May 7, 2012

Complete NCAA Regional Selections

INDIANAPOLIS - Illinois was selected to compete at the Norman Regional from May 17-19, announced Monday night by the NCAA Men's Golf Committee. The Illini, who notched a regional berth for the fifth year in a row, will play the 54-hole event at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla. The top five teams and low individual not on those teams will advance to the finals, which will be held from May 29-June 3 at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

"We are looking forward to continuing the momentum we have built over the last month at regionals," head coach Mike Small said. "We are going to finish up finals over the next few days and get back to work to try to make it to our fifth-straight final."

The Illini earned the conference's automatic bid after winning a fourth-consecutive Big Ten title and are the No. 7 seed in one of the three regionals with 14 teams. They will compete against No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 6 Saint Mary's, No. 8 Middle Tennessee, No. 9 South Carolina, No. 10 San Diego, No. 11 Arizona, No. 12 Sacramento State, No. 13 IUPUI and No. 14 Loyola-Chicago.

A total of 81 schools were selected to the six different regional sites, including five other Big Ten squads in Iowa (Athens), Indiana (Greensboro), Northwestern (Bowling Green), and Purdue and Ohio State (Ann Arbor). Thirteen teams and 10 individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams.

Last season, Illinois placed second in the regional at Wolf Run Golf Club to advance to the NCAA Championship for the fourth-straight season. The Illini are one of just eight schools to qualify for the finals each of the past four years along with Arizona State, Florida, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA and USC.