University of Illinois
3M Augusta Invitational
Illini Conclude Play at the 3M Augusta Invitational
March 12, 2016 | Women's Golf
Orange and Blue finish in eighth place
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Illinois women's golf team opened the final day of action from the 3M Augusta Invitational with a second-round team score of 293 and went on to finish eighth as a team at the event. UI was led by Grace Park for the second tournament of the spring, who finished with a score of 223 (+7). Third round play was originally slated for Sunday, but due to the risk of inclement weather, Saturday was switched to 36 holes with a shotgun-start format.
"From tee to green, overall, our play was relatively solid," shared Slone. "We lost our shots on and around the green. We'll be focusing on that in our upcoming practice."
"We play so many tournaments that are a 36-18 format that today seemed normal for us," head coach Renee Slone said of the significance of the tournament format change. "In fact, playing 18-18-18 is almost a bit unusual, so we looked at today as nothing out of the norm."
Park entered the final day of competition at one-over par. In the second round of action, the sophomore posted one hole below par to finish with a reading of 76 (+4). Park fired back in the final round, carding a 74 to close play with a score of 223 and a share of 24th place. With 37 holes at par, Park owned the fourth-best ranking in the tournament field.
"Grace manages her mistakes well and minimizes them and now the next step is to be more aggressive to capitalize on those opportunities," Slone said of Park leading the Illini for the second tournament this spring.
Stephanie Miller and Bing Singhsumalee both tied for 32nd with +9 efforts of 225 from the Forest Hills Golf Course. Miller finished with a card reading of 76-72-77, while Singhsumalee fired rounds of 78-72-75. The even-par scores in the second round were the lone rounds at par for the Illini at the event. Miller tallied 36 holes at par at the event while also adding six birdies. Singhsumalee, the only freshman on the Orange and Blue squad this season, led the Illini with nine birdies at the 3M Augusta Invitational.
Chayanid Prapassarangkul carded rounds of 78-73-76 respectively and finished tied for 37th at the second spring outing for Illinois. The Illini sophomore averaged 4.92 strokes on par-five shots at the tournament to lead the Illinois unit. She finished with six birdies at the event.
Dana Gattone posted scores of 77-79-77 for a 233 reading on the weekend. The sophomore finished in a tie for 61st place.
Competing individually for Illinois was sophomore Pailin Ruttanasupagid, who finished in the middle of the pack of the individual competitors. Ruttanasupagid tied for 82nd with a scorecard of 77-87-77 = 241.
No. 42 Augusta took home the team title with a final score of 861 (-3). Coastal Carolina (871) finished second while No. 33 Furman (875) took home third place. East Tennessee State (878), No. 35 East Carolina (887), No. 17 Florida State (889) and No. 21 Texas A&M (896) filled out the spots prior to Illinois (899) in eighth place. Troy (901), Virginia Tech (902), Mercer (902), Kennesaw State (905), Memphis (909), Eastern Michigan (914), Maryland (918) and Georgia Southern (929) rounded out the field.
Illinois will have a quick turnaround before leaving for its spring break trip that will feature tournaments on both sides of the country. The Orange and Blue open their break in Hawaii with the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational slated for March 22-23. Less than a week later, Illinois will be back in Georgia for the Henssler Financial Intercollegiate that will take place from March 28-29 in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest information on Fighting Illini Women's Golf as the team continues the spring season. Follow the Orange and Blue on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for even more coverage.
