Going into the Notre Dame Clover Cup in Mesa, Ariz., the Illinois women’s golf team knew what it had to do. The Illini knew they were up against good talent and up against a course known for punishing golfers whose course management was not in top form. 

The Illini scored 36-over-par, which was good for last place out of 16 teams.

“In terms of looking at the course, placement is a really big deal,” sophomore Jacqueline Calamaro said. “How the course is rolling out, that’ll change how I hit the ball.”

Even preparing specifically for what tournament conditions would bring, head coach Renee Slone and the team were having trouble producing results.

“It seems that we are having a very difficult time transferring our practice over to competition,” she said. “It’s like we become completely different people on the golf course. It’s like a switch gets flipped. The only thing that’s changed is the interpretation of the situation.”

Sophomore Samantha Postillion, who tied for 66th with 20-over for the competition, will be attempting to figure something out in hopes of producing better results.

“We definitely did not have a great tournament,” she said. “I don’t know if there’s an issue with the way that we practice.”

Postillion will look to re-evaluate her iron game that proved to be the backbreaker for her. She said her putting can definitely be good enough to score par, but she just needs to get the ball in better positions. Overall, putting was the one thing Slone said she could point to as the team’s weak point for the tournament.

The Clover Cup started out with some poor wintry weather conditions that caused Friday’s round to be played Saturday, forcing a squeeze in the overall playing schedule. This weather led to the team’s Thursday practice round playing out quite differently from the actual rounds of the tournament. The Illini were in 15th place after Saturday with both rounds resulting in scores of 33-over, but on Sunday, the team scored a 36-over.

Individually, senior Crystal Smith tied for the 68th spot with a 21-over. Sophomore Pimploy Thirati placed 85th with a 29-over and sophomores Michelle Mayer and Calamaro tied for 92nd with a score of 35-over.

The coaches plan on going back to the drawing board to assess how they can produce game results from preparation. Slone said figuring the team’s struggles out is “the real head-scratcher” going into this short week of practice.

The team will leave Wednesday for its next tournament, the Insperity Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate in Augusta, Ga., which will start Friday. There, the Illini will look to regroup and refocus to salvage a season starting to slip away.

“Clearly something needs to change because what’s going on right now isn’t working,” Slone said. “We have to find a way to tackle that.”

Alex can be reached at [email protected] and @AlexOrtiz2334.