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Momentum continues to build for Illinois men's golf
Nov. 16, 2007
Champaign, Ill. - The fall season was monumental in many ways for the Illini men's golf program re-emerging as a major player on the national scene. Over the past three months, Illinois celebrated the opening of its state-of-the-art indoor practice facility, won its first tournament in four seasons, saw its first individual champion in two years, set single-round individual and team records, posted two top-three team finishes, and signed a pair of national caliber junior players responsible for five Illinois High School Association State championships. Rewind the calendar another month or so and you can tack on more success stories for the Illini family. The program's most famous alum, Steve Stricker, made national news on the PGA Tour, ranking fourth on the money list with over $4.6 million in earnings and posting a victory in one of the FedEx Cup playoff tournaments, The Barclays. Stricker ranked second behind only Tiger Woods in the year-end standings and played in the final group at the British Open, completing a much-publicized comeback. Illinois head coach Mike Small won the Illinois Open for the third straight season and the Illinois PGA for the fourth time in five years. Then, after posting the low club professional score at the PGA Championship, he shared the award ceremony with overall champion Woods in front of a national TV audience. Stricker was back on campus a week later, hosting the Annual Steve Stricker golf outing and being present to help dedicate the Demirjian Indoor Golf Facility, the best of its kind in the country. The 14,150-square foot facility boasts a 6,300-foot putting, chipping, and pitching area, six heated hitting bays that open onto an outdoor driving range -- two of which are outfitted with state-of-the-art video analysis equipment -- full locker rooms, a fully equipped golf repair room and a 1,500-square-foot team lounge. Champaign native Clayton Parkhill won the Men's Twin City Championship and a qualifying tournament for the U.S. Amateur Tournament in same week, joining junior teammate Jon Krick at that event in late August. September saw the debut of two heralded freshmen, both of whom posted significant victories over the summer injunior tournaments. Scott Langley won the Midwest Junior Players Championship in Hawthorn Woods, firing a 12-under-par 204 to claim the title by five strokes. Two weeks earlier, Chris DeForest, whose positive impression of the Illini program brought him to Illinois from his New York roots, won the prestigious 32nd Annual Westfield Junior PGA title by six strokes over his next closest competitor. Billy Andrade, Billy Mayfair, David Toms and Sean O'Hair are all former winners of the event. Illinois golf, which won its first Big Ten championship in 1923, has seen many greats, but none shoot as low of a round as DeForest did when he fired a 63 in the third round of the D.A. Weibring Invitational on Oct. 8. DeForest won the event at 1-under par 209, pacing five Illinois players in the top eight. Illinois won the tournament with a score 837, one off the all-time 54-hole school record. The Illini's final round 272, however, set the mark for best 18-hole team score in school history.
Illinois competed against over half of the Pre-season Top 25 teams during the fall, including seven at the Second Annual Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club and 10 at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla. Illinois was in the hunt for an upper division finish in both and finished ahead of No. 7 Florida State and No. 15 Texas A&M at Isleworth. The success head-to-head has helped Illinois garner votes in the latest NIKE/Golf World Coaches' poll. Illinois hopes to return to the NCAA Tournament as a team in the spring. To do so, the Illini must better teams in the region. They got a chance to compare themselves with many of those teams at the fall-ending Wolverine@ Mission Inn Tournament, which saw the Illini place third in a ten-team field of Midwest schools. Illinois improved its average team tournament score by some nine strokes over last fall to 293 while junior transfer Larry Blatt, senior Mark Ogren and sophomore Zach Barlow were all in contention for tournament titles after 36 holes in three different events. Blatt had the best overall average of the fall competitors with a 72.92 stroke average. The fall culminated with the signing of two of the best players the state of Illinois has produced. Luke Guthrie from Quincy, won the IHSA's large school state championship for the second straight year and ranks fifth nationally among junior players in his class. Mason Jacobs of Metropolis became the IHSA's first three-time state champion, capturing the Class 2A title. Illinois has 13 weeks before opening the spring schedule in Placida, Fla., and will host the Fighting Illini Spring Invitational at Stone Creek Golf Course in Urbana the weekend of April 12-13. That is just two weeks prior to the Big Ten Championships at East Lansing, Mich. For the first time, the Illini have a full off-season to refine their games at Demirjian in hopes of carrying their momentum into the spring season. |
