Chambana Sun

The Illinois women's golf team won its first tournament of the season at the Badger Invitational, finishing with a 54-hole total of 848, which is 16 strokes under par. The event took place at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin.

Freshman Alexis Myers claimed the individual title after shooting a combined score of 207, nine under par. This was only her second collegiate tournament.

Illinois posted rounds of 286 (-2), 277 (-11), and 285 (-3) during the invitational. Each round was either tied for or was the lowest among the 14 teams competing. The team finished below par in every round for the first time since their performance at the Illini Invitational in 2023. The last time Illinois won a tournament and went below par in each round was during the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in the 2017-18 season.

The victory marks Illinois’ 38th tournament championship overall and is their 17th under head coach Renee Slone.

The team led all competitors with 50 birdies and also recorded an eagle. They finished third in total pars with 181. Illinois topped all teams in both par-4 and par-5 scoring averages, recording averages of 3.98 and 4.89 strokes respectively.

All six Illini golfers who participated finished inside the top-20 individually. Myers took first place outright while Victoria Zheng tied for sixth, Erica Lee placed eighth, Tavia Burgess tied for tenth as an individual competitor, Brielle Mapanao tied for seventeenth, and Anna Ritter tied for nineteenth place.

Myers improved or matched her score each round of this season so far, shooting back-to-back rounds of five-under-par (67) to secure her win. Her three-round total ties for seventh-lowest in program history over a standard collegiate event. She made fourteen birdies across her three rounds.

Myers’ victory is also notable as it marks just the fifty-first individual tournament title by an Illinois women’s golfer since the program began; she is now one of twenty-three different players from Illinois to achieve such a win.

Zheng had consecutive sub-par rounds including a final day score of one-under-par (71). She also recorded a hole-in-one on a par-3 during round two from a distance of 161 yards—her second career-low round at Illinois Women’s Invitational at Medinah in 2024—and completed rounds of 73-67-71 for a five-under total.

Erica Lee opened with her best-ever collegiate round (68) en route to finishing eighth overall at two under par over three days—a personal best finish as well.

Sophomore Tavia Burgess competed as an individual entrant and ended up tying for tenth after climbing five spots on the leaderboard on day three thanks to back-to-back sub-par scores to close out play.

Brielle Mapanao finished four over par after moving up four places during her final eighteen holes while Anna Ritter closed out scoring for Illinois with a five-over showing that moved her up two positions on day three.

Burgess led all players with a scoring average of 2.73 on par threes and averaged just under five strokes per hole on par fives (4.60). Myers ranked third among all competitors on par threes (2.80), fourth on both par fours (3.88) and fives (4.80). Both Myers and Lee made fourteen birdies each—the highest tally among Illini golfers—while Mapanao played forty-one holes at even par or better throughout the event.

The Fighting Illini will compete next at the Windy City Collegiate Classic beginning September 29.