The Illini Spring Classic, which will begin today at Stone Creek Golf Club in Urbana, is the Panthers’ last chance at getting ready for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

At the Payne Stewart Memorial, the team struggled to a 13th place finish of 15 teams.

Sophomore Trisha Blake said that the team has worked real hard lately.

“We’re doing a lot of drills, especially on our short game” in preparation for the upcoming OVC Tournament, Blake said.

Blake has been struggling and unable to participate with the team due to poor scores, she said.

At the Payne Stewart Memorial, sophomore Amy Simons led the team with a total of 255, 31 strokes behind the winner.

She finished tied for 39th place out of 65 golfers.

Freshman Carrie Riordan leads the team with a stroke average of 82.8, but she has been inconsistent.

“Carrie is struggling a little bit, but we’ll see how she does,” said head coach Mike Moncel.

“Carrie is one of our top scorers, but one person can’t carry the team,” said sophomore Michelle Deiss.

Moncel said the teams that will be tough to beat come tournament time are Eastern Kentucky and Murray State in the OVC tournament.

But the Panthers have been benefiting from more practice time outdoors because of the improved weather conditions, Moncel said.

“They are out practicing more now because the weather has been a lot nicer,” said Moncel.

Eastern’s golfers have lowered their scores and now have six golfers with averages in the 80s.