Writing from Romeoville, Illinois
    Wednesday, July 30, 2014

    It’s a good feeling to have a five-stroke lead entering the final round of a tournament.
    Emily Collins had that feeling going into the finish of the 20th Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open.
    She had an even better feeling down the stretch, when she led by as many as 10 strokes.
    Collins, a recent graduate of Oklahoma who hails from Colleyville, Tex., scored a nine-stroke victory and collected the first prize of $5,000 with a final round of 1-under-par 71 and a 54-hole aggregate of 4-under 212 at Mistwood Golf Club, her first victory as a professional.
    “I had won a couple other little things (as an amateur) in Texas,” Collins said. “I wouldn’t say I was surprised (at the final round). This is definitely exciting.”
    Knotted in fourth place were a quartet at 5-over 221: amateurs Ashley Armstrong of Flossmoor, who hadn’t played since representing Notre Dame in the NCAA regionals, Ember Schuldt of Sterling, and Lisbeth Brooks of Waunakee, Wis., and professional Allyssa Ferrell of Edgerton, Wis.
    “It was boring today, one bogey, one birdie,” said Armstrong, whose summer golf has been truncated by internships the last two years. “I could have had four or five more birdies.”
    Including one at the par-5 18th, where her curling uphill 10-footer stopped on the lip.
    Still, not bad for someone who’s barely playing these days. An engineering major, Armstrong has spent most of the summer interning at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, working on developing new prosthetics.
    “Design engineering,” Armstrong said. “It’s been an incredible experience.”
    She’ll be a senior in the fall and play one more season for the Irish, and after that, she doesn’t know.
    Collins, who graduated from Oklahoma with a communications degree, has her sights set on the LPGA circuit. On Monday, she’ll try to qualify for the LPGA tournament in Grand Rapids, and has a trip to the tour’s qualifying tournament penciled in for the fall.

    – Tim Cronin