Hello Illini!

This past week we played in the Meadow Club Intercollegiate Invitational hosted by San Jose State University and University of San Francisco! With the fast turnaround from Arizona, in preparation we worked on putting and specific areas we each wanted to focus on following our play at the Westbrook Spring Invitational. The course set up was very different from our previous event in Arizona. The Meadow Club is a unique golf course with large undulating greens, tree lined fairways and a test around each corner if you aren't paying attention. It was Alister MacKenzie's first golf course design in America (he also designed Augusta National Golf Club.) Needless to say it is a fun and challenging test to play!

We played our practice round in fair conditions. Tristyn and Bing played in the college-am with two members from the Meadow Club, Denny Crow and Lance Meade, while Dana, Ali, and I played in the group behind them. Mr. Crow and Mr. Meade provided some key inside knowledge about the course. We took down key notes while playing the course and made sure we had plenty of practice on and around the greens. The greens, and course overall, were on the softer side than normal conditions, which allowed us to take more aggressive lines into hole locations.

The first day of the tournament, instead of our usual 36 hole format, was changed to 18 holes because of a frost delay. Regardless of the changes, our team goal was to keep our energy high and positive throughout the whole tournament. The conditions continued to be similar to the practice round with the greens being on the softer side. As a team we came in fifth after the first day at seven over par.

The weather was beautiful and we were ready for the final round. With conditions being soft and good weather, we weren't quite able to take advantage of all our opportunities as a team that we would have liked to. Nevertheless, we maintained our high and positive energy on and off the course. As a team we finished in fifth place and Bing came in tied for tenth! We continue to keep our sights and standards high, so we are taking away areas to improve as well as many positives from the tournament and will use them to prepare for our next tournaments.

We have nine days before leaving for our next two events, both taking place over spring break! In preparation for these events, we will be working on many different parts of our game so we are fully prepared for whatever we may face.

Until next time Illini,

Grace Park