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May 22, 2008

Champaign, Ill. -

Complete Illinois NCAA Notes in PDF Format

Illinois qualifies for 11th NCAA Championship

When: May 28-31, 2008
Where: Kampen Course, Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, West Lafayette, Ind.
Course Statistics: 7,079-yard Par 72
Format: 72 holes (18 holes each day)
Teams: 30 plus six individuals (top ten teams at each of three regionals and top two individuals from non-qualifying schools in each regional).
Parings: By seeds first two rounds, by place second two rounds. Illinois is the 19th seed and will be paired with 20th seed Louisville and 21st seed Mississippi State in the first and second rounds
Tee Times: Illinois' practice rounds will be 12:00 p.m. EDT Monday and 8:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday. The Illini players tee from 7:20 a.m.-7:58 a.m. EDT in round one Wednesday and from 12:30-1:08 p.m. EDT in round two Thursday.
The Field: Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Augusta State, Charlotte, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kent State, Louisville, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Saint Mary's, San Diego State, Southern California, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, UAB, UCLA, UC-Irvine, Virginia, Wake Forest, Washington.
History: Illinois is making its 11th appearance as a team at an NCAA Championship this week. This is the third appearance in the last seven years, all under head coach Mike Small.

Illinois' All-Time NCAA Finishes:
1931 -- 5th
1940 -- 5th
1941 -- 4th
1950 -- 8th
1984 -- 28th
1988 -- T23rd
1989 -- T23rd
1999 -- 15th
2002 -- 18th
2003 -- 21st

Illinois' All-Time NCAA Regional Appearances
1989 -- 5th at Central Regional*
1990 -- 11th at Central Regional
1999 -- 7th at Central Regional*
2002 -- 4th at Central Regional*
2003 -- 2nd at Central Regional*
2004 -- T18th at Central Regional
2008 -- 3rd at Central Regional*
* Qualified for NCAA Championships

Best Individual Illinois Finishers at NCAA:
Steve Stricker, 9th, 1988
D.A. Points, T12th, 1999
James Lepp, T13th, 2002

Illinois making repeat appearance at Kampen
This is Illinois' second appearance at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette. Illinois placed sixth out of 14 teams at the Boilermaker Invitational April 19-20. The field included NCAA Championship qualifiers Kent State, Charlotte and Indiana.

Illinois in final pairing of the last three tourneys:
Illinois has put together quite a strong ending to the 2008 season, playing in the final pairing of the last three tournaments -- all with ranked opponents. The Illini placed third in both the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Regional.

Records fall during 2007-08 season:
Illinois saw several individual records fall during the season:
• Chris DeForest shot 63 in the final round of the D.A. Weibring Invitational, the lowest round in school history.
• Scott Langley shot 65 in the second round of the Argonaut Invitational, tied for the fourth-best round in school history.
• Illinois set a school 18-hole team mark with a 272 at the D.A. Weibring Invitational and was just one off the team 54-hole mark with an 837 for the tournament.

Tournament titlists:
Illinois won three tournament titles during the season -- the D.A. Weibring Invitational (Oct. 7-8), the Marshall Invitational (April 5) and the Fighting Illini Spring Invite (April 12-13). That marked the first time the Illini won multiple tournaments since 2003 and the first time since 1988 that they won as many as three titles (winning seven that season).
• Illinois players also won three tournaments individually this season -- Chris DeForest at the D.A. Weibring, Scott Langley the Argonaut Invitational, and Matt Hoffman at the Fighting Illini Spring Invitational. That marked the first time since 2003 that the Illini claimed multiple individual titles and first since 1999 that the Illini won three different tournaments individually.
• It is also the first time in school history that three different players won a tournament title in the same season.

Young Illini make great strides: Illinois' line-up during the final three tournaments of the season included two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. None of the five players that are competing for Illinois had any post-season experience prior to this season.

Illinois builds special relationship with Olympia Fields Country Club: Illinois held the Second Annual Fighting Illini/Olympia Fields Invitational in September, a tournament that brought seven NCAA qualifiers --No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Florida State, No. 10 Stanford, No. 18 Arizona State, No. 23 Indiana, Illinois and Texas.
• Oklahoma State won the tournament this year with OSU's Rickie Fowler claiming medalist honors at -7. He tied Vijay Singh's championship course record with a 63 in round two.
• Mike Small was named an honorary member of Olympia Fields Country Club, becoming the first so honored since Jim Furyk in 2003.

Rising to the Occasion: Illinois finished third at the NCAA Regional despite coming in with the No. 18 seed.

Langley and DeForest win major junior tournaments: Illinois freshmen won two of the top junior tournaments in the country last summer. Scott Langley claimed top honors at the AJGA Midwest Junior Players Championship (69-68-67) at Hawthorn Woods, winning the title by five strokes at -12.

Two weeks earlier, Chris DeForest won the 32nd Annual Westfield Junior PGA title by six strokes over his next competitor. Billy Andrade, Billy Mayfair, David Toms and Sean O'Hair are all former winners of this event.

Future continues to get brighter: Next year Illinois brings in two more players that promise to have a similar impact. Signee Luke Guthrie from Quincy, Ill., is ranked 9th in the latest Golf Week Junior Rankings. Guthrie and the other member of the signing class, Mason Jacobs of Metropolis, Ill., have combined to win five Illinois state championships.

Springing to national prominence: After some growing pains during the fall season, the Illini sprung to life during the spring, with only two finishes outside the top three in eight tournaments, including two tournament titles.

Balance keys Illinois success: While Illinois doesn't currently have a player ranked in the top 100 according the golfstat rankings, the Illini have been successful because of its depth.
• For the season, the top six players are separated by a mere .59 in stroke average over 30 rounds of golf.
• Seven different players have been the Illini's top finisher this season with five players doing so on multiple occasions.
• Four Illinois players finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Regional.
• A school-record three different Illinois players have won tournaments.
• Seven different players have two top-ten finishes, with Scott Langley leading the way with three.

Langley Named Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Illinois' Scott Langley was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The honor rewards not only the tournament, but also his regular season accomplishments.

Langley is the only Illini to compete in every tournament this season and leads the team in stroke average for the spring (72.87). He has three top-five finishes, including an individual title at the Argonaut Invitational to start the spring season. His 65 in the second round of that tournament is tied for the fourth-best in school history. His eight-under par championship performance that weekend earned him Big Ten Men's Golfer of the Week. Langley tied for second at the Marshall Invitational in lifting Illinois to the team title, one of three team championships for Illinois on the year.

Langley demonstrated not only his natural ability, but also his patience at the Big Ten Championships. Tough greens and winds meant that he had to overcome some tough holes. Langley had two of the greatest holes of the tournament, however. He drove the green to within a few feet of the hole on the 322-yard par four fourth in the second round and tapped in for eagle. On Sunday, his eagle on the par-five 17th helped make the difference in taking third by one stroke in the team race.

• In addition to Langley, sophomore Matt Hoffman earned Big Ten Men's Golfer of the Week honors this season. Hoffman posted his first career top-ten finish by placing ninth at the Louisiana Classic March 10-11. He shot a two-over par 218 in the 54-hole event, firing a 71 in the second round.

Head Coach Mike Small continues to post strong showing professionally: Last week Illinois head coach Mike Small was the top seed at the Illinois PGA Match-Play championship. That is just one of the accomplishments of Small in recent years.
• He was the low PGA Professional at last year's PGA Championship, sharing the awards stage with champion Tiger Woods.

Other 2007 season highlights included: • Winning the PGA Professional of the Year award for the second straight year
• Winning the Illinois PGA championship for a record sixth time and fifth in a row
• Claiming his fourth straight Illinois Open, a day before competing the PGA Championship
• Winning the Illinois Match Play Championship
• Qualifying for his third U.S. Open
• Tying for second at the PGA Professional Tournament in Oregon to qualify for the PGA.

• In his career, Small has qualified for over 50 PGA Tour events, including seven major championships, having made the cut in the 2005 and 2007 PGA and missed the cut by a stroke in 2006.

Demirjian Golf Practice Facility opens: The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics opened one of the the nation's premier indoor practice facilities in the spring of 2007 and dedicated it on Aug. 19, 2007.

Built at a cost of $5.1 million, the multi-level, all-inclusive indoor golf teaching center was made possible by a lead gift from the Demirjian family of Decatur, Ill., and is named the Demirjian Golf Practice Facility.

The 14,150 square foot building is used by both the Illini men's and women's teams for year-round practice, training, instruction and research. It features the finest amenities, making the facility the home away from home for the Illinois men's and women's golf programs.

Illinois alum Steve Stricker moves to top five in world rankings: Steve Stricker, a 1989 Illinois graduate, continues to shine on the PGA tour. Stricker placed ninth at the NCAA Championships in 1988 and moved up to as high as third in the World Golf Rankings earlier this year. He finished runner-up to Tiger Woods in the Inaugural FedEx Cup Playoff. winning the first event. Stricker played in the final group of last year's British Open and earned the PGA's Comeback Player of the Year the past two seasons. He supports Illinois golf by hosting an event each August at Stone Creek Golf Club in Urbana.