April 19, 2010

Carmel, Indiana -
The Illini have taken a commanding 18-stroke lead in the Crooked Stick Invitational after the first day of competition on Monday. The team played 36 holes against a Big-Ten heavy field that includes Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Illini shot rounds of 284 and 283 to finish at one under par, 18 strokes ahead of Middle Tennessee State in second place and 23 strokes ahead of Purdue in third place. The Illini were lead by junior Chris DeForest who shot rounds of 69 an 67 to finish the day in the lead at -6. Junior Scott Langley is tied for second at -2 (69-71). Senior Zach Barlow is tied for seventh at +3 (71-74) and sophomore Luke Guthrie is tied for 10th at +4 (71-74).

Head coach Mike Small was very pleased with the way his players competed.

"We got off to kind of a slow start but we played really, really good golf for an extended period of time," Small said.

"I kept the ball in play really well today," Deforest said. "It's a tough course but I just kept putting myself in position to make birdies."

Deforest made 10 birdies on Monday, five in each round.

"The playing conditions were perfect," Langley said. "The course was as easy as you're ever going to see it, but it was still pretty difficult."

The tournament directors made a late change to the course, converting the 475 yard ninth hole from a par-five to a par-four, making the course a par-71.

The Illini will finish the tournament on Tuesday after a single round of 18 holes starting at 9:50 a.m. Live scoring can be found at golfstat.com

"We've got to come out again tomorrow expecting to shoot another low round," Deforest said.