The No. 25 Illinois women’s golf team competed Monday and Tuesday in Johns Island, South Carolina, at the Briar’s Creek Invitational hosted by the College of Charleston. Heading into Tuesday, the Illini were in eighth place but fell three spots during the day. The Illini finished 11 out of 17 teams.

Freshman Crystal Wang led the team in scoring in the tournament and sailed to a top-10 finish with a score of 215, one under par. The Illini squad, consisting of Wang, freshman Kornkamol Sukaree, senior Bing Singhsumalee, sophomore Ali Morallos and freshman Katie Hallinan, finished 23 over par as a team on the weekend.

Wang finished tied for eighth, scoring two below par Tuesday and closing out the weekend one below par. Wang entered Tuesday in 20th place and jumped eight spots throughout the day.

“It was a great course,” Wang said. “(On) the first day, the weather was really nice. It was really calm.”

The course was a bit wet, and Wang said the greens were a bit firmer than in previous tournaments. Head coach Renee Slone said the course was in great condition, but the course was soft in particularly fairways but said the greens became slightly firmer as the tournament progressed.

Slone thought the team had a good effort, but with a young roster, she said the team still has room to improve.

“(We’re working on) understanding that (we’re) not necessarily going to have our A-game every single day and being OK with that,” Slone said. “Things don’t have to be going perfectly for everything to fall into place.”

The Illini plan to stay in South Carolina for the remainder of the week, and Wang said they would be golfing other courses in the area and sightseeing. 

Illinois will return to South Carolina from April 8-9 to compete at Sunset, South Carolina, in the Clemson Invitational.

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