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ATLANTA - Â Fighting Illini men's golf earned a 3-2-0 victory over 2017 NCAA Champion Oklahoma in the semifinal round of the East Lake Cup on Tuesday to advance to the match play finals on Wednesday. The Orange and Blue are set to face Vanderbilt, beginning at 11:55 a.m. CT.
"We played some solid golf today that we didn't play yesterday, which was very beneficial," head coach Mike Small said. "We were in command early. We hit the ball in the fairway, we were better on the greens, and we got off to an early lead which helps."
Seniors Dylan Meyer and Nick Hardy put the first points on the board for the Illini on Tuesday, as Meyer took his match 3&2 and Hardy defeated Grant Hirschman 6&4.
Meyer took an early lead for the Illini, going 1-up on his first hole. Oklahoma's Blaine Hale squared the match on the next hole, but Meyer put himself back in the lead immediately after. Meyer maintained his lead through the round, going 3-up at the turn. He was 4-up through 14 holes, and took the match on the 16th hole.
Hardy also took an early lead in his match, going 1-up on the first hole. He continued to pull away, as he was 3-up at the turn. He extended his advantage to 4-up on the 10th hole and never looked back.
Sophomore Michael Feagles clinched the match for the Illini on Tuesday, defeating Brad Dalke 2&1. Feagles was 2-up over Dalke through five holes, but Dalke squared the match on the seventh hole. Feagles pulled back into the lead after making the turn, and held on to the advantage from there.
Oklahoma's Garett Reband defeated Giovanni Tadiotto, 3&2, and Oklahoma's Riley Casey defeated freshman Brendan O'Reilly, 1-up.
"Oklahoma is a great team, we all know that," Small said. "And Vanderbilt just as strong or stronger so we've got a big day tomorrow."
Illinois has now advanced to the final match at the East Lake Cup in each of the past three seasons.
"We're excited about it. We come here to compete," Small said of the final match. "We've talked all week about what it does for us, but it really tests us and this is a fun way to play team golf. It gives us another chance to get better, it puts us in some situations where we can get better and our guys will grow from it."
Held at East Lake Golf Club, the East Lake Cup is a three-day event that welcomes four of the top men's and women's collegiate golf teams. The tournament opened with an individual stroke play competition to determine the individual champion, and will continue with match play finals and consolation matches tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 1.
The East Lake Golf Club boasts a Par 72, 6,886-yard course and is the home of the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, the culminating event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedEx Cup.Â
Live tournament coverage of the East Lake Cup will air on Golf Channel from 2-5 p.m. CT each day and will replay in primetime (6-9 p.m. CT). In addition, Golf Central and Morning Drive are live and on-site at East Lake, surrounding live tournament coverage with pre- and post-event news coverage. Complete information on the East Lake Cup can be found on the tournament website here.
