After the first round of play at the 2025 NCAA Columbus Regional, Illinois and sophomore sensation Yurang Li both find themselves two shots back of getting to the NCAA Championships.

May 5, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Illinois has positioned itself with an opportunity to do something the women’s golf program has only accomplished one other time in school history - qualify for the NCAA Championships.

After the first day of the NCAA Columbus Regional at Ohio State University Golf Club, Illinois sits just two shots behind a tie for the fifth and final transfer position into the 2025 NCAA Championships.

On a day where host Ohio State (9-under-par), the top-ranked program in the field (Arkansas at 6-under) and Louisiana State University (4-under) managed to separate themselves from the field, 18 holes of competition has identified a six-team tournament for the final two spots that will qualify for the 2025 NCAA Championships in at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Second-year talent Yurang Li posted the lowest round for the Illini with a 3-under 69 and ended the day tied for fourth, three strokes off of the individual lead. After bogeying the first hole of her tournament, Li went bogey-free the rest of the way on the front nine, rolling home three-straight birdies on holes No. 7-9. She picked up three more birdies on the back to give her six for the round, second-most among the field.

Li, who is from just 70 miles north of where the NCAA Championships will be played, finds herself chasing Xavier’s Isabel Brozena (5-under) in the individual tournament as the highest individual finisher from a non-qualifying team will also advance to the national stage in California.

Li, who won’t turn 19 years old until next month, is hopeful to return to the same area of California where she won the individual medalist honors as a junior player in the 2023 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section as a senior at Sunny Hills High School.

Lexanne Halama and Anna Ritter each posted a 1-over 73 for the Illini as Halama shot a 37 on the front before firing a 36 on the back, thanks to run of four-straight birdies from No. 14-17. Ritter recorded a front nine score of 1-under 35. After recording bogeys on each of the first three holes she played, Illinois third-year player Brielle Mapanao ended her round by playing the next 15 at 1-under without a single bogey or worse throughout the rest of the day for the Australian.

In a jam-packed mix for the final two transfer spots, UNLV and Kent State, which were both seeded outside the top five at the start of the day, are tied for fourth at 1-under 287.

Illinois is amongst a four-team tie at 1-over-par 289 with Kansas, who came to Ohio ranked No. 23 in the nation, Xavier and Southern Methodist University.

The Illini will be back in action tomorrow morning, teeing off on No. 1, with Victoria Zheng leading things off for Illinois starting at 7:55 a.m. CST.

The only other time Renee Slone’s Illinois women’s golf program has qualified for the NCAA Championships was 2019 when the Illini were led by four All-Big Ten selections (Kornkamol Sukaree, Crystal Wang, Tristyn Nowlin and Bing Singhsumalee) led the team to a ninth-place national finish.

However, Illinois is coming off a third-place finish two weeks ago at the 2025 Big Ten Championships marking the fourth time in the last seven conference tournaments that Illinois has finished in the top three.

Slone, who was a three-time All-American as a player at Illinois and was named the 1993 National College Player of the Year by both the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) and Golfweek Magazine, has led her alma mater to seven NCAA Regional appearances in the last eight postseasons.