Nov. 6, 2007
Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. -
Complete Results in PDF Format
The course at the Mission Inn and Resort played much tougher Tuesday than it did on Monday, but Illinois managed to play steady enough to move up a place to third at the Wolverine at Mission Inn Tournament.
The ten-team field featured schools from the north in the Illini's final fall tournament. Illinois placed third overall at +21 and had the third lowest score of the day with a 296. Host Michigan won the tournament at +8 872 with No. 20 Penn State placing second at +18 882. Colorado was a distant fourth, some 10 strokes behind the Illini at +31 with Iowa State (+39 903) rounding out the top five in the 10-team event.
Individually, sophomore Zach Barlow placed sixth at +3 219 after shooting 75 in the final round. Only one player shot under par on the day, tournament champion Tim Schaetzel of Michigan who fired a 69 and only six others in the 60-man field shot even par 72.
Illinois junior Larry Blatt was one of those at even par, which moved him up seven spots to 11th place at +5 223. Two other Illini placed in the top 15 - junior Jon Krick (75-73-74), 12th at 222 (+6) and freshman Scott Langley (77-71-75) at 223 (+7). Senior Mark Ogren shot 76 on the day to finish in a tie for 43rd at 233 (+17). Sophomore Matt Hoffman played as an individual and finished in a tie for 39th at 232 (+16).
Illinois made great strides with a young team, winning the D.A. Weibring Invitational to go along with this week's third-place finish.
"We have had different players emerge to lead us each week which is encouraging," said Illinois head coach Mike Small. "We are willing to face anyone and play any course and have confidence in our ability to compete at a high level. Our challenge for the spring is to be able to do that consistently throughout each tournament."
