May 26, 2009

Toledo, Ohio -

Team Scores in PDF Format
Individual Scores in PDF Format
Team and Individual Scores in PDF Format

Illinois sophomore Scott Langley had four birdies on the back nine en route to a two-under 69 in the first round of the NCAA Golf Championship. That's good for a part of a three-way tie for the tournament lead with Jonathan Bowers of Northwestern and Matt Hill of North Carolina State.

Langley's score comes on the same course that has hosted U.S. Open and PGA Championship tournaments in years past, the famed Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

"I came into today without expectations other than to play hard for my team," Langley said. "I played pretty steady and got off to a good start. I had a little bit of speed bump in the middle of the round, but that's going to happen here because it's such a tough course. The conditions made it even harder. I just kept telling myself I can make birdies out here."

As a team, Illinois is tied for 15th at +15. The top eight teams after three rounds advance to an eight-team match-play tournament to determine the NCAA champion. The Illini are just five strokes out of that slot and just two strokes out of the top 10.

Langley, who just missed playing on the final day of the 2008 NCAA Championship as a freshmen, losing a four-way playoff for the final spot, finished his round Tuesday with an exclamation point - a 25-foot birdie putt on 18, one of the toughest greens on the course.

Langley's birdie on the 518-yard par five 13th was equally as impressive. His tee shot was on the slope of a fairway bunker. His second shot found the bunker in the left front of the green, 20 yards from the pin. He proceeded to get up and down from there for a birdie four. That ended a string of three straight birdies for the Illinois sophomore.

"Scott played steady all day," said Illinois head coach Mike Small. "He kept the ball in play and hit fairways, which is a big deal out here."

Illinois played the back nine at +4 as a team after combining for a +11 on the front. Junior Zach Barlow played the second nine at +1 after also finishing his round with a birdie, but finished with an 81 overall on the 7,255-yard par 71 course.

Freshman Luke Guthrie had the second best round of the day for Illinois, firing a five-over par 76, which included three birdies over a nine-hole stretch. Sophomore Chris DeForest was even par through eight, but finished at +6 (77). Junior Matt Hoffman also shot 77 after playing the final six holes at one-under par.

"As a team, we were able to come back," Small said. "But if we want to get in the top eight and have a chance at match play, we have to play better. Tomorrow is an important morning for us to go out and get an advantage. We are going to have to come out and be ready to go."

Oklahoma State and Georgia share the team lead at +4 followed by Chattanooga at +8 and Washington and San Diego at +9. San Diego was the last team to qualify with an at-large bid for the NCAA Regional.

The Big Ten is well represented on the leaderboard of the 30-team championship. Ohio State is in a three-way tie for sixth with Tennessee and Arizona State at +10; Michigan is ninth at +12; Northwestern is tied for 12th at +14 while Iowa is tied for 18th at +17.

The top 15 seeded teams played in the afternoon on Tuesday and will play in the morning on Wednesday. The 12th-seeded Fighting Illini tee off at 7:07 CDT-7:45 am CDT. Despite being seed in the lower half, four of the top nine spots after day one played in the morning wave.

"The front nine is a little more difficult," noted Small. "That's what the scores showed today. Tomorrow we finish on that nine, so we have to challenge it a little more than we did today."