March 25, 2003
Boerne, Texas - Illinois entered Tuesday's final round of play at the Baylor-Tapatio Springs Shootout in third place in the team standings, trailing second-round leader Missouri by five strokes and second-place Texas Christian by four. But the Illini surged past both schools today with a final-round score of 297 to claim the tournament title with a 54-hole total score of 918. The Illini finished three strokes ahead of Missouri (921) and five better than Baylor (923) in the 12-team tournament, held at the par 72, 6,007-yard Tapatio Springs Resort in Boerne, Texas. Illinois' score of 297 today tied the fourth-lowest team round in school history and propelled the Illini to their second tournament title of the spring. Illinois also won the Golden Panther Women's Championship Feb. 10-11 in Miami, Fla.
"I'm proud of the way our team hung in there," Head Coach Paula Smith said. "It was a tight race with great competition in teams like Missouri, TCU, and Baylor. We had all-five golfers shoot in the mid-70s today, and it was exciting to see them all step up their performances during the final round."
Senior Renata Young took home runner-up honors individually, placing second in the 69-player field with a 6-over par score of 222. Young carded rounds of 76-72-74 en route to her career-best finish. Her previous best was a third place performance at last year's Illini Spring Classic. Young just missed capturing medalist honors, finishing one stroke behind medalist D'Rae Ward of Texas Christian (221).
"We pulled together as a team today. Everyone contributed and we're really happy to win this tournament." Young said. "As for myself, I just tried to keep it consistent. I kept the ball on the fairway, hit the greens and made some good par putts. It was nothing flashy, just three solid rounds that came out pretty well in the end."
The Illini had a total of four golfers record Top 25 finishes. Junior Marla Cox tied for 12th place (her best finish of the season) with a score of 231 while fellow junior Michelle Carroll tied for 17th at 235. Senior Stephanie Cheney tied for 21st, finishing one stroke behind Carroll at 236.
Illinois is next in action April 12-13 at the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind.
Final Team Scores
1. ILLINOIS 311-310-297=918
2. Missouri 311-305-305=921
3. Baylor 312-310-301=923
4. Texas Christian 298-319-308=925
5. Kent State 315-316-304=935
6. Wisconsin 313-332-297=942
7. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 318-327-309=954
8. Notre Dame 318-326-319=963
9. McLennan CC 321-332-313=966
10. North Texas 329-325-314=968
11. Texas-El Paso 327-326-316=969
12. Texas-Pan American 335-335-333=1003
Illinois Results
2. Renata Young 76-72-74=222 +6
T12. Marla Cox 78-77-76=231 +15
T17. Michelle Carroll 76-85-74=235 +19
T21. Stephanie Cheney 84-78-74=236 +20
T28. Laurin Kanda 81-83-75=239 +23
T54. Megan Godfrey (ind.) 83-84-86=253 +37
57. Carmel Sielicki (ind.) 83-88-83=254 +38
