Illinois State Women’s Golf Finishes Fourth in Final Tournament of Fall Schedule

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In their last event of the 2026 season, the Illinois State Redbirds Women’s Golf team secured a fourth place competing in the Samford Intercollegiate at the Inverness Country Club.

The Redbirds also placed three golfers within the top 20 individually. Cynthia Lang, Reagan Kennedy, and Alex Sparrow were the trio to do so.

Following day one, ISU came in at fifth place following the two opening rounds as a team. Day two saw an improvement however, as the Redbirds would finish with a final round score of 301.

This would help them climb to the fourth sport overall, where they would place behind Jacksonville State (892), Samford (903), and UAB (918). Illinois State finished with a final score of 923. Other teams West Florida (924), North Alabama (947), Bellarmine (954), and Chattanooga (976) would fill the remaining spots on the board.

The freshman Lang would see a day one top five appearance through 36 holes. However, on day two a final round 77 (+6) score would push her to seventh, Lang would end with a score of 226 overall. Lang also finished the tournament with 5.00 average on par-5’s tying for eighth, and an overall 33 pars across the two days, tying for sixth most overall.

Bloomington native and senior, Reagan Kennedy placed overall at eighth with a score of 227, marking Kennedy’s third consecutive top-15 finish. A final round score of 74 was accompanied by four birdies and eight pars. A total of eight birdies over the tournament would tie for fifth best. Kennedy also accomplished 27 pars.

Sparrow, the junior, also had a final round score of 74, tying with Kennedy. An overall score of 233 would tie her for 16th overall. Sparrow had 12 pars in both the second and third rounds. A scoring average of 3.17 on par 3’s tied her for fifth best.

Freshman Cora Hirz and Xuan “Hazel” Gao also contributed to the Redbird five. Hirz had an overall score of 237, placing her 26th overall. Gao saw an overall score of 255 placing her 47th overall.

Coming Up: The Redbirds will have a break until the new year.  The next event for the Birds will be Monday, Feb. 1 at the Battle at Brentwater in Montgomery, Texas.

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