Following a week-long break, the Epson Tour makes one of its last stops of the 2026 season in Prattville, Ala., for the 2026 Guardian Championship. Players will compete Sept. 11-13, 2026, two weeks after Mirabel Ting secured a second win in her rookie season.
The Senator Course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill hosts a Scottish-links style course featuring difficult-to-navigate mounds, deep bunkers and thick fairways. Cydney Clanton (2023) and Elizabeth Szokol (2017) share the 18-hole course record at 63.
On the line this week is another sizable $250,000 total purse with $37,500 for the winner. The victor will also receive 500 Race for the Card points. Last year, Melanie Green won after a hard-fought playoff. Green has since moved on to the LPGA Tour, as she was first in Race for the Card standings at the end of the 2025 season.
Who to Watch at the 2026 Guardian Championship
As the Race for the Card is in reach for some and a stretch for others as the season makes its final swing, there are a few players to keep an eye on this week. Whether they’re going for their card or Epson Tour status to help them fight another day, everyone has a reason to win.
Jieni Li: Northwestern Alum Ready for a Win
Turning professional in 2026, the native of Hangzhou, China, has already made her way up the leaderboard, currently at No. 69 in the Race for the Card rankings. In her first season on tour, she has made 7 of 13 cuts and had a best finish of T4 at the Greater Toledo Classic. Other notable finishes include T23 at the Four Winds Invitational and T24 at the Island Resort Championship. Her lowest round for the 2026 season was 64.
Attending high school in China, Li won the 2019 CJGT Team Championship Southern China Leg and the 2018 Hong Kong Junior Open Championship, and finished runner-up at the 2018 Hong Kong Ladies Open Amateur and Mid-Amateur Championship. At Northwestern, Li was named All-Big Ten Second Team and played in 37 rounds her senior year.
Haylee Harford Sanchez: Top-15 Player Seeks Another Win
Haylee Harford Sanchez is the veteran who joined the tour in 2020 and won the Four Winds Invitational back in July. This season, Harford Sanchez has made 11 of 16 cuts and has had two top-10 finishes to sit at No. 13 in the rankings. Last month, she placed T19 at the Dream First Bank Charity Classic after a bit of a dry spell and two missed cuts. With 15 career top-10 finishes, Harford Sanchez knows what it takes to stay on the leaderboard and play with consistency.
The Ohio native competed collegiately at Furman University, where she was named 2017 Women’s Golf Coaches Association Second Team All-American and received the 2017 SoCon Pinnacle Award for highest GPA and Golfweek honorable mention All-American accolades as a junior. She advanced to the round of 64 at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur and finished T7 at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019.
Sponsor Invites: Collegiate Stars Ready for the Weekend
Julie Waldo is a freshman at Jacksonville State University, having recently graduated from Alabama Christian Academy in 2026. A Prattville, Ala., native, Waldo is no stranger to the tough terrain of the courses, and her familiarity with the Alabama heat will surely come in handy this week.
Anna Davis, from Spring Valley, California, is a senior at Auburn University. Her accolades include individual titles at the Tar Heel Invitational, the Nanea Invitational and NCAA Simpsonville Regional, while also winning the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. She was just named to the ANNIKA Award Preseason Watch List.
