After a back-and-forth day between a handful of athletes, the Epson Tour has crowned its first champion of the year at the 2025 Central Florida Championship with Riley Smyth taking home the hardware and earning the top spot in the Race for the Card after a three-hole playoff with Finland’s Matilda Castren.
Smyth started the day one shot back of the leaders and in the third to last group of the day. It didn’t take long for the Epson Tour sophomore to match the leaders, rolling in a birdie on her first hole of the day. Another birdie on the fourth kept Smyth within a shot of the lead after Matilda Castren started her day birdie-birdie to take the top spot.
Castren was in the penultimate group of the day and got off to a dream start. The Finn birdied four out of her first five holes to move the lead to 14-under early in the day. She remained at 4-under until the turn and then dropped a shot on No. 10.
The back nine was all Smyth, however. The 25-year-old went bogey-free on the back nine, dropping four birdies along the way, including a birdie on the 54th hole of the tournament to grab the solo lead at 15-under.
Castren matched with a birdie of her own on the last hole to force a playoff at the Central Florida Championship for the third straight year.
Birdies were flying for the first two playoff holes, with Smyth rolling in back-to-back clutch putts, including a bending 30-foot putt to extend the playoff to a third trip down 18. Both players had long birdie putts and ran the putts by to about 6-feet each. Smyth played first, rolling in her putt while Castren pushed her putt right, putting Smyth into the winner’s circle for the first time in her career.
“I just played very consistently today. I’ve been playing the par fives really well this week out here. I knew that having five of them would be really, really good birdie opportunities,” explained Smyth. “She’s (Castren) a really great player. I knew I had to do something in order to win. I mean, I hung in there for two playoff holes. And I think just getting that last putt in felt good knowing that I did what I could.”
Dromoland Castle star Sara Byrne carded a final round of 73 to drop back to four-under for a share of 28th place.
The Epson Tour continues its Florida Swing next week at the Atlantic Beach Country Club for the Atlantic Beach Classic presented by Access Golf. Defending champion Briana Chacon is set to defend her title, while Smyth looks to become the first back-to-back winner since Jenny Bae.
Leave a comment