Final Results (PDF)
KENNESAW, Ga. – Illinois Women's Golf concluded its spring break trip with a pair of top-five team finishes after wrapping up play in third place at the Henssler Financial Intercollegiate on Tuesday, March 29, in Kennesaw, Georgia. The Orange and Blue put together rounds of 304-298-204 as a unit for the third-place ranking.
"We didn't necessarily have our best stuff with us the past couple of days," opened Illinois head coach Renee Slone. "There were a number of different highlights, but as far as putting all four rounds together, that didn't quite happen. Throughout the tournament, however, everybody stepped up and contributed to the team's success."
"That golf course certainly provided a great test for all of the competition's teams," Slone continued. "Today's setup was even a bit more challenging than yesterday as far as the hole locations go."
Freshman Bing Singhsumalee led the Fighting Illini with her second-straight top-15 finish as she turned in a 225 (+9) reading for a share of seventh place. The seventh-place finish tops the Naperville, Illinois, native's previous best finish of eighth place. Singhsumalee posted rounds of 77-75-73 across the two-day outing and her third round showing helped the freshman climb 10 spots on the individual board on the final day. She also tallied six birdies at the Kennesaw State-hosted competition.
Three Illini finished with a share of 15th place at 228 (+12) overall. Grace Park, Stephanie Miller and Chayanid Prapassarangkul each notched their best finish of the spring season with their efforts. Prapassarangkul finished with 38 holes at par, the second-most across the tournament's individual field, while Miller was just behind her teammate registering 37 pars.
Dana Gattone finished in a tie for 38th place, posting rounds of 80-73-81, respectively. The sophomore led the Orange and Blue with eight birdies at the Pinetree Country Club, the second-highest mark across the entire individual field.
As a team, Illinois led the field with 166 holes at par registered. The Illini also added 27 birdies at the event. Led by Miller's 2.92 average on par-three holes, the UI squad led the 12-team field with an average of 3.05 on holes of the sort as a team.
No. 26 Texas Tech took home the team title with a final tally of 890 (+26). 34th-ranked Augusta finished second at 900. Illinois (906), Middle Tennessee (908) and Chattanooga (910) wrapped up the top five teams. South Florida and Troy (916) tied for sixth place while Mercer and Old Dominion (929) shared eighth-place honors. Kennesaw State (933), East Tennessee State (937) and Georgetown (941) rounded out the field.
NEXT TIME OUT
After over a week on the road for a spring break that saw two competitions on opposite sides of the country, Illinois will have a couple weekends away from action. The Fighting Illini will conclude regular-season play at the Lady Buckeye Invitational on April 16 and 17 from Columbus, Ohio. The following week, Big Ten Championship play will commence.
"We've got some good golf ahead of us at these next two events, so it is going to take everybody putting forth a full effort and us putting together four solid rounds each and every round," concluded Slone. "We've put ourselves in a position here where we've got an opportunity so now it's up to us to take advantage of that."
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Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest information on Fighting Illini Women's Golf as the team continues play. Follow the Orange and Blue on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for even more coverage.Â
