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Oct. 28, 2008

Windermere, Fla. - Although the Fighting Illini didn't close the fall season as they would have hoped, they aren't going to let that damped what has been an historic fall for the program. Illinois won three straight tournaments for the first time in 20 years and entered the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational ranked number one in the Golfstat rankings and number four in the coaches' poll, but had trouble gaining momentum all tournament.

In a field of 18 consisting of 13 ranked teams, including eight of the top nine nationally, Illinois tied for 11th after a final round 311. The Illini finished the tournament at +42 (906), tied with host Central Florida.

"We struggled around the green and certainly didn't play our best," said Illinois head coach Mike Small. "But I'm not going to let that take away from what we've accomplished this fall."

Frigid conditions in the mid to upper 40s and 20-30 mile per hour winds in the Orlando area greeted players Tuesday morning for the final round and as a result just two teams broke 300. Illinois sophomore Scott Langley paced the Illini with a three-over par 75 and tied for 12th overall at +3

Third-ranked Georgia defended its title with 17-shot victory over conference rival Alabama. The Bulldogs, paced by individual medalist Russell Henley, finished at +3 after a 296 Tuesday. The sixth-ranked Crimson Tide finished at +20 followed by 20th-ranked Indiana at +22, unranked Texas Tech (+24) and no. 2 USC (+30). The Trojans struggled to a 315 after entering the day just eight strokes off the lead.

As far as the rest of the Illini are concerned, sophomore Chris DeForest shot a final round 76 to finish in a tie for 35th at +11 and junior Matt Hoffman tied for 26th at +9 after a final round 78. Junior Zach Barlow shot an uncharacteristic 82 while junior Clayton Parkhill finished with an 83.

"The lesson we take from this is we need to still compete even when we may not have our best," Small said. "But these things happen to the best of them. Despite our outcome this week, I'm proud of the way we performed as a whole this fall. We proved to ourselves that we can compete with anyone in the country. We have some things to work on certainly and we'll focus on those in the coming months."

Illinois closes the fall season having defeated eight ranked teams in head-to-head competition. The Illini open the spring season Feb. 13-14 in the Big Ten Match Play Tournament in Coral Springs, Fla.