Megan Osland And Cassie Porter Receive Sponsor Exemptions For The 2022 Four Winds Invitational

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and its Four Winds® Casinos are pleased to announce that Megan Osland and Cassie Porter have received sponsor exemptions to play in the 2022 Four Winds Invitational.  Sponsor exemptions are used to give amateurs and up-and-coming players the opportunity to play in tournaments and compete against professionals.  The Four Winds Invitational is part of the Epson Tour, which entered its 42nd year of structured competition in 2022 and is the most established women’s qualifying tour in the world as the one “Road to the LPGA.”  The tournament will take place from Friday, August 12 through Sunday, August 14 at South Bend Country Club. 

Megan Osland is a Canadian professional golfer who played on the Epson Tour from 2016 to 2019.  With a spot in the field at the Four Winds Invitational, Megan has the opportunity to earn her full status back on the Epson Tour, which would allow her to get one step closer to her goal of playing on the LPGA Tour.  Megan is from Kelowna, British Colombia and graduated from San Jose State University.  Some of Megan’s recent tournament highlights include: 

·         1st place LPGA Monday Qualifier, 2022 Palos Verdes Championship
·         1st place 2021 NWGA Tour Hawks Landing Tournament, Orlando FL
·         2nd place 2021 US Women’s Open Sectional Qualifier in Ormond Beach, FL
·         Competed in 2021 US Women’s Open
·         1st place 2019 US Women’s Open Sectional Qualifier in Bradenton, FL 
·         Competed in 2019 US Women’s Open
·         1st place 2018 NWGA Tour Preserve at Turnbull Bay Ladies Classic with a first round 61 (-11) breaking the course record and record for lowest round ever shot on the NWGA Pro Tour.

Cassie Porter first started playing golf at the age of six at Peregian Springs Golf Club in Sunshine Coast, Queensland.  After starting to play competitively at the age of nine, she won her first event shortly after.  By the age of 12, Cassie had set her sights on becoming a full-time touring professional on the LPGA tour and aspiring to one day, be the number one ranked player in the world.  Now, at the age of 19, after years of Amateur events in Australia, the U.S., Japan, Asia, and the Middle East, she turned professional in December 2021, and is embarking on her journey as a professional athlete.  In 2022, Cassie commenced her professional career on the WPGA Tour during the Australian summer.  She is aspiring to head to Europe to compete on the LET before heading to the United States to compete in

LPGA Q-School to qualify for her LPGA Tour Card.  Some of Cassie’s recent tournament highlights include:
2022

·         10th – WPGA Championship
·         18th – WPGA Melbourne International
·         T23 – TPS Victoria (combined event with PGA of Australia)
·         T4 – Victorian Open
·         T6 – TPS Murray River (combined event with PGA of Australia)
·         T8 – TPS Sydney (combined event with PGA of Australia)
·         T3 – TPS Hunter Valley (combined event with PGA of Australia)
·         T36 – Australian Women’s Classic Bonville
·         T4 – Women’s NSW Open. 

Commenting on the sponsor exemption selections, Scott Brewer, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Community Relations/Security for Four Winds Casinos said, “The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and its Four Winds Casinos are proud to have selected Megan Osland and Cassie Porter as our sponsor exempt players for the 2022 Four Winds Invitational.  Both Megan and Cassie are rising stars and represent the high level of talent competing on the Epson Tour.  We wish them both best of luck for this year’s tournament.”  

Greg Helmkamp, Head Golf Professional at South Bend Country Club added, “Both Megan and Cassie have a passion for the sport and proven tournament performance to compete with the best players on the Epson Tour.  We look forward to welcoming them to South Bend Country Club, along with the rest of the field, for a very competitive tournament this year.” 

Volunteers are still needed to fill a variety of roles at 2022 Four Winds Invitational.  Positions are available for many different areas including assisting with scoring duties and serving as building attendants, caddies, cart drivers, driving range attendants, food and beverage servers, marshals and spotters, parking attendants, standard bearers, shuttle drivers, and more.  For more information and to complete the volunteer application, please visit  http://fourwindsinvitational.com/volunteer/.

About the Four Winds Invitational
The Four Winds® Invitational was established in 2012 as part of the Road to the LPGA®, and is sponsored by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and its Four Winds® Casinos.  The tournament features a field of professional women golfers from around the world.  More information is available at http://fourwindsinvitational.com/.

About The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians of Michigan and Indiana
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi’s sovereignty was reaffirmed under legislation signed into law by President Clinton in September of 1994.  The Pokagon Band is dedicated to providing community development initiatives such as housing, education, family services, medical care and cultural preservation for its more than 6,000 citizens.  The Pokagon Band’s ten-county service area includes four counties in Southwestern Michigan and six in Northern Indiana.  Its main administrative offices are located in Dowagiac, Mich., with a satellite office in South Bend, Ind.  In 2007, it opened Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Mich., followed by Four Winds Hartford in 2011, Four Winds Dowagiac in 2013 and Four Winds South Bend in January 2018.  The Pokagon Band operates a variety of businesses via Mno-Bmadsen, its non-gaming investment enterprise.  More information is available at www.pokagonband-nsn.gov, www.fourwindscasino.com and www.mno-bmadsen.com.         

About the Epson Tour
The Epson Tour (formerly the Symetra Tour) is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour and enters its 42nd competitive season in 2022.  With the support of entitlement partner Seiko Epson Corporation, the Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best female professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour.  In the last decade, the Epson Tour has grown from 15 tournaments and $1.6 million in prize money to $4.41 million awarded across 20+ events in 2022.  With more than 600 graduates and alumnae moving on to the LPGA Tour, former Epson Tour players have won 459 LPGA titles.

Follow the Epson Tour at www.epsontour.com, as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Epson
Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information.  The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle.  Epson’s goal is to become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion.  Epson America, Inc., based in Los Alamitos, Calif., is Epson’s regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.  To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com.  You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

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Media Contact:
David Gutierrez for the Pokagon Band and its Four Winds Casinos, (312) 780-7204, dgutierrez@dresnerco.com