NORMAL, Ill. – A season-opening home tournament starts a 2023-24 women's golf schedule that features four tournaments in the fall and six more in the spring, announced by head coach Breanne Hall on Thursday afternoon.
The Redbird Invitational, which has been held every season since 2010 – and for the 60th total time in ISU history – starts the season on September 10 and 11, a year after ISU placed sixth of the 15 schools in the field in 2023.
Another long-standing tournament for the Redbirds – the Johnie Imes Invitational – is next on the slate for ISU two weeks later. Having competed in seven of the last eight Johnie Imes tournaments, the Redbirds have played the Club at Old Hawthorne course a dozen total times, with the top finish coming in 2022 when the squad tied for fifth of 14 schools in 2021 and fifth of 18 schools in 2009.\
On October 7-8 the Redbirds will compete at the Coyote Creek Classic hosted at the Coyote Creek Golf Course in Peoria. Last season the Redbirds finished fifth at the tournament, a year after a third-place finish in 2021.
Capping off the 2023 fall season, the Redbirds travel to Nevada to compete at the Clash of Boulder Creek on October 22-24. This season is the first time that the 'Birds have ended their fall season in Nevada at this event.
To start off the 2024 spring season, the 'Birds make a trip to Florida to compete at the Atlantic Invitational. The event, hosted by Southern Golf Events, runs from February 12-13 at Fountains Country Club in Lake Worth, Florida.
Two weeks later the squad travels to Rio Verde, Arizona, to take part in the Rio Verde Collegiate Invitational on February 23-25. The Redbirds have traveled to this event in nine of the last 10 spring seasons and 12th time overall, with the team's top finish coming when they placed fourth of 18 schools in 2022.
Another first-time tournament falls two weeks later when the team travels to Gadsen, Alabama, for the Chris Banister Golf Classic, hosted by Jacksonville State at the Robert Trent Jones Silver Lakes Golf Course on March 10-12.
An additional long-standing tournament comes on March 16-17 when the Redbirds make the trip to Sedona, Arizona, for the Red Rocks Invitational. ISU has traveled and competed in the event hosted by Northern Arizona University in four of the last five seasons, with the only exception being the pandemic-shortened 2020 spring season. In 2022, ISU had its best finish at the event, placing fifth of 19 schools.
After finishing runner-up at the Colonel Classic a year ago, the Redbirds return for the second consecutive year at the tournament, held at the University Club at Arlington on April 1-2 – the program's final pre-MVC Championship event of the spring. Last year ISU shot a three-round 889, including two rounds at or under 295.
Two weeks later ISU travels to Waterloo, Illinois, for the MVC Championships, held at the same course for the second consecutive season. The Redbirds have the deepest MVC Championship history of any school in the conference, with 14 conference championships, including last winning the title in 2022.
ISU returns all five golfers that played in last seasons' MVC Championship, including All-MVC honorees Avalon Woodward and Ali Schrock, in addition to adding two key newcomers in Fresno State transfer Jinyoung Yun and former three-time Illinois High School state qualifier and recent University High School graduate Reagan Kennedy.
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