Chip Shots

Hi Illini fans!

We are back from Arizona, where we officially started our spring season. The nice, warm weather was a great way to begin our season; we even got lucky and had just 10 minutes of showers on the second day, when the chance of rain was 60-80% all day. The tournament field consisted of 15 teams, including five B1G teams, so there were a lot of familiar faces and I even got to see a couple of my friends from Thailand, too! The team had a strong start on the first day placing third after the first two rounds but were not able to maintain the flow on the last day and closed the tournament in eighth place.

Leading into the tournament, the team worked very hard practicing and preparing. Each of us had an area of focus we worked on for the last couple weeks. Personally, I have realized the importance of the mental side of the game from the fall season and have been spending a lot of time on it. The Westbrook course also provided a lot of opportunities to score and be aggressive with our games, and we practiced having that in mind so we could utilize the opportunities to the best of our abilities.

During the first day, the team posted solid scores of 291 and 288, respectively, including two sub-par rounds from Dana and I along with a 72 from Emily. I personally was very satisfied with my rounds considering the first nine holes I was three over but was able to make the adjustments and come back and finished the 36 holes at one under par featuring a hole out from 95 yards on #14 for an eagle in the afternoon. Dana and I were tied for eighth at one under par after the first day. The team was very pleased with the results and felt confident leading into the third round.

Unfortunately, the second day did not go well for us and we struggled dropping putts and making birdies and ended up with a team score of 296. Nevertheless, there were still some positives. Grace played much better than her second round, carding a 73, and I was able to finish strong with another 70, posting my career-best score of 213 (-3) and career-best finish at tied for third. I was very pleased with my performance and was glad I was able to put what I have been working on into action at the tournament.

Westbrook has always been one of the team's favorite tournaments, and it still is. This year was very special to us as we were able to hold a meet-and-greet session with our alumni in the area that are fans and supporters of our program. It was a great time for us and we were very glad we were able to meet and talk with them; it was a significant event for the team and it gave us great energy leading into the tournament.

The course was very energetic and lively both days with the great amount of crowds that came out to cheer us on. 'Go Illini!' was heard throughout the course and we were very energized by that. We thank you for your support and for coming out. Host families are always a great part of the tournament and we were very lucky to have such great hosts that not only provided us accommodations, but also great food to fuel us for the rounds. We thoroughly enjoyed the ribs, chicken, salads and rolls, not to mention the great dessert that we kept going back for. Thank you so much for your time and hospitality, we really appreciate it and had a great time staying with you, fellow Illini.

This tournament has provided a lot of information and lessons for us to use to improve ourselves. During the week we will be having very productive practice sessions, preparing for the quick turnaround where we will be heading to Florida this weekend for our second spring tournament. The team is very excited for the coming season. So stay tuned for the next update after our tournament in Coral Gables next week.

I-L-L!

Chayanid (Jan) Prapassarangkul