Australian Cassie Porter’s dream of graduating to the LPGA Tour is one step closer to a reality after a maiden Epson Tour victory at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Trailing by two heading into a windy final round at Battle Creek Country Club, Porter used three straight birdies around the turn to play her way into contention.

A fourth birdie for the day at the par-5 15th elevated Porter to 7-under, a total she thought she shared with two others.

The 21-year-old was, in fact, two strokes clear, providing the buffer she needed to absorb a closing a bogey and still record a one-stroke win with close friend and former Tour player Stephanie Na on the bag.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m feeling amazing,” said Porter, a member of the Golf Australia Rookie Squad and winner of the 2023 Melbourne International on the WPGA Tour of Australasia.

“It was really cool to do it here this week with Steph, my caddie. I leaned on Steph so much today.

“I said to her probably on the 11th hole after I made a good par, ‘Hey Steph, like I’m really nervous’ and she was like, ‘Why?’

“Steph was amazing. She’s like my sister. Honestly, I’ve done a lot of work on my mental game recently, and you know, this week, the wind was really, really testing.

“It was nice to be able to put that to the test and get a good result out of it.”

Even par starting the back nine in Round 2, Porter generated momentum heading into Sunday with a 3-under par finish to her second round.

As the leaders struggled in the blustery conditions on Sunday, Porter opened with seven straight pars before the run of birdies that led to a 3-under 69 and 6-under total.

In her second year on the Epson Tour and coached by PGA Professional Daniel Morrison on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Porter now moves into second spot in the Race to the Card that awards the top 15 promotion to the LPGA at season’s end.

Amidst Porter’s joy was disappointment for both Kelsey Bennett and Scott Hend.

Playing on the Ladies European Tour Access Series and European Legends Tour respectively, both Bennett and Hend began their events with course records.

Bennett opened with 63 at the Montauban Ladies Open in France and led by one heading into the final round, dropping back into third with a closing round of 74.

Hend and England’s Robert Coles both broke the course record with matching 11-under 60s in Round 1 of the Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy, Hend bouncing back from a 76 on day two with a final round of 66 to finish second behind American Clark Dennis.

Victorian Cameron Percy’s third-place finish at the American Family Insurance Championship is his best result in his first month on the PGA TOUR Champions while Lucas Herbert’s tie for sixth was the best of the Aussies at LIV Golf Houston.

Results

Epson Tour Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship Battle Creek Country Club, Michigan 1 Cassie Porter 73-68-69—210 $US30,000 T2 Amelia Garvey (NZ) 73-68-70—211 $13,273 MC Maddison Hinson-Tolchard 75-74—149 MC Fiona Xu (NZ) 72-77—149 MC Soo Jin Lee 73-77—150 MC Su Oh 78-74—152 MC Amy Chu 77-77—154

PGA TOUR The Memorial Tournament Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio 1 Scottie Scheffler 67-68-71-74—280 $US4m T33 Jason Day 73-75-69-77—294 $106,500 T50 Cam Davis 73-72-77-79—301 $51,500

LPGA Tour Shoprite LPGA Classic Seaview (Bay Cse), Galloway, New Jersey 1 Linnea Strom 69-70-60—199 $US262,500 T12 Stephanie Kyriacou 65-70-70—205 $25,365 T27 Hannah Green 71-68-68—207 $12,687 T60 Hira Naveed 67-69-75—211 $4,700 T63 Robyn Choi 66-72-75—213 $4,383 MC Sarah Kemp 69-71—140 MC Grace Kim 71-71—142 MC Karrie Webb 73-75—148 WD Karis Davidson 71

DP World Tour/Ladies European Tour Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Vasatorps Golfklubb, Helsingborg, Sweden 1 Linn Grant 67-68-71-65—271 €312,188.68 T63 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 70-71-73-73—287 €5,050.11 MC Jason Scrivener 72-72—144

Japan Tour BMW Tour Championship Shishido Hills Country Club, Ibaraki 1 Hiroshi Iwata 71-65-67-68—271 ¥30m Won on first hole of sudden death playoff T24 Brad Kennedy 71-70-69-71—281 ¥1.23m T56 Michael Hendry (NZ) 73-69-75-71—288 ¥357,000 MC Anthony Quayle 72-74—146

PGA TOUR Champions American Family Insurance Championship University Ridge GC, Wisconsin 1 Ernie Els 71-64-69—204 $US360,000 Won on first hole of sudden death playoff 3 Cameron Percy 70-70-67—207 $172,800 T7 Mark Hensby 73-67-69—209 $76,800 T7 Greg Chalmers 71-68-70—209 $76,800 T19 Steve Allan 70-69-73—212 $31,760 T22 John Senden 72-70-71—213 $23,093 T31 Rod Pampling 76-69-69—214 $15,840 T42 David Bransdon 74-72-70—216 $10,320 T42 Michael Wright 72-69-75—216 $10,320 T47 Stuart Appleby 75-68-74—217 $7,920 T64 Richard Green 73-74-74—221 $3,000

Challenge Tour Challenge de Cadiz Iberostar Real Golf Novo Sancti Petri, Cadiz, Spain 1 Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen 69-69-66-69—273 €43,200 T50 Blake Windred 72-72-71-71—286 €1,058.40 T60 Connor McKinney 69-69-75-76—289 €810 T74 Hayden Hopewell 69-72-79-79—299 €445.50 MC Andrew Martin 72-74—146 MC Tom Power Horan 74-74—148

Korn Ferry Tour BMW Charity Pro Am Thornblade Club, South Carolina 1 Ryan Gerard 64-66-63-66—259 $US180,000 MC Rhein Gibson 64-75—139 MC Dimi Papadatos 73-72—145 MC Brett Drewitt 77-68—145

LET Access Series Montauban Ladies Open Golf de Montauban, France 1 Helen Briem (a) 70-70-69—209 ----- 3 Kelsey Bennett 63-74-74—211 €4,770 T16 Stephanie Bunque 71-75-72—218 €814.50 MC Munchin Keh (NZ) 74-78—152 MC Wenyung Keh (NZ) 78-75—153 MC Laura Hoskin (NZ) 80-79—159

LIV Golf LIV Houston Golf Club of Houston, Houston, Texas 1 Carlos Ortiz 66-68-67—201 $US4m T6 Lucas Herbert 69-68-69—206 $608,333 T24 Marc Leishman 67-75-70—212 $182,500 T39 Matt Jones 68-74-73—215 $136,500 T48 Cameron Smith 71-69-80—220 $90,000 50 Danny Lee (NZ) 70-72-79—221 $60,000

Legends Tour Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy Costa Navarino, Greece 1 Clark Dennis 66-66-66—198 2 Scott Hend 60-76-66—202 T18 Peter Fowler 71-67-71—209 T32 Michael Campbell (NZ) 71-71-71—213 T32 Michael Long (NZ) 71-67-75—213

Korean PGA Tour KPGA Championship Seoul, South Korea 1 Jeon Garam 63-70-69-65—267 T31 Changi Lee 70-72-70-68—280 T31 Matthew Griffin 68-71-71-70—280 T40 Kevin Chun (NZ) 67-75-69-70—281 T52 Junseok Lee 69-72-72-72—285 WD Wonjoon Lee 70-66-77—213