LAFAYETTE, La. – The No. 4-ranked Fighting Illini men's golf team closed out its third victory in as many tournaments on Tuesday afternoon behind a record-breaking team performance at the Louisiana Classics. The team tallied five top-seven individual finishes, including the first collegiate tournament victory for sophomore Jerry Ji.

"This is how you want to finish out tournaments," head coach Mike Small said. "The last round of a team golf tournament is the most important round, and you've got to close it. We went into it with a lead and you have to go into it with the mindset to still shoot the lowest score; you don't protect. And our guys didn't protect and they played well."

Ji did exactly that. After rounds of 68 and 69 on Monday he closed with a 66 to finish with a three-round total of 203 (-13), and secured his first victory by holding off hard charges from teammates Michael Feagles and Adrien Dumont de Chassart. Ji's 203 marked a career-low for the Hoofddorp, Netherlands, product, and tied the Louisiana Classics tournament record set by former Illini Thomas Detry in 2015.

"Jerry is improving; he's working hard on his game," Small said of the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year. "I thought he saved shots with his short game better than he has been. But his golf swing is getting really good, he's been working on it. He played from strength all week and he didn't flinch. He played solid all week."

The team victory marks the sixth at the Louisiana Classics for the Illini who previously captured the title at Oakbourne Country Club in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The Orange and Blue's total of 823 breaks the tournament record for a 54-hole total and comes in as the fourth-best tournament score in program history. The team's Round 3 score (268) also establishes a new tourney record for a single-round team score, and marks the second-best single-round team score ever turned in by the Illini, only trailing the 264 carded in Round 3 of the 2016 Big Ten Championship. Illinois finished 38 strokes ahead of second-place, host Louisiana (861), establishing a new Louisiana Classics record for largest margin of victory.   

"To shoot 20 under on that golf course - it's a tricky golf course - you have to be in control of your game and we were," Small added.

Senior Giovanni Tadiotto matched Ji's closing round of 66 to finish with a 210 (-6) to climb 13 spots into fifth place in the final standings, seven strokes off the pace of Ji and three strokes behind Feagles and Dumont de Chassart, who tied for second. Junior Tommy Kuhl (213) finished at 3-under for the tourney in seventh place to give the Illini lineup five of the top seven individual finishers.

"Obviously having guys finish at the top of the leaderboard shows the depth that we had," Small said. "Depth is something that we preach, and something that we have to have, and we had it this week." 

Three Illini also competed individually in the 81-player field. Freshman Piercen Hunt led that group, shooting three straight rounds of 72 to finish at even-par in a tie for 13^th. Sophomore Nico Lang, who opened with rounds of 71 and 72 on Monday, closed with a 78 to finish 5-over in a tie for 33^rd, one stroke ahead of senior Brendan O'Reilly, who tied for 39^th in the 81-player field.  

Next up, the Illini travel directly from Louisiana 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.