Sept. 13, 2009
Zionsville, Ind. -
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Illinois, winners of seven tournaments a year ago, picked up right where it left off last season with a victory in the season-opening Wolf Run Invitational. Paced by junior Scott Langley, Illinois dominated the field, winning the tournament by 13 strokes over second-place North Florida and by 24 strokes over third-place and host Indiana.
"I was pumped to get back and playing with the guys," said Illinois junior Scott Langley following Sunday's final round. "We're all playing really well right now and it showed this weekend."
Langley shot three rounds in the 60s, including a final round two-under par 69 at the 7,195-yard par 71 Wolf Run course to finish second individually. The Manchester, Mo., native played well enough to win with a 10-under par 203 score, but North Florida's Sean Dale, was one stroke better.
"I'm really happy with the way I played," Langley said. "I gave myself a lot of opportunities to make a lot of birdies, and capitalized on most of them. I'm glad I was able to help us come out with a win as a team."
Illinois had two players in the top 10, four in the top 15 and all five players in the top 25 individually in the 90-man field.
"It was a replica of last year in that it was a total team effort," said Illinois head coach Mike Small. "It was certainly a positive start to the year."
Illinois finished the tournament at -5 (847) as a team after tallying an even par 284 team score in the final round on Sunday. North Florida was second at 860 followed by Indiana (871), no. 21 Michigan (874) and Penn State (875) in the 17-team field.
Illinois sophomore Luke Guthrie (70-71-73-214) was tied for seventh at +1 with senior Zach Barlow (70-72-76-218) and freshman Ross Frankenberg (73-73-72-218), playing in his first collegiate event, tying for 15th at +5. Senior Matt Hoffman tied for 23rd (73-77-70-220) at +7 after playing the final round at -1.
"I'm pleased with Ross' start to his college career," Small said. "There are certainly a lot of positives to his game. Our finish is certainly indicative of our depth."
Illinois takes this momentum into the arguably the biggest tournament of the fall in college golf - the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon. The tournament has seven of the preseason top 12, including three of the top five, and 12 of the top 28 teams in Golf World /Nike Coaches poll. Illinois began their run toward a special season with a victory at the tournament in 2008.
"Winning here gives our team a lot of confidence going into next week," Langley said. "It will be a strong field as always. We all know the course really well. We made some good memories last year and hope to make some better ones next week."
