KIRKWOOD, Mo. – The Illinois State women's golf team took third overall at the 2021 Diane Daugherty Invitational, and was the top MVC team of nine total conference squads in the field.
The Redbirds' 923 three-round score was nine strokes out of the team lead, held by Arkansas State's 914, while South Dakota had a team score of 916 for second-best score in the field. Two MVC schools, Bradley (924) and Missouri State (937) finished just behind ISU, while Lipscomb (944), Southern Illinois (945), Loyola Chicago (946), Creighton (949), Drake (951), Lindenwood (965), UNI (966), Indiana State (972), Omaha (980), Central Michigan (982), and Valparaiso (1010) rounded out the 16 teams in the tournament.
Played on the 6,042-yard, par-71 Greenbriar Hills Country Club, ISU had three golfers inside of the top-15, as Emma Rouger carded a three-round 227, good for eighth overall, while Avalon Woodward and Maria Toledo Bailey each tied for 11th with a 231. Ali Schrock and Becca Black each shot a 240, which is tied for 40th in the field of 90 golfers, with Emma Sutton rounding out the ISU golfers in the field with a three-round 243, tied for 49th.
Starting on the course's second hole, Rouger started slowly with a par, double bogey, and bogey, pushing her aggregate score to three shots over par. After two consecutive pars, she birdied two of her next three holes to go to one shot over par. Two bogeys followed to push her back to three over par. She closed strong with seven straight pars before a birdie on her 18th hole – on the course's first hole, a 382-yard par-four – closed the book on the tournament for the sophomore.
Starting on the first hole, Woodward opened her day with a par, and then followed with two bogeys. She recorded a par in five of her last six holes and was three shots over par heading into the turn. She kicked off the back nine with a birdie on the par-three 10th hole, and after two more pars she dropped her score ton one over par with her second birdie of the round. She struggled at the finish with four bogeys and a double bogey over the final five holes, giving her a final round score of 78.
Toledo Bailey, who also opened her round on the first hole, and opened with a par before a bogey on the second hole pushed her to a stroke over par. She followed with another par before a double bogey came next. She sandwiched another double bogey with two pairs of pars, taking a five-over 41 into the turn into the back nine. With three pars in the next four holes, Toledo Bailey had a pair of bogeys surrounding a birdie on the par-four 15th hole, before closing the round with a par and a bogey to end the day with an eight-over 79.
Schrock started slowly with a par, three bogeys, and a double bogey, and through the first seven holes of her round was six shots over par. She rebounded well, and quickly, and recorded nine pars over her remaining 18 holes – with the only outliers coming with back-to-back bogeys – as she finished with an eight-over 79 over the final round of the tournament.
Playing as an individual, Becca Black started her round on the 17th hole and alternated between pars and bogeys over the first four holes, before answering with her birdie of the round, on a 527-yard par-five. She followed with five bogeys over her next six holes to push her score to six shots over par. Over the next six holes she recorded a par, bogey, par, and double bogey. She closed her tournament with a pair of pars and a bogey, ending the day 10 shots over par for the day.
Sutton opened her round on the course's second hole with a bogey and followed that with a par and a triple bogey. She alternated par and bogey for the next four holes, and added a bogey on her eighth hole of the day before a par closed her first nine holes at seven shots over par. She opened her back nine with a bogey and double bogey before settling in with two sets of three straight pars that was broken up only by a bogey, as she finished her last seven holes at one shot over par.
The squad returns to action on Friday, April 9, when ISU hosts the Redbird Invitational at the Weibring Golf Course.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
