Illini place sixth, Nowlin comes in fourth at Indiana Invitational
Photo Courtesy of Illinois Women's Golf Twitter
Senior Tristyn Nowlin swings her club on a cool day. The Illinois women’s golf team came in sixth place at the Indiana Invitational while Nowlin came in fourth individually.
April 19, 2021
The Illini’s women’s golf team had its second-best finish of the season during the Indiana Invitational and are now turning their attention toward conference opponents for the upcoming Big Ten Championship.
The Illini finished in sixth place with a score of +23 on April 17-18 on the Pfau Course in Bloomington, Indiana. This tournament had two Illini golfers finish in the top 20, which also marks at least one Illini finishing top 10 at every tournament this season.
Senior Tristyn Nowlin gave another strong performance and finished tied for fourth place with a score of -1, which marks her second-best finish of the season.
Junior Crystal Wang tied for 17th place with a score of +4. The Diamond Bar, California native has finished with a score of +4 on three occasions since the start of the season and has placed 51st, tied for eighth and tied for 17th, respectively.
Wang has been a consistent performer for the Illini the whole season and has recorded multiple program records throughout her career, such as the fifth and eighth lowest single-season stroke averages during her freshman and sophomore years, respectively.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Junior Reena Sulkar tied for 48th place and was the Illini’s third highest finisher with a score of +13.
After the first day of competition, the Illini were fifth overall with a team score of +13 before the day was suspended during holes 11-13. Nowlin was tied for sixth place and was only four strokes away from first place Emily Price from Kent State.
This year’s Big Ten Championship will be taking place in Maineville, Ohio at the TPC River’s Bend April 23-25. Based off previous experiences in these postseason tournaments, the Illini are in the right position to make a splash in the playoffs.
The Illini previously tied for second at the 2019 Championship since last year’s postseason competition was canceled. The Illini were nationally ranked at No. 19 during the 2019 season’s conference tournament, and their second place finish marked the second year in a row that they finished as runners-up. They also had four golfers finish in the top 15.
Wang, freshman at the time, and Nowlin, junior at the time, were two of those four golfers. They tied for eighth and 11th place, respectively.
Afterward, the Illini will be competing at the NCAA Regional tournament May 10-12. During their last playoff appearance in 2019, the Illini finished fifth out of 18 teams at the regional tournament.
