Illini 15th at NCAA Championships
July 2, 1999 | Men's Golf
June 5, 1999
Illinois left Hazeltine National Golf Club in 15th place at the national championships, but it was nothing less than a successful week for the Illini golf program that produced the school's highest NCAA finish since 1950. Illinois, ranked 46th, shot a final round 307 and fell behind 19th ranked East Tennessee State after the Buccaneers shot a 296 to move into 14th place in the final standings.
"Looking over the whole season we came farther than I would have imagined at the beginning of the year," head coach Ed Beard said. "We didn't expect to be here and it was an accomplishment for us to make the cut over a lot of teams ranked higher than us. Although the end of the third round and the final round were disappointing, we can be proud of advancing this far in the most competitive tournament of the year.
"There was such great anticipation after we made the cut on Thursday and maybe we had a letdown after the emotion of that round," Beard said. "It's grueling out there both mentally and physically and we just weren't strong enough in those areas."
For the tournament, D.A. Points (Pekin, Ill.) led the team shooting 10-over par for the tournament. He was even par after two rounds and then shot 78-76 on the final two days. Fighting a bad cold and over a 100 temperature, Points felt more fatigued with each round.
"There were times I'd get to the green and have to stop for a minute to catch my breath.
Mark Henderson (Barrie, Ontario) finished his Illini career by leading the team in the final two rounds. Saturday he shot 1-under par on the front nine after making the turn with a 38 on the back nine. He posted two birdies and one bogey on the front and narrowly missed a birdie putt on the final hole to finish even for the day.
"Mark had a really good tournament and he came back strong in the final two rounds after a rough day on Thursday," Beard said. Henderson opened the tournament with a 1-over 73 on Wednesday then shot 79 in windy and very difficult conditions Thursday. He closed out the final two days shooting 3-over par.
The two other scores to count for the Illini on Saturday were a 78 from Ed Parga (Scotia, N.Y.) and an 80 from Larry Nuger (Longmeadow, Mass.). Tim Riley (Belleville, Ill.) shot 84 on Saturday, which was dropped from the team total.
Top-ranked Georgia captured the team championship, the first ever for the Bulldogs. Northwestern's Luke Donald was the individual medalist, shooting 4-under par 284 for 72 holes. He shot 1-under 71 in the final round.
D.A. Points finished 12th in the individual standings and earned All-America status. Mark Henderson tied for 16th, narrowly missing the All-America cutoff.
Team Results
1. Georgia -- 292-305-290-293 = 1180 (+28)
2. Oklahoma State -- 289-308-285-301 = 1183 (+31)
3. Northwestern -- 296-299-297-296 = 1188 (+36)
4. Washington -- 307-301-291-290 = 1189 (+37)
5. Arizona State -- 297-307-296-292 = 1192 (+40)
6. UNLV -- 295-298-306-296 = 1195 (+43)
7. BYU -- 293-298-302-303 = 1196 (+44)
8. Houston -- 297-305-297-300 = 1199 (+47)
8. Clemson -- 293-297-303-306 = 1199 (+47)
10. North Carolina -- 294-307-298-302 = 1201 (+49)
11. Minnesota -- 303-305-303-297 = 1208 (+56)
12. Florida -- 297-311-298-310 = 1216 (+64)
13. E. Tennessee State -- 298-306-317-296 = 1217 (+65)
14. Nebraksa -- 301-305-304-308 = 1218 (+66)
15. Illinois -- 303-305-304-307 = 1291 (+67)
