Illinois women's golf finishes 11th in Westbrook Spring Invitational

By Benjy Sabitt

Tweet: Illini looking toward future after Westbrook Spring Invitational

Illinois women’s golf didn’t finish quite as well as the golfers hoped at the Westbrook Spring Invitational in Peoria, Arizona.

The Illini took away a lot of positives from the annual invitational, which included a 15-team field and is hosted by Wisconsin. They improved their team score every round and rose up the leaderboard.

Oregon topped the field with a 10-under team score, five strokes ahead of Ohio State, which was followed by Kansas State and UNLV. 

Head coach Renee Slone was proud of the fight her team showed throughout the tournament, keeping an even keel and staying mentally strong. The team worked extensively on mental toughness during its break between the winter and spring seasons.

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“It’s definitely a positive that we were able to improve each and every round,” Slone said. “I think that says a lot about our team and their ability to stay focused.”

The Illini had four players — sophomores Dana Gattone, Jan Prapassarangkul, Grace Park and freshmen Bing Singhsumalee — post their best finishes in the third and final round

Park notched the team’s lowest score of the tournament with a 1-over 217, while Bing Singhsumalee posted the lowest round on her final round with a 1-under 71.

The Illini have another long break before their next competition, the 3M Augusta Invitational on March 11-13.

Slone said that the scheduling was done on purpose so the team could have back-to-back weeks competing, and then enjoy some time off.

“What we need to work on varies player-to-player,” Slone said. “We like to focus on our games from 125 yards in.”

The short game is widely considered to be the most important part of golf — a strong short game can save a vital stroke or two during competition.

“It really just comes down to simply scoring,” Slone said. “You’re not going to have your ‘A’ game every day so we’re going to have to battle through those days or those tournaments to find ways to score.”

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