Hey Illini Nation!

What better way to kick off the 2016-2017 season than with a top 3 finish! We were also lucky enough to be able to celebrate Tristyn's birthday during this time too!

As we started off on our long seven-hour journey to Tennessee, a thunderstorm was quick to join us on our ride. The pouring rain made for a rocky bus ride, but we arrived safely at Tristyn's house four and a half hours later. As we pulled up, we were delightfully greeted by a huge happy 18th birthday sign along with a bunch of her relatives and friends. It was such a surprise for her and the rest of us! The Nowlin's went over the top preparing for us to come and enjoy a delicious dinner at their home. From the extravagant Illinois decorations, to the flashing happy birthday sign on top of the cake, they were determined to celebrate and send us off with high spirits. Not even the rain could bring us down after we left! Mrs. Nowlin certainly is the hostess with the most-est!

Tennessee golf treated us very kindly, but Cherokee Country Club was also not afraid to show us its teeth. The Bermuda grass can really get ya! We all played well during the 36-hole day and came away with numerous rounds of par or better to put us at the top of the leaderboard. It was an awesome feeling at the end of the day, and we were able to share all of the highlights together at the delicious southern buffet dinner provided by the golf course. The final day came as a slight disappointment. We didn't all have quite our A games, but we battled it out, fought until the end, and came away with a second place finish. It wasn't exactly what we were hoping for, but there are so many positives to take away from this awesome event that we couldn't be anything but proud and pleased with the outcome. This just shows us how much potential we have and that there are even greater things to come in the future!

Well done team!

This was the best, last, first tournament of my Illini golf career :)

Until South Carolina!

Stephanie