University of Illinois
NCAA Stroke Play
@IlliniMGolf Advances to NCAA Match Play for Fourth Straight Season
May 30, 2016 | Men's Golf
The Illini carded a 4-under par final round to earn the No. 2 seed heading into match play.
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Eugene, Ore. – Fighting Illini men's golf used a 4-under par fourth round tally to once again climb the leaderboard at the 2016 NCAA Men's Golf National Championships and earn a No. 2 seed into match play. The Illini will face South Carolina, the No. 7 seed, beginning at 9 a.m. CT on Tuesday, May 31. Illinois has now advanced to match play in four consecutive seasons and five times in the last six years.
Illinois stepped up to the plate on Monday, battling their way up the leaderboard from the ninth place position. The Orange and Blue fired the lowest team score of the entire tournament (276), carding 14 birdies and an eagle altogether. Seniors Charlie Danielson and Thomas Detry earned spots among the top-10 individuals, while both sophomores, Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer, closed the day among the top-30. Illinois shot 15-over par through four rounds of stroke play, just one stroke behind tournament leader, Texas (+14).
"I thought today went great," head coach Mike Small said after the round. "We came out and played with purpose and with the mindset that we were going to move up the leaderboard. The team played solid from the first hole. Yesterday we had some unforced errors that we needed to tidy up, and today it was a very tight, very well-played, Illini Golf-like day."
Detry was on fire on Monday, closing the day 3-under par for the Illini. He tallied two birdies on his front nine, making the turn at 2-under par. He carded another early birdie on his back nine, and immediately followed a bogey on the seventh hole with a birdie on the eighth. Detry tied for 10th individually, his second consecutive top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships. He shot 3-over par through four rounds.
Consistently leading the Illini through the tournament, Danielson shot 1-over par in the fourth round of play to earn a tie for eighth individually to mark his best finish at the national championship since a T-13 finish in 2013. Danielson started the day at even par, but hit a tough spot while making the turn. He fought his way back to even par using a birdie and an eagle on the third and fourth holes. A late bogey in the round put him just 1-over for the day. Danielson finished 2-over par for the tournament.
Meyer earned a tie for 17th following the fourth round of stroke play. He tallied three birdies on the day, helping to negate his two bogeys. Meyer shot 1-under par for the round, finishing 5-over par in total. He has finished among the top-25 in back-to-back national championship appearances.
Hardy also shot 1-under par for the day on Monday, finishing at 7-over par in total. Hardy shot even on his front nine holes of the fourth round, and finished strongly with a birdie to end the round. He tied for 26th in the tournament field.
Freshman Edoardo Lipparelli tied for 75th individually in his first appearance at the NCAA Championships. He shot 2-over par in the fourth round to finish at 17-over par in total.
"I'm looking forward to getting another chance at this thing," Small said of tomorrow's match play quarterfinal. "I'm looking forward to seeing how our guys play and learning about them in certain situations. That's why we do this, it's for the kids, for them to grow and learn to handle adversity in different situations. As a coach, I want to see how they do."
Match Play Quarterfinals begin at 9:00 a.m. CT on Tuesday, May 31, and television coverage on the Golf Channel will begin at 12:30 p.m. CT. The Semifinal round of match play is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. CT, following the quarterfinal matches. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat, and fans can follow @IlliniMGolf on Twitter for even more live updates. The Championship is being held at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Oregon, which boasts a par 70, 7,014-yard course.
Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest on Illinois men's golf.
