Chip Shots

Hello Illini Fans!

After nearly eleven days traveling the Southeast Coast, our spring break trip has come to a close, and boy did we have a great time! Stephanie highlighted in her edition of Chip Shots some of the spectacular sites we visited along our road trip through Georgia, including stops at Sea Island and TPC Sawgrass, along with a few sightseeing opportunities in between. We finally arrived in Jacksonville on Saturday, ready to take on the other 16 teams that had traveled from across the country to compete in the Web.com Intercollegiate co-hosted by North Florida and Jacksonville University. We were happy to settle into our ocean-side hotel with a perfect view of the water, which made me especially happy because there aren't many things in this world I love more than being by the ocean!

The tournament site was Marsh Landing Country Club, a course that requires accuracy and precision on approach shots to ensure your ball ends up on the correct side of the undulated, often multi-tiered greens. Another notable fact about this tournament is that due to the large field and the long walks between holes the players actually rode in carts during all three rounds. This was something new for us freshmen, but we certainly didn't mind a little break from walking ☺

We had a surprise visit from former Illini team member Ember Schuldt who was down in Florida playing in a Symetra Tour event. Ember decided to stop by to walk with us a little during our practice round. We were so happy to be able to spend some time with her before she flew back to Champaign to prepare for her next event!

Our top-five finish at Briar's Creek the week prior gave us momentum going into the tournament, and we picked up right where we left off. We put ourselves in great position after round one carding a 1-over par team total and finished the day in fifth place. We maintained our position throughout round three and finished the tournament with another top-five finish, 10 strokes ahead of the next team. We were happy to put up three solid rounds of scoring and look forward to building off this as we prepare for our upcoming events.

A highlight of the tournament was the personal best finish by my fellow freshman Grace Park. Gracie's two sub-par rounds led to a final score of even par 216 and put her as our top finisher in a tie for 11th place!

So, after a whirlwind of a spring break trip that included travel through 3 different states and play on 5 different golf courses, we have settled back into campus life. We look forward to taking advantage of the nice spring weather. Stay tuned for updates from our next tournament, which will take place at Ohio State later in April.

Keep it in the short grass!

Go Illini,
Dana Gattone