April 7, 2013

Final Results

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Illinois shot a 1-under-par 287 on Sunday, the fourth-best round of the day and eighth-best in the entire Insperity Augusta State Invitational, and freshman Thomas Detry finished with an even-par 72 to place 16th, his third-straight top-20 finish. Junior Thomas Pieters fired a 5-under 67 in the final round, Illinois' best individual score of the tournament, and the Illini placed 12th at the event held at the par-72, 7,142-yard Forest Hills Golf Course.

Pieters finished tied for 28th, while Coastal Carolina's Sebastian Soderberg defeated UCF's Greg Eason on the fifth playoff hole to win medalist honors after both golfers finished the tournament at -7. Texas won the team title at -1 after firing a 3-under 285 on Sunday, besting host Augusta State by two strokes.

"We showed some resiliency today, which is what we were looking for," Illinois head coach Mike Small said. "We can still play better, but it was a positive day and we need to build on what we did today. Thomas (Pieters) got the score that we need to have more often and everybody else played better, too. Our program takes pride in coming back from bad days like we had yesterday, and I thought we made a positive statement today."

Illinois didn't count a score above 74 on Sunday, as both sophomore Alex Burge and freshman Charlie Danielson contributed 2-over-par 74s to the Illini's round of 287. After a rough first two rounds, Pieters notched his 10th round under par this season and Detry notched his seventh round at par or better.

Pieters' 67 tied for the second-best round of the tournament behind only Soderberg's final-round 66 and was one of only 16 rounds under 70 among the 75 players in the field. He jumped 30 spots to finish tied for 28th, carding seven birdies on the day and four in his first nine holes. Burge finished tied for 33rd (+6), freshman David Kim tied for 65 at +14 after a 4-over 76 on Sunday, and Danielson placed 73rd at +20.

Detry had the second-best scoring average in the tournament on par 3 holes at even-par 3.00, while Pieters' -6 was the third-best total on par 5s. Burge also registered the second-most pars in the tournament with 37.

The Illini return to action April 20-21 at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind., as the team's final tune-up prior to Big Ten Championships in French Lick, Ind., on April 26-28.