Indiana University Athletics
Molly Redfearn Diary - Illini Spring Invitational
4/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 17, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For each women's golf tournament during the 2006 spring campaign, IUHOOSIERS.com will have an Indiana women's golfer who will keep a player diary for the fans enjoyment. Below is the daily journal written by senior golfer Molly Redfearn during the Hoosiers' trip to Campaign, Ill.:
April 13: Today is Thursday; we left the IU golf course this morning at 7:30am for our journey to Champagne, Illinois. We made a quick stop at McDonald's for a bite to eat and a bathroom break before the three hour drive. The ride went by quickly and smoothly. I had the pleasure of riding in a mini van with Coach Finn, Shannon and Jenny Kim. It was great to be able to catch up on some sleep from an exhausting week of class, practice and morning workouts.
We arrived at Stone Creek, the University of Illinois' golf course around 11am and proceeded to warm up before our 12:10 and 12:20 tee times. After our warm up of hitting golf balls, putting and chipping, we sat down for a nice lunch at Stone Creek's restaurant. The restaurant had a great selection and filled our bellies before our practice round.
The practice round groupings were; Elaine, Tiffany and Jenny, followed by Shannon, Amber and myself. We picked apart the golf course and figured out our plan for the tournament. The course is one that requires thinking, especially if the wind is blowing like it was today. We are optimistic about the next couple of days and we look forward to a great tournament!
April 14: We started out the day with a nice continental breakfast in our hotel, the Hawthorn Suites. The first day of play started with Shannon's tee time at 8:30am, followed by Elaine, Tiffany, Me and Jenny Kim. We teed off on hole ten and by hole fifteen for me, we had to seek shelter because of the severe weather coming in. We were able to resume play around 1pm.
I am very proud of my team for making a great come back after a slow start to the day. We are now in fourth place for the tournament. It was great to see the way that we hung in there after a tiresome rain delay. I think the delay helped us re-group and start clean. I was especially thankful that during the delay I had a chance to catch up with my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law, who drove seven hours to see me play.
The wind was a big factor throughout the eighteen holes. I know that I had to club up at least two clubs when I had shots directly into the wind. We played in foursomes and finished around 6pm. Tonight we had a team meeting, where we shared our favorite holes. Jenny Kim almost had a hole in one on hole #13; missing only by an inch. Tiffany had a great approach shot on hole #16, one of our tougher holes. Shannon had a great birdie on her 9th hole, to start her awesome come-back. Elaine hit a five iron next to the pin on #3, a 150 yard par 3 into the wind and made birdie. Amber started her round out by making a 30 foot putt on her first hole for birdie. My favorite hole was the 6th hole, where I nearly drove the green and got up and down for birdie. We decided that our goal for tomorrow is to keep up the team spirit and have patience. Tomorrow is a shot gun start at 8am and we hope to go low!
April 15: After eating breakfast and loading the van, we headed to the golf course around 6:30am. We warmed up for about an hour before we walked out to our starting holes. Today the wind was not quite as strong as yesterday, which made the day go a lot smoother for most people. We also played in threesomes with Illinois and Cincinnati. We had a lot of positives that came out of the day; Shannon took 2nd place overall, Amber finished in the top ten, Tiffany made a great come back from yesterday and Elaine also had a nice round as well.
The round was completed by 1pm. An awards ceremony was held on the porch of the club house, where we cheered loud for Shannon while she received her well deserved trophy. During this time, Paula Smith, who will be retiring after this year, was also honored for all of her hard work throughout her 28 years as the Head Coach at the University of Illinois.
The car ride home went by quickly, as most of us slept or got caught up on homework. We arrived in Bloomington at 6:30pm, unloaded, did our "HOOSIER" cheer and went our separate ways. I had a great trip to the Illinois Spring Invitational thanks to the Coaches for all of their hard work, my teammates for their always enjoyable company, and for the support of my family.
