Illinois women’s golf team turns heads with strong start to season

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One of the teams that have caught the attention of the University campus is the men’s golf team with its blazing hot start to the season and national No. 1 ranking.

Because of this, the women’s golf team and their accomplishments have gone unnoticed.

This is not to say that the women’s team is less talented. In their three tournaments on the year, the Illini have two top-three finishes.

The first came in the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, the team’s first event of the season. There it tied for third out of seventeen teams. The only teams that finished ahead of the Illini were San Diego State and UNLV. The team shot a combined score of 17-over-par and even though this wasn’t good enough for first, they still defeated 13 of the top teams on the West Coast.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the Illini in the second tournament when they finished in 10th place out of fourteen teams in the Minnesota Invitational. Also, the Illini were unable to get an individual in the top 20 of the competition, with the best score coming from sophomore Stephanie Miller, who finished tied for 21st.

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After the disappointing finish in the second tournament, the Illini bounced back strongly with a first-place showing at the Diane Thomason Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa. 

The competition wasn’t as strong as Illinois is used to, but the team excelled, shooting 14 strokes better than Iowa, who finished second.

In the third round, the team combined for a score of 291, 3-over-par, which was good enough to put this year’s squad in the record book, tied for the 10th best team round in the history of the Illinois women’s golf program. 

Freshman Dana Gattone brought home the tournament individual honors as she tied for the top spot with Northern Illinois’ Lena Gautier at 226, 10-over.

Miller finished the tournament in fifth place, while freshman Grace Park tied for 12th.

The Illini have gotten off to a fast start and look to keep the momentum rolling next weekend at the Hoosier Fall Invitational.

This will be a great test for the team, who will be facing three other Big Ten schools as well as top teams like Notre Dame and Missouri.

Despite not being considered one of the top teams on campus, the young women’s golf team has already taken a big step in showing how good they can be this season and years to come.

There are still plenty of events left on the season for the team to show how competitive they can be.

This hot start doesn’t only give fans confidence about this year’s results, but the future looks bright for the Illinois women’s golf team.

Kieran is a sophomore in Business. He can be reached at [email protected].