My First Professional Win!
I don’t even know where to begin… after nearly three years of playing professional golf, I won my first professional tournament. I have so many people who have helped me get to this point and I am so incredibly grateful for all of their support and love throughout this journey. So, thank you all so much for being a part of my team, the Ellie Fan Club!
Children’s Hospital of Illinois Championship
The week in Peoria, Illinois started with me arriving on Monday evening in Chicago and driving down to Bloomington, where my amazing host family, Lynn and Bill live. Lynn and Bill hosted six of us WAPT players last year at an event local to Bloomington and were absolutely wonderful. So, when we saw it was only an hour from the Children’s Hospital of Illinois Championship, we reached out to see if we could stay with them again. And they gladly said yes. In addition to hosting me, Susie & Olivia (my former OSU teammates), and our friend, Hannah Arnold, also stayed there.
On Tuesday, Susie, Olivia and I had a practice round at Weaver Ridge Golf Club, one of two of the courses we played in the tournament. Since I arrived late on Monday, I didn’t get a practice round at Metamora Fields Golf Course. In case you missed it, my brother got married last weekend, so I was home for his wedding!
Round 1 at Weaver Ridge
In Round 1 on Wednesday I played Weaver Ridge in the morning. Getting up at 4:30am for this round was necessary due to the long commute, but teeing off at 7am helped me escape the heat a bit. I played well this day, just got into a few too many bunkers and chipped poorly. I managed to still score well at -2 par, (70).
Rounds 2 – 4 at Metamora Fields
For Round 2, I moved over to the Metamora Fields course where I would play the rest of the week. This course is a par 71. After playing in this tournament last year, I still had a pretty good memory of the course, which helped me a lot. I hit the ball really well, did not miss a fairway and made quite a few birdies that got me to finish the day at -5 (66). That put me in a top ten position after two rounds.
Round 3 I had a really fun and high energy group, was stuffing my wedges and putting really well. It was one of those days where the hole just feels bigger because you’re so confident. And if you play golf, you know how rare those days are. I was able to make 9 birdies and shoot -8 par (63), which is my personal best score. This put me in the lead by one stroke to Annie Kim.
Round 4 was another day like the third round, where I just hit the ball really well, gave myself a lot of good birdie opportunities and converted many of them. I also did not put myself into any trouble and stayed really steady all day long. At the turn, I was 3 up on Annie and then birdied my next 4 holes to get that lead to 6. I felt confident in my putting and swing out there. It was a really fun day on the course playing with my friend Jean Reynolds, who was also in the final round with me for my 2nd place finish at the United Way Classic earlier this year. I finished at -7 (64) for the day and in total -22, which is my lowest four day tournament ever. And I finished in 1st place.
It was an incredible week where everything felt like it all fell into place. I played solid golf four days in a row and maintained a very steady mindset. I am so thankful for the wonderful support of my friends on the tour (who doused me with water and champagne on the 18th holes), my host family and all my supporters out there. I have received many kind messages and congratulations. I really appreciate all of you!
