MacLaren concentrates on Epsom Tour
Epson Tour
Wellingborough professional Meghan MacLaren has outlined a flexible plan for 2022, starting with a run of spring competitions in the USA on the new Epson Tour, which used to be called the Symetra Tour.
Despite gaining full playing rights on the Ladies European Tour, MacLaren wants to concentrate on the LPGA-feeder Tour initially, in the hope that she can pick up enough early-season ranking points.
She admitted: “The first event I’m going to play is the first week in March on the Epson Tour. I’m going to be based out there for the first few months of the year, at least. And then we’ll see how it goes.
“The opening competition is in Florida at Winter Haven, which I played a few years ago – it’s about an hour outside of Orlando, so I will head out there in mid-February. I’ve played a bit of golf in Florida, since I went college there.
“That event wasn’t on the schedule last year, but the next five or six events, I played last year, so it’s quite a nice way to begin the season.
“There are 20 or 21 events on the 2022 schedule. How many I play in, will depend on how well I play. At the moment, I’m committed to play in as many as possible to give myself the best opportunity to earn my card on the LPGA Tour.
“But I would love to play really well early in the season, to free up the possibility of playing in Europe a little bit more later in the year.
“Having said that, I’m fully aware that on this tour, you can’t really skip events because unless you play very well, you have to look at the year as a whole.
“Winning the Prasco Charity Championship last year is a huge confidence boost. Last year, I felt comfortable early on, which was a nice reassurance that my golf was pointing in the right direction, my golf must have improved a lot for me to feel that comfortable out there. And that was validated further when I won.
“It’s a different place than the Ladies European Tour – not necessarily better or worse – but to prove to myself that I could win in America when there was a deeper pool of player was good for my confidence.”