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Sophomore Ember Schuldt and the Illini will be in action at the Lady Buckeye Invitational on April 21-22.
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April 20, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Illinois women's golf team will travel to Columbus, Ohio, on April 21-22 for the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational, the final regular season tournament before the Big Ten Championships. The event will be held at the par-72, 6,268-yard Ohio State University Scarlet Golf Course. Teams will play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes Sunday, with a start at 7:30 a.m. CT on Saturday.
"We have continued our work on short game, but we're really focusing on some putts and some chips where there's a lot more contour to the particular shot," head coach Renee Slone said. "Putting from down and across, up ridges and different contours of the green because we will see a lot of that in the next two weeks at both Ohio State and French Lick."
No. 20 Ohio State will host the 11-team field, which includes Iowa State, Kent State, and No. 17 Baylor, as well as seven Big Ten opponents in the Buckeyes, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern and Penn State. The event features a pair of ranked squads and four others receiving votes in the latest Golf World/NGCA Coaches' Poll, including the Illini.
Competing in the tournament will be seniors Hailey Koschmann, Samantha Sloan, Nora Lucas, and Katelin Dilger, along with sophomore Ember Schuldt. Freshman Michelle Mayer will be competing as an individual. The Illini competed in the Lady Buckeye Invitational last year, where they placed seventh out of 12 teams. Sloan led the way for Illinois individually, placing in a tie for 13th with a 19-over par 235 overall score.
"It definitely is a big help going into this event," Slone said of having experience in this tournament. "This is one of those courses where the more times you play it, the more comfortable you feel, and the more confident you are."
At Illinois' last event on April 9-10, the Illini competed in the Knights and Pirates Invitational, where they placed seventh out of 15 teams with an overall score of 904 (+40). Koschmann and Sloan led the team individually, finishing in a tie for 21st place with a nine-over par score of 225.
"Our goal for the season has been to continuously build, week after week, tournament after tournament," Slone said. "We've been working very hard for this portion of the season, so we are entering that final phase and everything that we have been doing up until now has been preparing us for these next few events. It will be a great preparation for Big Tens, and then for Regionals as well, because we could very possibly be going right back to Ohio State for Regionals."
For coverage of the Illinois women's golf team at the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational, visit fightingillini.com for a full recap at the end of each day's action. Fans can also follow the action live by going to golfstat.com.
