March 1, 2004

Westlake Village, Calif. - Illinois shot a first-round score of 296 today at the 27th annual Cleveland Golf Collegiate Invitational, hosted by Southern California at the par 71, 6,815-yard North Ranch Country Club. Illinois was tied for 13th place at 12-over par following the first round. Today's format called for 36 holes of play, but the second round was suspended due to darkness. It will be completed Tuesday morning.

Tennessee was in first place in the 17-team field with a 5-under par score of 279, one shot ahead of Alabama's 280 and two strokes better than Texas' 281. Illinois is competing in its second straight major national tournament following last week's participation at the Puerto Rico Classic. The Cleveland Golf Invitational features nine teams ranked in the nation's Top 25.

Leading the way for the Illini in round one was junior Mike O'Neal. O'Neal shot a 2-over par score of 73, tallying five birdies. He was tied for 37th place in the 90-player field after the first round. Illinois' second and third scores were a pair of 3-over 74s from senior Joe Affrunti and sophomore Patrick Nagle. Illinois' final team score was a 4-over 75 by junior Garrett Chaussard.

Arkansas' Seth Murphy tallied the lowest score of the first round, a 5-under par 66.

The completion of the second round and the third round of the 54-hole Cleveland Golf Collegiate Invitational will be held on Tuesday. Fans can follow live scoring of the tournament on the internet at www.golfstat.com

Cleveland Golf Collegiate Invite Team Standings (after one of three rounds)

1.      Tennessee             279
2.      Alabama               280
3.      Texas                 281
4.      Southern California   283
T5.     Arizona State         285
T5.     Texas Christian       285
7.      Brigham Young         286
8.      California            290
T9.     Arkansas              292
T9.     Oregon State          292
T9.     UCLA                  293
12.     Stanford              294
T13.    ILLINOIS              296
T13.    Oregon                296
15.     Notre Dame            297
T16.    Washington            298
T16.    Pepperdine            298

Illinois Results (after one of three rounds)

T37.    Mike O'Neal          73     +2
T51.    Joe Affrunti         74     +3
T60.    Patrick Nagle        74     +3
T60.    Garrett Chaussard    75     +4
T70.    Ryan Tendall         76     +5