Salukis head to Texas for Islander Classic

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What? Islander Classic
Where? Corpus Christi Country Club, Corpus Christi, Texas
When? Monday, Feb. 27 and Tuesday, Feb 28
Who's playing? (12 Teams) Dallas Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Louisiana Monroe, McLennan CC, McNeese State, Sam Houston State, Southern Illinois, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Texas A&M – Kingsville, Texas – Rio Grande Valley, Wyoming
Par 72, Yards 6,093
Live Scoring

Southern is back in action on Monday at the Islander Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Islander Classic, hosted by Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, is an event that will be a good challenge for the Salukis in the early part of the spring season.

"This is a tournament that we're going to be really competitive in," head coach Alexis Mihelich said. "When you know you've got a good chance to win, it brings out your best golf. We're going to need to play well to win, but it is definitely within reach."

Southern, which moved up to No. 161 in the Golfstat Rankings after its second place finish at the Ball State Sunshine Classic, is the fourth-highest ranked team at the tournament. Lamar (No. 102), Sam Houston State (No. 120), and Wyoming (No. 141) are all ranked in higher than SIU. Dallas Baptist, the top-ranked Division II team will also be at the event. The Salukis outperformed Lamar two weeks ago.

Southern will travel with the same six players, but Mihelich has opted to shuffle the lineup based on performances in practice in recent weeks. Seniors Kristie Yang and Brooke Cusumano will flip-flop at the top of the lineup. Yang, who won the Missouri Valley Conference's Golfer of the Week after the last two tournaments, will play in the top spot for the first time all season. Juniors Hanna Netisingha and Alice Ho and senior Xianmei Jin will round out the travel team. Sophomore Sun Jung will play as an individual.

The Salukis are riding the momentum of a second place finish two weeks ago at the Ball State Sunshine Invitational. Southern's play bumped the team up nearly 20 spots in the Golfstat rankings and helped the team leapfrog Bradley to be ranked second in the MVC. Mihelich said the team has been putting in extra work before and after practice every day.

She said the team's confidence is building after the strong start to the spring.

"You need five people to believe in themselves to believe that the team can win Everyone needs to put their own individual score on the card first." Mihelich said. "I think, if they finish well at this tournament, then they can really believe that they can win them all."

The Salukis were a late add to Islander Classic. Mihelich said she likes the field since the teams competing are all mid-major teams that SIU doesn't often get a chance to play.

She also said playing at the Corpus Christi Country Club will help Southern prepare for its spring break trip to Texas in a few weeks.

"It's nice to get another Texas tournament in before we get to spring break," Mihelich said. "That way we can practice playing on their grass. When we see conference teams like Wichita State and Bradley during spring break, we will know how to play Bermuda grass and be more used to the drier air and a firmer course."

The first two rounds of the Islander Classic will be played Monday and the final 18 holes are Tuesday. Play will start at 8:30 a.m. on both days. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com.

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Brooke Cusumano

Alice Ho

Xianmei Jin

Sun Jung

Hanna Netisingha

Kristie Yang

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