Women’s Golf Shows “Potential” of Successful Season at Redbird Invitational 

The Loyola women’s golf team traveled to Bloomington, IL for the Redbird Invitational hosted by Illinois State University Sept. 8-9. The Ramblers finished tied for seventh place out of 15 teams with Drake University and University of Northern Iowa. 

The Ramblers finished the 54-hole tournament with a total of 911 strokes (301-303-307). Illinois State University secured first place with a score of 15 under par at 849 strokes (282-281-286).

At the end of the tournament, there was a tie for the top individual spot between Illinois State graduate student Jinyoung Yun and redshirt third-year Morgan Jones, forcing a playoff. Yun beat out Jones and finished first in the tournament for the overall top spot with a score of 209 strokes (70-67-72). 

Fourth-year Cate Reisinger led the Ramblers with a score of 220 strokes (77-71-72) and finished in a tie for ninth place. This was Reisinger’s first finished under-par, her lowest 54-hole score and her third career top-10 finish. 

Loyola head coach Brandy Johnston said Reisinger’s performance was a high point of the team’s performance. 

“The highlight of the tournament was Cate,” Johnston said. “Coming off a week where she didn’t perform to the level she’s capable of, she came back with what I think was a career-best 54-hole performance. She’s always been a competitor and she definitely showed that this week.” 

First-years Grace Hui and Madison Haugen both career low scores in the first round and carried the momentum to secure top-50 finishes. Hui was one over par at the end of the first 18 holes, putting her in a tie for 11th place. She later ended the invitational in a tie for 49th place with a score of 235 (73-82-80). 

Haugen was tied for 20th place after round one with a score of three over par. She finished the tournament in a tie for 36th place with a 230 (75-76-79), the second best score for the Ramblers. 

Fourth-year Jolie Brochu ended with a  234 (76-76-82) and a spot in 48th place. Just four strokes behind Brochu was second-year Cassie Psuik who finished in a tie for 63rd place with a total of 238 (82-80-76). 

On the individual side, second-years Amelia Gatti and Grace Durkin finished in the top-100. In her season debut, Gatti recorded the first eagle for the Ramblers this season in round two on the par 5 18th hole. She went on to finish with a career-best round during round three, finishing 11 over par.

Gatti finished the tournament in 90th place with a total of 259 (91-85-83), while Durkin placed in a tie for 56th with a total 236 (77-78-81). 

Johnston said the gorup is showing their potential early in the season and is proud of the improvement of each player.

“We played better overall this week,” Johnston said. “We need to work on finishing our rounds, but our goal was to improve this week, and we did that. We’ve had different players post low 18-hole rounds over these past two weeks showing our potential as a group. If we can put it all together for three rounds at the same time, we have a very high ceiling.” 

Their next competition will see the Ramblers head south to Birmingham, AL for the Hoover Invitational Sept. 16-17.