April 18, 2009
West Lafayette, Ind. -
Team Scores in PDF Format 
Individual Scores in PDF Format
Two weeks prior to the Big Ten Championships, Big Ten teams occupy the first three spots at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. Fifteenth-ranked Illinois, looking for its third straight team title and sixth of the 2008-09 season, sits two strokes back in second-place after 36 of 54 holes. Penn State leads the charge at -7 (569) over the 7,465-yard par 72 Kampen Course. Illinois is at -5 (571) with Iowa at -3 (573). Those three schools will comprise the final paring on Sunday.
Illinois shot a 287 in the first round, five strokes behind Eastern Michigan. The Eagles shot 299 in round two, however, but Penn State soared to the front after posting a seven-under 281 in the second round. Iowa had the best round of the day with an eight-under par 280 in round two.
The Illini got consistent rounds from both sophomore Chris DeForest and freshman Mason Jacobs. DeForest had six birdies and just two bogeys on the challenging course, which played home to the 2008 NCAA Championships. Back-to-back rounds of 70 puts DeForest in a tie for third at four-under par 140, five strokes behind leader Kevin Foley of Penn State, who is at -9 (135) after rounds of 69 and 66. Jacobs is one stroke back at -3 (141) after rounds of 71 and 70. That's good for a tie for fifth.
"Mason and Chris played steady all day," said Illinois head coach Mike Small. "They kept their composure and their rhythm was very good."
"I hit a lot of solid shots and gave myself a chance to make some birdies," Jacobs said.
"I just tried to keep it in play," said DeForest of his round. "If you keep it on the green and make a lot of pars out here, you'll do well. I didn't miss any shots in places that really killed me."
Iowa's Vince India is in second individually at -5 followed by DeForest and Wisconsin's Dan Woltman at -4, and Jacobs and Miami (Ohio)'s Michael Drobnick at -3.
Penn State, Illinois and Iowa are the only three teams under par as a team with Mid-American Conference rivals Eastern Michigan and Miami in fourth and fifth and +5 and +7, respectively. Sixth-ranked Indiana finished the day at +17, good for 11th in the 18-team field.
Illinois sophomore Scott Langley is tied for 16th in the 93-man field at +1 (145) after rounds of 70 and 75. Freshman Luke Guthrie followed a first round 76 with a one-under par 71 and is at +3 (147) in a tie for 26th, while junior teammate Zach Barlow is tied for 38th at +5 (149) after rounds of 76 and 73.
Jacobs had 14 birdies in a row then birdied his final two holes of the first round to finish at -2. DeForest and Langley showed their muscle, playing the par fives and -5, tying of the tournament best in that category.
"We are a deep team," Small said. "We play well when all five guys show up to play hard and shoot competitive scores. We didn't get a real low score today, but we were consistently good. At the same time, those low scores were out there for the taking. If we heat our putters up a little bit tomorrow and next month, I think we can shoot some really good scores."
