The Eastern Illinois women’s golf team finished in eighth place out of 12 teams Monday at the Southern Illinois Invitational at Crab Orchard Golf Club in Carterville.

The Panthers cut 13 strokes from the first round, but finished the tournament with a combined team score of 619 (+59). Host Southern Illinois won the event with a score of 584 (+24).

Eastern was led by senior Amy Simons who finished the event at 11 over par, which was good enough to tie for eleventh place in the invitational.

Simons shot a 79 (+9) in the first day of the tournament, but was able to cut seven stokes off that score with a second-round 72.

Simons said getting improving her short game in the second round was one of the main reasons she was able to cut seven strokes.

The event was supposed to be held at Hickory Ridge Golf Course in Carbondale, but heavy rain last week made the course unplayable.

“Getting used to playing the course was a huge factor,” Simons said. “I’ve played at the other course for three years, but it wasn’t that big of a deal because this course was straightforward.”

Simons said she was happy with her own performance as well as her teams.

“(Monday) we shot a 303 which is good for us,” Simons said. “There were some strokes that we missed, but we played well.”

Junior Carrie Riordan finished second for the Panthers with a 13 over par tournament score that was good enough for a tie for 18th place. Riordan shot a 76 on Sunday and followed that with a 77 on Monday.

Despite having the second best score for the Panthers, Riordan said she was not happy with how she played.

“The first day I blew up,” Riordan said. “I went double (bogey), double (bogey) and blew up after that. (Monday) I started off fine, but consistently got worse. I was not striking the ball that well.”

This was the first time this spring Riordan did not shoot the lowest score for the Panthers during a tournament.

Riordan was happy with how the team performed and said it will boost confidence for conference play.

“We played really well today and held in there,” Riordan said.

Golfers had to endure a wet course as play was stopped three times on Sunday for rain delays. The golfers were, however, able to get in the final round Monday before rain came again.

Riordan said the rain on Sunday made play difficult.

“The course was not in good shape,” Riordan said. “There was water everywhere.”

The Panthers will next play at the Illinois Spring Classic on Friday in Urbana at Stone Creek Golf Course.

Final Standing at Saluki invitational

School / Score

Southern Illinois / 584

Illinois State / 602

Bradley / 605

Drake / 608

Northern Iowa / 611

Murray State / 612

Indiana State / 614

Eastern Illinois / 619

Creighton / 622

Eastern Kentucky / 634

Western Illinois / 653

Rend Lake / 686

Men’s team in 10th after first round

The men’s golf team is in 10th place out of 12 teams after the first round of the Branson Creek Invitational held by Missouri State at the Branson Creek Golf Course in Hollister, Mo.

Senior Mike Imburgia shot a 72 (+1) to end the first round in ninth place, but no other Panthers placed in the top 35.

Senior Matt Imburgia and freshman Francisco Cherizola tied for 39th place with rounds of 76.

Eastern’s team shot a total of 301, 16 strokes behind leader Illinois State with a 285.

The final round of the tournament will be all day today.

Standing at Branson Creek invitational

School / Score

Illinois State / 285

Missouri State / 289

Murray State / 292

Creighton / 294

Drake / 294

Oral Roberts / 295

Tennessee-Martin / 297

UMKC / 299

Northern Iowa / 300

Eastern Illinois / 301

Southern Illinois / 305

Bradley / 323

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at [email protected].