Results
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Fighting Illini men's golf defeated Alabama, 5-1, in the final round of play at the Cypress Point Classic on Tuesday, earning a fifth-place finish as a team. The No. 6 seed in the tournament, Illinois earned wins over No. 8 Alabama and No. 7 California in the second and third rounds of play, but fell to No. 3 UCLA to open the Ryder-Cup style event.
"After losing the first match to UCLA, I was proud of the guys for coming back and winning our next two matches against some quality golf programs in Cal and Alabama," head coach Mike Small said. "I thought today, it was especially good to see the command we had of our games, and our production on the greens was the best it has been most of this fall. We've had some tough stretches during this fall season trying to find consistent production throughout the lineup, but ending the season and this tournament in this manner gives us momentum heading into the offseason. We're excited for the spring season to get here."
Illini senior Michael Feagles earned another dominant victory on Tuesday at Cypress Point. He defeated Alabama's Wilson Furr, 6&5 in the singles match round. Senior Giovanni Tadiotto secured a 4&3 victory for Illinois over Alabama's Prescott Butler, as did junior Brendan O'Reilly who defeated Thomas Ponder.
Sophomores Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl also put points on the board for the Illini, earning 3&2 wins in their matches.
Georgia Tech earned the Cypress Point Classic title, defeating Duke in the championship match. No. 3 UCLA defeated no. 4 Stanford in the third-place match, 4-2, while Cal defeated USC in the seventh-place match, 5.5-0.5.
THE TOURNAMENT
A Ryder Cup-style tournament, the Cypress Point Classic split the eight participating teams into two groups for a head-to-head style competition. Each team squared off in three rounds of match play with six players on each side. Teams played a fourball match and a round of foursomes on Monday, and concluded play with singles matches on Tuesday. Teams were awarded one point for each match won, and teams with the highest point total at the end of each round advanced in the tournament bracket. The Illini were joined in the tournament field by host Stanford, California, UCLA, USC, Duke, Alabama and Georgia Tech.
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ROUND 3 RESULTS
No. 6 Illinois def. No. 8 Alabama, 5-1
Illinois – Giovanni Tadiotto   4&3
Alabama – Prescott Butler
Illinois – Adrien Dumont de Chassart  3&2
Alabama – Davis Shore
Illinois – Brendan O'Reilly   4&3
Alabama – Thomas Ponder
Illinois – Varun Chopra
Alabama – Frankie Capan  6&5
Illinois – Tommy Kuhl  3&2
Alabama – Simms Abney
Illinois – Michael Feagles  6&5
Alabama – Wilson Furr
