April 25, 2010

West Lafayette, Ind. -

Final Team Scores in PDF Format
Final Individual Results in PDF Format

The spring of 2010 is starting to resemble 2009 for the 10th-ranked Illinois men's golf team. Illinois won its third tournament in the last month with a 13-stroke victory at the Boilermaker Invitational, winning that title for the second straight season. The Fighting Illini, who have now won 12 titles in the last two seasons, will try to carry that momentum into next weekend where they will be looking to defend their Big Ten Championship.

"We're just now getting into our season," head coach Mike Small said of the three remaining tournaments "We want to not only defend the Big Ten championship, but also compete for NCAA regional and national titles."

This weekend Illinois prevailed in a 12-team field that included seven Big Ten teams. The Illini shot a one-under par 287 in the third and final round on Sunday to finish at 10-under par 854 for the tournament, 13 shots ahead of second-place Ohio State (867) and 26 shots in front of third-place and host Purdue (880). Indiana (881), Toledo (882), Northwestern (890), Iowa (892) and Wisconsin (898) round out the top eight teams.

Despite the victory, Small knows his team still needs to perform when it counts. "It's nice to win, but very week is it's own week. We need to take care of our business (next weekend)."

Not only will Illinois bring momentum into next week as a team, but there is no individual playing better right now than the Illini's Chris DeForest, who wrapped up his third title in the last four tournaments, including his second straight.

DeForest completed his eighth straight under par round with a final-round four-under par 68 to claim a six-shot victory over runner-up Brad Smith of Ohio State. DeForest used back-to-back 69s in the first two rounds to finish at -10 (206).

"Chris is playing confident golf," Small said. "He has worked hard so he deserves it. That work is really starting to pay dividends."

"I am just trying to get back to playing more aggressive golf," DeForest said of his recent success. "I'm using that approach with the addition of all the positives I have learned since I've been here."

Illinois had three players finish in the top six with seniors Zach Barlow (74-70-72) and Matt Hoffman (68-73-75) tying for fourth at even par 216. Junior Scott Langley (72-76-72) shot his second even par round of the tournament Sunday to finish at four-over par 220, in a tie for 11th. Sophomore Luke Guthrie tied for 18th in the 66-man field at +6 (222).

"It shows our depth and that's an advantage we hope to continue at Big Tens," Small said.

DeForest said that the fact that Illinois is vying for titles as a team as helped him stay focused.

"Today we needed to close out the team title," DeForest said. "Because of that it has been easy to keep my mind on each shot. We're moving in the right direction, but we still have room to get better. We hope to finish the year strong by getting everyone clicking all at once."

The 72-team Big Ten Championship takes place April 30-May 2 in Minneapolis.