Hi Illini fans!

We are back from Kennesaw, Georgia where we concluded our 12-day spring break trip. It was a great way to finish out the trip as we finished third as a team. The field was relatively small consisting of 12 teams as this is the first year of the tournament.

It was a back-to-back tournament as we came straight from Hawaii. We took a red eye from Oahu on Friday evening to Saturday morning. Right after landing, we headed to the Georgia Aquarium where we were instantly energized by the sight of baby Braden, Coach Jenny's son. After the quick visit we had barbeque hosted by Coach Jenny's family and were able to rest the remainder of the day.

The course was a little different and in great shape with more slopes, hills and trees-no scenic ocean views this week. We were able to gather what we learned about our game from Kaneohe and post-tournament practice in Hawaii and put it in play at this tournament. Some of us focused on putting, some on swing and others on mental approach.

Over the first 36 holes, we put ourselves in a really good position with scores of 304 and 298, tied for second as a team and were in the final pairing for the last round. The second day played a little harder, as the score for the whole field was a bit higher. The hole locations were more difficult and the Illini carded another 304 to finish the tournament in third place.

Our freshman, Bing, was able to capitalize on this opportunity and finish with a 73 to move herself up and finish tied for seventh. Three other Illini were able to secure top-15 finishes as well, including Stephanie, Grace and myself. Generally it was a good tournament, but we knew that we left some shots out there and there were definitely things that we want to work on. This is a good sign for us as we can see the potential in ourselves especially for this coming stretch heading into B1G play.

We had a great spring break trip and Kennesaw was a wonderful way to end it. Kennesaw State provided southern hospitality for us from the golf course to the dinner table. Although there was some serious pollen in the air (spring has sprung in the south!), we still had a great time out there and look forward to going back again. Spending 12 days together was a lot of fun, however, over the next few days we will have time to ourselves to focus on our individual games. We have two weeks home in Champaign where we will be working hard to prepare ourselves for The Lady Buckeye and the Big Ten Championship. Those two tournaments will be a quick turnaround so we will definitely use the time we have at home now to prepare our games and work ahead academically.

Until then,

I-L-L!

Chayanid Prapassarangkul