Final Results (PDF) 

LIHUE, Hawai'i – The Fighting Illini men's golf team rose up the leaderboard again on the final day of action at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, carding a third-round team score of 8-under 280 to finish with a 54-hole total of 857 (-7) and secure a fourth-place finish in the 21-team field at Wailua Golf Course. It marks the second-consecutive top-five team finish for the Illini to open the spring season.

"We had our chances this week," said Illini head coach Mike Small. "We played our way into contention several times the last two days, but couldn't sustain the momentum to push in front. All-in-all, it was a good week and I saw a lot of bright spots in our play. As the spring season develops, I plan on us becoming more comfortable around the lead and being able to close some tournaments off." 

Giovanni Tadiotto led the Illini on Day 3. The senior closed the tournament with five birdies on Saturday to card a season-best round of 67 and jump from 12^th into a three-way tie for third at 6-under. Tadiotto's 210 was four strokes off the pace of medalist Sam Choi from New Mexico, and just one behind second-place finisher Ryan Gerard of North Carolina. The finish marked the second-consecutive top-five for Tadiotto who led the way for the Illini with a fourth-place showing at the Sports Authority Intercollegiate earlier this month.

Freshman Jerry Ji, sophomore Noah Gillard, and senior Michael Feagles rounded out the scoring for the Illini on Day 3.  Ji's closing 70 (-2) was enough to climb five spots on the leaderboard into a tie with Feagles - who shot even-par in Round 3 - at 1-under 215 for the tournament.

Gillard's 1-under 71 on Friday moved him up 19 spots from a tie for 76^th into a share of 57^th at 221 (+5), one stroke ahead of sophomore Adrien Dumont de Chassart who finished in a tie for 67^th in the field of 124 golfers. Sophomroe Tommy Kuhl, competing as an individual, finished in a tie for 37th at 2-over (218). 

As a team, the Illini finished 12 strokes behind team champion Texas A&M (845) and seven off the pace second-place finisher New Mexico (850), but were unable to catch BYU (856) for third place. UNLV and UNC Wilmington finished well behind Illinois at 1-over (865) to round out the top-five team standings.

Next up, the Illini return to competition, March 16-17, at the Louisiana Classics hosted by the University of Louisiana at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, Louisiana.