this week's field by winning the Notah Begay III Junior Golf Championship in December. Begay, an erstwhile PGA Tour member and now a golf broadcaster, is a Native American who promotes opportunities for youth through golf.
"I didn’t realize how tough it was to get into these events, like the Symetra Tour," she said. "It’s crazy. I looked at the field and was like 'Wow, I’m the only amateur.'"
