FAYETTEVILLE -- When they aren't golfing, the leading girls high school golfers presumably watch the LPGA Tour often.
Those following the LPGA on the Golf Channel this week can't help but think of Arkansas.
The LPGA Northwest Arkansas Championship, which will be played Friday through Sunday at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, is influenced by its state and state university like no other tournament on the LPGA Tour or the PGA Tour.
Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble pay big bucks for the tournament formally called the Wal-Mart Northwest Arkansas Championship Presented by Proctor & Gamble.
Frankly, the Stacy Lewis Arkansas Classic better describes it.
Lewis, the 2007 NCAA women's champion and the greatest golfer in the history of the University of Arkansas' women's program, is among the school's greatest athletes -- male or female -- who moved on to professional sports. She twice has been honored as the LPGA Rolex Player of the Year, including last year when her victory at the Northwest Arkansas Championship helped her case.
Lewis won the Northwest Arkansas Championship professionally for the first time last year, but the event wins every year she participates thanks to the outpouring of affection Lewis receives from Arkansas.
It's a feel-good outpouring contagious to the tournament and its Golf Channel TV audience. And it reflects well on the UA, which Lewis still part-time assists as a volunteer coach and perpetually represents as an ambassador worldwide.
Lewis said she has heard Hog calls on every continent where she has played. She will hear them echoing endlessly this weekend.
"Her impact is just tremendous," Arkansas Coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said. "Stacy was basically responsible for helping us put Arkansas women's golf on the map. Having her come back and be so proud of where she went to school and to showcase her home is really special for us. It really shines when she talks about her experience here.
"As a coach, you can't ask for anything more than that."
Actually, a coach can ask for more and receive it, too.
Estes-Taylor does from this tournament. She had two of her returning players, sophomore Samantha Marks and junior Regina Placensia, among the 18 golfers in Monday's 18-hole qualifier for the the 144-woman field.
Marks' 71 topped them all to advance. Placensia shot a 75 and failed to advance, but she got to experience one round of pro-type pressure as an amateur.
Arkansas junior Gaby Lopez, the top returning Razorback as the 2015 NCAA Tournament runner-up, is an automatic amateur qualifier for the tournament.
"They have aspirations of playing the tour and playing the next level,Estes-Taylor said. "It really gives them a measuring stick on where they need to improve and also challenges them to get better."
Having the national eyes of women's golf on Arkansas can only make Arkansas' program better and all of Northwest Arkansas better, Estes-Taylor said.
"The exposure that our Northwest Arkansas community gets with the Golf Channel all week is just tremendous," Estes-Taylor said. "It shows people around the country what a special place we have here."
Sports on 06/24/2015