The 144-player field comprised of future LPGA Tour stars are competing for their share of the $125,000 total purse, the fourth largest on Tour this year.

The total purse of the Island Resort Championship has continued to rise over the last four years. It was $110,000 in 2011 and 2012, $115,000 last year, and $125,000 this year. The growth in the Island Resort purse has mirrored the growth in the Symetra Tour total purse, which exceeds $2 million for the first time in Tour history.

Sweetgrass is a challenging course. Last year at the Island Resort Championship, only four players finished under-par. In 2012, 13 players finished under-par and at the inaugural event, seven players carded under-par totals.

But the players love being here in the Upper Peninsula.

"Sweetgrass is so beautiful up here in the Upper Peninsula," says Rachel Rohanna, who is from Pennsylvania. "It has that nice rich soil in the northern United States, which is quite different from a lot of the courses earlier this year in the south."

Rohanna says that playing on this course is a priviedge.

"It’s definitely playing a little bit longer because of the rain," she said, "but you can tell that it has drained really well. The course is in absolutely beautiful shape and I know we are all really excited to be here. People have been talking about this tournament since the beginning on the season.”

On Friday, the first group of Michelle Low (Ipoh, Malaysia), Mary Narzisi (Omaha, Nebraska) and Ket Preamchuen (Chachoengsao, Thailand) will tee off at 7:30 a.m. from the first tee.  Also, Jennifer Brumbaugh (Scotts Valley, Calif.), Christine Meier (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Michelle Shin (Cape Coral, Fla.) will tee from the 10th tee.

There are two former University of Wisconsin golfers in the field this week: Carly Werwie (Kenosha) and Jessie Gerry (Madison). Werwie played four years for the Badgers and earned her first career win in 2010-11 at the Badger Invitational.  She recorded five top-20 results including finishing 19th at the Big Ten Championships. 

Werwie is in her second full season on the Symetra Tour. Gerry also played four years for Wisconsin and finished with the seventh best scoring average in school history (77.82) in 2011-12.  She was the recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship award in 2012.  Gerry is a rookie on the Symetra Tour and has played in a total of eight events. 

As for Upper Peninsula talent, Marquette native Avery Rochester will carry the U.P. flag in this tournament. Rochester received a sponsor exemption into the Island Resort Championship, and she will tee off at 9:10 a.m., from the tenth tee.

Rochester recently completed her freshman year at Columbia College.

The main beneficiary of the Island Resort Championship is the Delta County YMCA.

On Wednesday, Symetra Tour players Madeleine Sheils, Vanessa Brockett, Allie White and Caroline Powers visited the Delta County YMCA to spend time with the kids.

The professionals participated in a question and answer session with the kids and also competed in an egg-toss competition.