The Epson Tour is at the end of its four-week swing on the West Coast. The 2026 Copper Rock Championship is always highly anticipated. All of its winners – Gina Kim (2025), Fiona Xu (2024), Savannah Carlson (2023), Dottie Ardina (2022) and Bailey Tardy (2021) – have gone on to play on the LPGA Tour.
While Kim will not be defending her title this year thanks to her earning back her LPGA Tour card for this season, we will see two past winners – Fiona Xu and Dottie Ardina – in the field.
The women will be competing on Copper Rock Golf Course in Hurricane, UT, for $250,000. The 18-hole tournament record of 63 was shot four times in the event’s history.
However, before the tournament began, a group of players joined GM of the Epson Tour, Jody Brothers, on a bike ride through Zion National Park.
Who to Watch at the 2026 Copper Rock Championship
In addition to the past winners in the field, we have sponsor invites, amateurs and the forerunners in the Race to the Card to watch.
Fiona Xu and Dottie Ardina – Winners Coming Back for More
Fiona Xu of New Zealand won in 2024 after setting the 54-hole record at 22-under. She won by 7 strokes that year and is looking to dominate again on a golf course she clearly knows and loves. After her rookie year on the LPGA Tour last year, this 21-year-old is looking to climb up the points list and regain her spot on tour.
Dottie Ardina of the Philippines earned her first professional victory at this event in 2022. She has been on the LPGA Tour for several seasons, and her strong start this year on the Epson Tour has her hopeful she’ll return to the LPGA Tour for 2027.
A Top 15-Player Race
Ten of the top 15 players in the Race for the Card rankings are competing this week, including the leader Amari Avery. Avery has an opportunity to significantly extend her lead, with Megan Schofill currently in third and 254.4 points behind. The winner of each event takes home 500 points.
Other players to keep an eye on this week in the top 10 are last week’s winner (and record-setter) Cholcheva Wongras, Liqi Zeng, Lauren Olivares and Rachel Kuehn. They’ve all moved up in the rankings since their last event.
While Maddie McCrary-Civello dropped a spot last week, she has won this season, making her someone to look out for as this West Coast stretch wraps up.
Haley Sturgeon and Navy Hubbs (a) – Utah Favorites
Of the four sponsor exemptions this week, two are local to Utah: Haley Sturgeon and Navy Hubbs (a).
Sturgeon is exalted in Utah for more than just her professional playing career. She has been a trailblazer for women’s golf, as the first member of Dixie State University’s women’s golf team (now Utah Tech) to being and advocate for bringing the Utah Women’s Open to The Country Club with a larger purse. Sturgeon will surely have a large home crowd following her this week based on all the lives she’s touched.
Hubbs is one of two amateurs invited to play this week (the other being Maria Jose Garragan). Hubbs has won the UGA Utah Girls’ Junior State Amateur two years in a row at Copper Rock Golf Course, the venue for this week’s Epson Tour Event. Her latest win this year earned her an exemption into this event. She is committed to Boise State’s golf team.
There are plenty of fun storylines to follow this week. You can tune in the Epson Tour’s social channels @Epson Tour.
