In unseasonable heat, the Epson Tour Championship hands of 15 LPGA exemptions
Despite heat hovering around 110 degrees, the Epson Tour Championship was played Indian Wells and awarded 15 LPGA exemptions for 2025
For the second consecutive year, the road to the LPGA will run through the Indian Wells Golf Resort.
The Epson Tour Championship, the final event of the year for the developmental tour for the LPGA, will be played Oct. 2-5 at the city-owned resort. At the end of the event, the top 15 players in the season-long points race will receive exemptions for the 2026 PGA Tour.
The $250,000 event, with a $37,500 first prize, was played on the Players Course in 2024 under conditions that included temperatures in excess of 110 degrees. This week, with the Players Course finishing a major renovation, the Epson Tour Championship will be played on the Clive Clark-designed Celebrity Course in milder temperatures.
Tickets for the event are on sale at epsontourchampionship.com and are $19.99 daily or $59.99 for a week-long pass, including taxes and fees.
Here’s a look at five players to watch during this week’s event:
Melanie Green: Green is at the top of the points race for LPGA cards for next year and is one of 10 players to have already secured an LPGA berth for 2026. Just 23, Green played collegiately at the University of South Florida. She has two victories this year, the Island Resort Championship in Michigan and the Guardian Championship in Alabama. She leads the tour with $179,782 this year.
Yana Wilson: This 19-year-old rookie on the tour has had a remarkable year and is second on the points list, assuring herself a quick rise to the LPGA tour next year. Wilson, who won the 2022 U.S. Girls Junior Championship, has two wins on the Epson Tour this year, the Reliance Matrix Championship in her hometown of Las Vegas and the Dream First Bank Charity Classic in Kansas.
Briana Chacon: Another player with an LPGA card for 2026 wrapped up, Chacon is fifth in points after a two-win season. She now has three career wins on the Epson Tour in just two years. One of her victories this year was the IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort in Beaumont last April, the tournament closest to the Epson Tour Championship site this week.
Amari Avery: A Southern California player, Avery played college golf at USC. Now in her second year on the Epson Tour, she already has a resume that includes made cuts in both the 2023 Chevron Championship as an amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year. While she has no wins on the Epson Tour, she is 16th in the points race entering the Tour Championship and could easily work her way inside the top 15 for an LPGA exemption next year.
Erica Shepherd: Shepherd comes into the Epson Tour Championship as the hottest player on tour, having won the most recent tour event, the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout in Arkansas two weeks ago. That was the first professional win for the 24-year-old from Duke University, and it moved her up to 21st in the points race, well within range of an LPGA exemption next year.
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