Final Results
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Illinois – Fighting Illini men's golf closed play at the 2019 OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational on Sunday, finishing in a tie for fifth overall. Three Illini placed among the top 25 individuals, led by seniors Michael Feagles and Bryan Baumgarten who tied for 17th individually. As a team, No 19 Illinois shot 3-over par on Sunday, for a total score 19-over.
Georgia Tech and Baylor tied atop the tournament leaderboard, with total scores 6-over par. Pepperdine (+9) and North Carolina (+16) also earned spots among the top five teams, and Texas A&M shared the fifth-place position with the Orange and Blue.
"We saw some positive steps in the right direction this week in regards to competing and showing some mental and emotional stamina down the stretch, which a coach likes to see," head coach Mike Small said. "We still need to clean things up to be competitive in this type of field. With Bryan's nice round today, we once again got one good round each day of the tournament, but, moving forward, we need to back that up with more depth on the scoreboard."
Baumgarten paced Illinois on Sunday as he fired a 3-under par final round tally. He was strong from the start as he birdied his first hole of the day and made the turn at even par. He added four more birdies on the back nine, negating a bogey on his final hole. Baumgarten finished 4-over par for the tournament. Also scoring 4-over par in total, Feagles finished Sunday's round at 3-over par.
Joining Feagles and Baumgarten among the top 25, sophomore Adrien Dumont de Chassart shot even par for the final round. He played strongly down the stretch, posting two birdies to negate a late bogey in his round. He closed play at 5-over par in total.
Sophomore Tommy Kuhl shot 7-over par on Sunday to close play at 11-over par in total and tied for 51st. Freshman Jerry closed play one stroke back at 12-over par to tie for 54th.
Playing as individuals, sophomores Varun Chopra and Brendan O'Reilly tied for 34th individually. The two closed tournament play at 8-over par in total. O'Reilly shot 3-over par on Sunday, carding three birdies, while Chopra finished with a 4-over par final round score.
Tied for 42nd overall, sophomore Noah Gillard shot 5-over par on Sunday for a total score 9-over. Senior Giovanni Tadiotto closed play at 13-over par in total to tie for 59th, while sophomore Luke Armbrust finished in a tie for 69th at 16-over.
THE TOURNAMENT
A three-day, 54-hole event, the 2019 OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational was held Friday-Sunday on the on the 7,205-yard, Par 70 North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club. The 2019 tournament field included several teams ranked among the Bushnell Golfweek Preseason Coaches poll including No. 1 Texas, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Pepperdine, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 16 California, No. 19 Illinois, No. 20 Baylor, No. 21 Alabama, No. 23 North Carolina, No. 25 Florida, RV Florida State, RV UNLV, Indiana and Northwestern.
NEXT UP
Coming up, Illinois will take on the Crooked Stick Intercollegiate in Carmel, Indiana. Held October 14-15, the two day, 54-hole tournament will be played on the Par 72, 7,567-yard course at Crooked Stick Golf Club.
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