Rain fell in Bloomington, Ind. on Sunday, but despite the dreary weather, the Illinois women’s golf team was able to find some sunshine. The Illini climbed two places on the Lady Northern Invitational leaderboard during the final round and continued to improve during tournament play.

“The course was in pretty bad shape on Sunday,” said senior Megan Godfrey.

The rain actually turned out to be a good thing for the Illini, as they shot their third lowest round of the year on the final day. The wet conditions helped Illinois in large part because they were able to minimize big mistakes, something that is a key factor in the rain. This meant that other teams kept high scores, which allowed Illinois to make a move.

The Illini also played a good second round on Saturday. The team shot a 301, bouncing back from a poor first round score of 314. The difference in this tournament for the Illini was keeping their momentum and posting two good rounds in a row to finish.

“It felt really good to play back-to-back good rounds, that’s something we’ve been struggling with,” Godfrey said. “We know we can do it, and we’re getting closer to three good rounds. I think we still need to come out stronger, but this weekend was very motivating.”

Illinois worked on competitive play a lot in practice last week, which paid off on the course, as they held their own and stayed focused down the stretch. Head coach Paula Smith believes that the more the team plays, the better they will get.

“I think every tournament you play in you learn more,” Smith said. “Our goal is to continuously improve and right now we are doing that. I’m really proud of the girls.”

The tournament was held at the site of the Big Ten Championship, which will take place in the spring. The tournament is designed to give the golfers a preview of the course, where they will play the biggest tournament of the year, as well as gauge where they stand amongst the other Big Ten teams.

“We feel great about the rest of the season after the Big Ten preview,” Godfrey said. “We beat some good teams, and we enjoyed the course. Now we will have confidence when we go back to play it again. I think we can finish much better there in the spring.”

Godfrey, who shot 75-76-73 giving her a 224 for the tournament, earned 15th place overall. Her teammate Seul Ki Park finished just one stroke behind with a 225, which was good enough for 17th place.

The Illini will now focus on their next tournament, Shootout at the Legends, which takes place on Oct. 10-11 in Franklin, Ind.

“We have three qualifying rounds before the next tournament to determine who will start,” Godfrey said. “We are also focusing on our short game and our individual weaknesses.”