ATLANTA – Fighting Illini men's golf closed the fall season on Wednesday in the final round of the East Lake Cup. Illinois battled against the Vanderbilt Commodores on the Par 72, 7,688-yard course at East Lake Golf Club, but the Illini dropped the final match, 4-1.
"It was a disappointing end to a good week," head coach Mike Small said. "It's disappointing that we didn't win our third East Lake Cup in a row, but I think it's harder to get here three years in a row than it is to win this thing. A win would've been nice, but I'm proud of these kids and this program for having the game to get to this level. I'm proud of the way Nick {Hardy} and Dylan {Meyer} led this week; they played strong. Some guys showed some positive play this week, and this team has earned the right to take a couple months off. They've been playing hard since February and they've earned the right to take a break."
The Orange and Blue earned the No. 3 seed in match play during Monday's stroke play round, and advanced to the match play finals with a victory over 2017 NCAA Champion Oklahoma on Tuesday.
As a team, Illinois got off to an early lead in Wednesday's final as sophomore Michael Feagles, freshman Brendan O'Reilly and senior Dylan Meyer put themselves ahead in their matches from the start. Feagles continued to hold the lead in his match throughout the front nine, but Vanderbilt's Will Gordon squared the match on the 10th hole before pulling ahead on No. 12. He held on to the lead to earn the first point of the day (2&1).
O'Reilly battled with Vanderbilt's Harrison Ott throughout the match as Ott squared things up on the fourth hole and took the lead before making the turn. O'Reilly fought back to bring the match back to all square on the 12th hole, before taking the lead on the 15th. Ott again squared the match and pulled ahead on the 17th hole for a 1-up victory.
Facing Vanderbilt's Theo Humphrey, Meyer took the lead in his match on the third hole, extending his lead to 2-up on No. 5. Humphrey squared the match on the seventh hole, however, and held a quick lead on the eighth hole. Meyer continued to fight, squaring the match immediately after. Meyer and Humphrey's match was halved.
Senior Nick Hardy also halved his match for the Illini. After getting off to an early deficit, Hardy fought back to square his match on the 15th hole. Sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto fell to Vanderbilt's John Augenstein, 4&3.
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 continued with match play semifinals on Tuesday, October 31. The finals and consolation matches were played on Wednesday, Nov. 1. East Lake Golf Club is the home of the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, the culminating event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedEx Cup.Â
Illinois will open the spring season in Placida, Florida at the Illini Alumni Match (Jan. 27, 2018), before opening outside competition on Feb. 9 at Big Ten Match Play.
Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois men's golf.
