Sometimes starting a season on the right foot isn’t easy to do. Especially in golf, where getting out of rhythm can having lasting effects.

But Tuesday, the Illinois women’s golf team drove back to Champaign with its second top-10 finish in as many tournaments.

Illinois shot 26-over 876 at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship to finish sixth in a field of 14 in Knoxville, Tennessee. The team placed third last week in the Minnesota Invitational.

“I think, like any college, we’ve definitely got more to show,” assistant coach Jenny Coluccio said. “We’ve got more to take. It’s one step closer to where we want to be at the end of the year.”

Illinois passed 41st-ranked North Carolina State in the final round of the tournament, after shooting 6-over. It was the fourth-lowest team score on day two.

No. 22 Florida finished two strokes ahead of the Illini. Kent State went 5-under as a team to beat host No. 9 Tennessee by nine strokes.

Stephanie Miller and Dana Gattone shot 6-over 219 to tie for 18th place. Both players went 2-over in round three, lifting them two positions in the leaderboard.

Jan Prapassarangkul tied for 24th place, finishing one stroke behind Miller and Gattone.

Bing Singhsumalee went 8-over in the tournament. Singhsumalee also went 1-under in the final round, tied for the lowest individual score of that round.

Grace Park shot 16-over 229 to end the tournament tied for 57th.

It was the first time Illinois competed at the 107-year-old Cherokee Country Club. The course has large, undulating Bermuda greens, which is unfamiliar ground for the Illini. The team practices on bent grass, but its outdoor facility offers grass similar to that of the tournament’s.

“It (Bermuda grass) is fluffier,” Singhsumalee said. “So the ball sticks in it more. Once you’re in the rough, you got to make sure you get it (the ball) out, or you’re stuck.”

Singhsumalee double-bogied the par-5 15th hole in round two. She one-putted the hole after hitting four bunkers.

Coluccio said the greens posed the toughest challenge for the Illini. Miller triple-bogied the par-4 7th hole in the third round after hitting her ball short right in the bunker. She then skimmed the green, hit a tear and rolled down.

She forced a 35-foot putt that went 7-feet from the hole.

“I barely missed that one,” she said. 

The Cherokee Country Club’s shorter par 5s were also a challenge to the Ilini. Miller said one of the course’s par 5s had the out of bounds marked 5 yards off its right rough. A hazard went down the hole’s left side.

“It was horrible, but you had to play it smart,” Miller said. “Yeah, you could go for the green in two (shots), but if you missed anywhere off a little bit, it could put you in a poor position where you could end up with a larger number.”

Illinois has two weeks off before heading to Boerne, Texas, for the Jim West Invitational.

[email protected]

@32Ryno