April 13, 2008
Go behind the scenes of Illinois women's golf with "Chip Shots", the online golf journal. In the fourth spring edition of the season, senior Stephanie Mory recaps the Illini Spring Classic and Indiana Invitational and discusses preparations for the team's upcoming tournaments.
Hello Illini golf fans! I hope you are enjoying the spring as much as we are so far! We just finished a very busy 6 days this last week. We started the weekend with our home tournament, which we played out at Stone Creek Golf Course. Friday started on a cold note, and we only played 18 holes due to the weather, however, it warmed up on Saturday and we got in 36 holes on the final day to complete the tournament. Going into the event we all felt very prepared for anything. We had been practicing outside for two weeks, since our Spring Break trip, in all sorts of weather conditions, and we were confident that we would play well. Our preparation paid off, when we came in with our second victory of the season. It was an especially memorable win for us, because we had four seniors competing in their last tournament at home in front of all our family and friends. We also had some great individual finishes as well. Four Illini finished in the top ten, Kristine finishing in 10th, Raquel in 5th, I finished in 3rd, and Seul Ki led the team with a second-place finish. Overall, the tournament was a success, and it gave us confidence going into Indiana's Invitational.
The very next day after our home event, we left for Carmel, Indiana to compete at Crooked Stick Golf Club. The event started on Monday with 36 holes, and the team started off great, with a first round score of 294. We fell back a little in the second round, but we were still in great position going into the final round on Sunday. We knew we could play well on this course, because we had the year before, and we all felt comfortable out there. We all came together and pulled it out in the last round with a score of 297, and a third-place team finish. On our way home from the event, we stopped at Coach's house for a little celebration feast... we all ate lots of shrimp, cheese and veggies, thanks to all the leftovers from Rick's open house for his new business in town the week before.
Overall, I would say it was a great week for the Illinois golf team. Even with playing six tournament rounds in a row, everyone is still fired up to go to Ohio State next weekend. For now, we are back in Champaign, getting caught up with school and working hard on getting our games ready for Ohio State and Big Ten's! All the best until next time! GO ILLINI!
~Steph
