Indiana freshman Aine Donegan shot a 5-under par 211 to tie for sixth at the Illini Invitational this week, leading Indiana women’s golf to a 15th-place finish with a 26-over 890 for the three-round tournament.
Donegan beat her previous career high of 217, which she set at the Wolverine Invitational on Sept. 13-14. Her first and second round scores of 70 match her individual career high, which she also achieved at the Wolverine Invitational.
“She’s such a good ball striker,” head coach Clint Wallman said. “She hit so many fairways and greens and continued to give herself opportunities and capitalized.”
Freshman Beatriz Junquiera finished second on the team and tied for 69th overall with a 9-over 225. This tops her previous career high of 232 at the Badger Invitational on Sept. 20-21.
Senior Mary Parsons came in one stroke behind Junquiera, tying for 71st with her 10-over 226. Junior Hanna Tanaka’s 15-over 231 placed her at 78th. Junior Valerie Clancy shot an 18-over 234 to place 79th overall. Senior Maddie Dittoe scored the same, competing as an individual.
Wallman said he was pleased with the team’s performance regardless of the standings.
“Our first two rounds were some of our best of this year,” he said. “All that’s left is to complete that third round strong and put it all together.”
Indiana’s first two rounds of 291 each had it in sole possession of 13th in the 15 team field, breaking away from a tie held after round one. After posting a score of 308 in round three, the team moved back to 15th and completed its score of 890. This was Indiana’s best score of the season, 25 strokes lower than its score of 915 at the Wolverine Invitational.
The weather made the tournament more challenging. Rain, potential storms and darkness were enough to suspend play midway through the second round Monday.
“Even through nasty conditions, we had been playing really well and we didn’t want to stop,” Wallman said. “We weren’t able to pick up where we left off while other teams took advantage.”
This was the final event of the season for the Hoosiers. The spring season picks up Jan. 31 when they will compete in Big Ten Match Play in Innisbrook, Florida.
Wallman said the team will take a look back so far and talk with the players about how to improve moving forward in between the seasons.
“I’m thrilled with the leadership of our seniors, and the freshmen have really stepped up,” he said. “There have been a lot of positives, now we just need to put things together at a championship level.”
