Champaign, Ill. - Fighting Illini men's golf is set to compete in the 3M Augusta Invitational over the weekend as the Orange and Blue are one of 15 teams participating in the two-day, 54-hole tournament at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. The Illini are coming off of a top-5 finish at the Valspar Intercollegiate, where three individuals also finished among the top-25. The 3M Augusta Invitational will be held Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3. Illinois will play two rounds (36-holes) on Saturday, followed by the final round on Sunday.
"I'm looking forward to this weekend with the guys," head coach Mike Small said of the upcoming tournament. "We played a lot of golf during spring break, and we had a decent tournament. While not up to our standards, we finished strong. We played more of the Illini style of golf in the last round than I have seen in awhile, so I'm excited to go down to Augusta this week to see if we can build upon that."
Ranked at No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings this week, the tournament will feature the nation's top three teams including No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Georgia. Illinois will also see No. 13 South Florida, No. 35 Pepperdine, No. 37 Houston, No. 38 New Mexico, No. 41 Augusta and No. 45 Tennessee in addition to Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Kennesaw State, Presbyterian, USC Aiken and Virginia Tech.
"This is a fun tournament with some top teams competing in it," Small said. "I would like to go down there and compete and keep making progress towards our goal of playing well heading into the Big Ten Championships. I'm also excited to see how freshman Edoardo Lipparelli responds as he will be in the lineup this week. There are a lot of different things I'm going to be looking for this weekend, so come next Monday I'm going to have a much better idea of where we stand heading into the last few weeks of the season."
Hosted by Augusta University, the tournament will be held at Forest Hills Golf Club, which boasts a 6,248-yard, Par 72 course that has been voted the best public golf course in Augusta several times. Saturday's rounds will begin at 7:30 a.m. CT with a shotgun start, while tee times will begin at 7:30 a.m. CT on Sunday as well.
"We like the golf course, last year we finished second there," Small said of Forest Hills. "The course takes some local knowledge, so our older guys will have to use their experience there. You have to position yourself well around the golf course, the greens can be grainy and tricky. We'll need to play from strength and confidence, but with a lot of discipline."
Live scoring for the tournament can be found on Golfstat, and a recap will be posted in FIGHTINGILLINI.com following each day of play. Fans can also follow @IlliniMGolf on Twitter for even more live updates.
