LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Orange and Blue finished in fifth place at the Bettie Lou Evans Invite in Lexington, Kentucky. The Illini carded rounds of 295-298-296 for a final total of 889 (+25). 

Notre Dame won the tournament at the University Club of Kentucky Big Blue Golf Course (Par 72, 6,200 yards) with a score of 872 (+8). Wisconsin finished in second with a 12-over-par score, followed by Penn State in third (+16) and Kentucky in fourth (+17). Toledo finished in sixth with a 30-over-par total, followed by Indiana (+42), Fresno State (+48), Bradley (+58), Murray State (+60), Western Kentucky (+65), Grand Canyon (+67), Cincinnati (+70), Akron (+75) and Ball State and Illinois State (+87). 

"The golf course conditions were definitely more challenging than yesterday," head coach Renee Slone said. "The wind picked up about halfway through today's play and it really impacted the playability of the course. This course is really a good test. The team fought hard and fought to the end."

Seniors Grace Park and Dana Gattone led the way for the Illini, tying for 10th place overall with rounds of 74-74-72 (+4) and 72-73-75 (+4), respectively. Not far behind was junior Bing Singhsumalee, finishing with a first round score of 72, a 75 in the second round and a 74 in the final round, good for a 221 (+5) and tying for 13th place overall. 

"We learned to stay patient throughout the whole tournament," Park said. "We had a lot of waiting time between shots in this tournament, but we made sure we were staying in the moment and committed to our process."

Freshman Ali Morallos and senior Chayanid Prapassarangkul finished tied for 48th. Morallos carded rounds of 77-76-80, while Prapassarangkul recorded scores of 78-80-75 for a 233 (+17) total. 

Playing as an individual, sophomore Tristyn Nowlin withdrew from play in the second round. 

"It wasn't our best performance out there," Park said. "But we can take a lot of positives from this tournament and we all know what we need to work on."

NEXT UP

The Illini get a short break before heading to Simpsonville, Kentucky, for the annual Cardinal Cup on Oct. 21-22.

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