PALM CITY, Fla.– With four golfers inside the top-40 individually, the Illinois State women's golf team has opened the 2026 spring season with a strong opening round at the 2026 Advance Golf Partners Collegiate, hosted at Hammock Creek Golf Course.
The Redbirds carded a team score of 310, which tied for the fifth-best score of the round, alongside Elon and Appalachian State. Nationally-ranked Virginia Tech (37th) leads the field after the first 18 holes with a 300, with Georgia state (301), Lipscomb (307), and UNCG (308) closing out the schools in front of ISU. Daytona State (311), Jacksonville State (314), Arkansas State (315), Akron (317), Little Rock (318), Memphis (319), East Tennessee State (319), Butler (322), Kennesaw State (324), and Southern Illinois (332) round out the 17 teams in the large tournament field.
Leading the way individually in the round for ISU was Dani Grace Schrock, who used a birdie and a dozen pars for her opening-round 76 (+4), which is tied for 13th-lowest score in the first round of the tournament.
Elise Fennell had a birdie and 11 pars for a first round 77, which tied for 21st, with Alex Sparrow finishing a shot behind with a six-over 78, tied for 34th as she had a birdie and 10 pars in her opening round.
Reagan Kennedy's first-round 79 – in which she had two birdies and seven pars – was the final scoring total for ISU on the day as she is tied for 40th, with Reagan Braker's 85 (+13) rounding out the five ISU golfers in the field.
The Redbirds tee off on Monday for the second of the three rounds starting at 8 a.m. (CT) alongside Appalachian State, Elon, and Daytona State.
