Final Results (PDF)
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – The Illinois women's golf team finished in 11th place at the Albuquerque Regional on Wednesday, recording a 901 (+37) after three rounds of play. The Fighting Illini posted a 308 (+20) in the final round at The Championship Golf Course at the University of New Mexico (Par 72, 6,637 yards).
"Today was definitely more challenging than yesterday," said head coach Renee Slone. "Weather-wise there were cooler temps and a pretty strong breeze blowing today, so that made the course quite challenging."
Illinois missed the cutoff to advance to the NCAA Championships by 13 strokes. Stanford won the regional after scoring an 866 (+2), with Duke (+9), Pepperdine (+15), Southern California (+20), California (+24) and Miami (Florida) (+24) all moving on to the NCAA Championships. NC State placed seventh with a score of +26, followed by Washington (+27), Campbell (+29), Oklahoma State (+34), Illinois, Denver (+39), SMU (+41), New Mexico State (+45), Sacramento State (+47), Cal Poly (+71), Houston Baptist (+86) and Texas Southern (+206).
"You put yourself in that position (to advance) and you unfortunately didn't get it done today," Slone said. "It was tough for all teams, which was reflected in the scores. Today was a matter of sticking to your process and trying to post a solid number. Yesterday put us in a solid position, and we just didn't quite get it done today."
Swing Liu had the best round for the Illini on the day, carding a 75 (+3) to finish at 224 (+8) and tied for 27th overall. Grace Park also tied for 27th with a three-round total of 224 (+8), after posting a 79 in the final round of play.
Finishing in a tie for 49th, Chayanid Prapassarangkul carded an 82 (+10) in the final round for a 228 (+12) overall. Bing Singhsumalee's 77 (+5) on the day was good for 232 (+16) overall and a tie for 68th place, while Tristyn Nowlin posted a 234 (+18) overall after a 77 (+5) in the final round to finish in a tie for 73rd.
"We talked after the round today, and I really want each team member to utilize this week, this experience, to their benefit," Slone said. "Not only for the immediate future, thinking ahead to the summer, but certainly for next year, when we are in this position again. Just being able to manage ourselves, mentally, physically, and emotionally, better. I want them to use this experience to really assess and analyze what each of them gained that is going to help us move forward and be a better team."
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