May 22, 2010
Bremerton, Wash. -
Final Results in PDF Format 
For the second time in school history and the first since 1951, Illinois has qualified for three straight NCAA Championships. The Illini placed fifth at the NCAA West Regional at Gold Mountain Golf Club's par 72 Olympic Course in Bremerton, Wash. The top five teams from each of the six regionals advance to the 30-team NCAA Championship June 1-5 at the Honors Course in suburban Chattanooga.
"It doesn't matter if you finish first or fifth, the goal is to make it there," said Illinois head coach Mike Small. "That has been the goal all season. Once you get to the national championship anything can happen."
As a team Illinois was consistent, shooting a four-over par 292 for the second straight round after firing a 293 during round one. The Illini finish the tournament at +13, two strokes in front of Middle Tennessee (+15) for the transfer spot.
Top seed and host Washington easily won the Regional posting a 13-under par 275 on Saturday to finish at -20. Most of the rest of the teams were pretty evenly bunched. USC was second at +9 followed by San Diego (+10), Oregon State (+12) and Illinois (+13).
"When you have this many good teams together, it's going to be pretty competitive," Small said. "There were some challenges against us. Playing a top-five team on its home course basically means we were fighting for four spots. Obviously playing on a different style of course for us and that far from campus is tough also. I'm proud of how this team got past all that adversity and survived."
Big Ten Player of the Year Scott Langley shot a three-under par 69 to pace Illinois' qualifying efforts, giving him his second straight under par round. Langley finished seventh individually at -2.
Sophomore Luke Guthrie and senior Zach Barlow tied for 24th at +4 after posting rounds of 74 and 75, respectively. Senior Matt Hoffman rebounded to post a 74 while junior Chris DeForest also posted a 75 on Saturday
Illinois is making its 18th trip to the NCAA finals, including its fifth under Small. The Illini have finished 17th and 21st, respectively, the past two seasons.
"The conference player of the year delivered with a 69 on his scorecard, but this was a total team effort," Small said. "We accomplished our goal, now we have to get back to work before heading to the Chattanooga."
