ATLANTA – Fighting Illini men's golf defeated 2016 NCAA Champion Oregon on Wednesday afternoon to win its second consecutive East Lake Cup. Illinois won the championship match 3-2 over the Ducks after earning a 3-2 victory over Texas in Tuesday's semifinal round.
"All week I've said it, we wanted to win the event but we also wanted to come here and learn about ourselves and identify things we need to work on with match play golf," Head coach Mike Small said of the event. "I know we did both, and I'm excited to take what we learned and move forward into next spring. There was a lot of anticipation and excitement to come play this tournament. The team was excited to come play man-to-man, that's what's fun about this event."
Junior Nick Hardy put the first point on the board for Illinois on Wednesday, defeating Oregon's Edwin Yi, 5 and 4. Hardy took a 1-up lead on the third hole, and never looked back. He went 3-up after making the turn, and took a five-hole lead on the 13th hole. Â
Sophomore Edoardo Lipparelli defeated Nigel Lett 2 and 1 for the second point of the day. Lett took a lead early in the match, but Lipparelli came back to square it up on the sixth hole. Lipparelli won the eighth and ninth holes to make the turn at 2-up. He continued to put the pressure on going 3-up on the 11th hole. Lett pushed back, winning consecutive holes on the back nine, but Lipparelli held on for the victory.
Freshman Bryan Baumgarten also earned a 5 and 4 victory for the Illini, coming back from an early deficit. Oregon's Sulman Raza took the lead on the first hole, but Baumgarten continued to fight back, squaring up the match on the fifth hole. Baumgarten then went 1-up on the eighth hole, chipping in from the bunker. He had a repeat performance on the ninth hole to make the turn at 2-up. Baumgarten won his third-straight hole on No. 10 putting himself 3-up to start the back nine. He held on to his lead to clinch the tournament victory for Illinois.
Oregon took two matches on the day as Ryan Gronlund defeated freshman Michael Feagles 5 and 4, and Wyndham Clark defeated Dylan Meyer 1-up.
Wednesday's victory at the East Lake Cup marks the conclusion of the fall season for Illinois. The Orange and Blue won four of five events to start the year. The Illini will open the spring season on Jan. 28 at the Illini Alumni Match in Placida, Fla.
Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for all the latest on Illinois men's golf.
