LAFAYETTE, La. – The No. 4-ranked Illinois men's golf team returns to the Pelican State early next week in search of its third-consecutive team tournament win to open the spring schedule when the Fighting Illini tee off at the 36th annual Louisiana Classics on Monday and Tuesday (March 15-16).
THE SETTING
The Louisiana Classics is hosted by the University of Louisiana at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, La. Described as a picturesque tree-lined shot-makers course, the Par-72 layout plays at 6,866 yards.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The 54-hole tournament will be played over two days with 36 holes on Monday, followed by Tuesday's final round. Monday will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. CT; Tuesday will begin with fixed tee times off Holes 1 and 10 beginning at 7:30 a.m. CT. The low four scores will count towards the team score in each round.
THE FIELD
The Louisiana Classics features a 14-team field led by the Illini, ranked tied for fourth in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll. Big Ten foe Michigan, and Illinois State and Southern Illinois will also compete in the event. In addition to the Illini, who are ranked fifth and fourth, respectively, in the latest GolfStat and Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, the field features five other teams that rank inside the top 100 of both team ratings: North Texas (38/46), Sam Houston State (49/71), Kansas City (63/66), ULM (71/75), and Texas State (88/87), while host Louisiana (102/104) ranks just outside the top 100. Defending tournament champion McNeese, Oral Roberts, Rice and UTEP round out the competition. Two individual competitors from UTSA will also tee off.
FIGHTING ILLINI LINEUP
No. 1: Michael Feagles
No. 2: Adrien Dumont de Chassart
No. 3: Jerry Ji
No. 4: Tommy Kuhl
No. 5:Â Giovanni Tadiotto
Individual: Brendan O'Reilly
Individual: Piercen Hunt
Individual: Nico Lang
ILLINI AT THE LOUISIANA CLASSICS
The Fighting Illini have competed in 12 of the last 13 Louisiana Classics dating back to 2007, and were scheduled to travel to the event in 2020 prior to the abrupt cancellation of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic just days before teeing off at Oakbourne. The Orange and Blue have notched top-5 team finishes in 10 of those 12 tourneys, including five wins in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and three runner-up finishes in 2010, 2018 and 2019. Former Illini Thomas Detry captured medalist honors at the event as a junior in 2015. Junior Tommy Kuhl has the top finish at the Louisiana Classics among current Illini with a sixth place finish during his freshman season in 2019. Fifth-year seniors Michael Feagles and Giovanni Tadiotto have played in the event three times, posting their best finishes - 8th and T13th, respectively - in 2019. Senior Brendan O'Reilly played in both the 2018 and 2019 events, while juniors Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Luke Armbrust competed in the 2019 tournament.
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring for the Louisiana Classics will be available on GolfStat.com. A recap and results will be posted on FightingIllini.com following each day of competition.
ROUND 3 TV COVERAGE
Tuesday's final round of the Louisiana Classics will be streamed live on ESPN+ beginning at 9:30 a.m. CT, with Dan McDonald (play-by-play) and Gerald Broussard (analyst).
UP NEXT
The Illini continue a busy week of golf, traveling to Tucson, Ariz., to compete Saturday and Sunday (March 20-21) at the National Invitational Tournament hosted by the University of Arizona at Omni Tucson National.
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Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois men's golf and follow the Illini on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for even more live updates.
