Illinois will head to Maryland to defend its Big Ten title this weekend. Head Coach Renee Slone’s team took home the trophy last year with a 13-over team score, their first-ever conference title.
The field will consist of all the teams in the Big Ten conference, and both Michigan and Ohio State are fresh off victories. Michigan won the Chattanooga Classic to finish off its regular season, and Ohio State finished first at the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational last weekend.
Illinois ended the regular season with an eighth-place finish at the Buckeye Invitational, ending the season on a six-tournament streak of finishing in the top 10. Individually, the Illini had players finish in the top 20 in eight of the 10 tournaments they played. Senior Isabel Sy was a constant this season, finishing in the top 20 in all eight of those tournaments.
Isabel Sy finished fourth in last year’s Big Ten championship, recording a score of 1-over. Historically, Sy has done very well at the Big Ten championship, finishing T-24 and T-17 in her freshman and sophomore years. She has also never shot worse than a 7-over in the conference title.
The California native has been strong this year, taking home two co-champion honors and finishing in the top five individually six times. However, she had a shaky end to the regular season, shooting over par in back-to-back matches for the first time all season. It was also the first time shooting over par since the first tournament of the season in September. The Illini will need her to be at her best, as the team performs better when Sy does.
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While Sy has cooled down, sophomore Anna Ritter has been heating up. She has recorded career-best finishes in back-to-back tournaments, finishing T-34 at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic and her current career-best, T-19, last weekend. She has also posted some of the best scores of her season in those same tournaments, shooting 8-over in both, tying her best score of the season.
The tournament will be played at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Maryland. This is the first season that the course has hosted the event, and it will host again in 2025, the Big Ten announced earlier this year. The course hosted the LPGA championship from 2005-2009.
The players will tee off on Friday, April 19, and play through Sunday, April 21.
