LAS VEGAS, Nev. – No. 19 Fighting Illini men's golf closed play at the Southern Highlands Collegiate on Tuesday, matching team's season-low single-round score with an 8-under 280 to climb two more spots into eighth place against a premier field at Southern Highlands Golf Club.
"We settled down and played some solid golf today," head coach Mike Small said. "It was nice to get to a respectable finish after a rough start to the tournament. I'm proud of the guys for competing until the end and playing Illini golf today."
The senior duo of Tommy Kuhl and Adrien Dumont de Chassart led the charge for the Illini in Round 3.
Kuhl, who opened with scores of 72 and 69 on Sunday and Monday, respectively, fired a career-low tally of 4-under 68 on Tuesday, moving him up into a tie for 13th. Kuhl's 54-hole total of 209 (-7) also marked a career-best, matching his final score from the 2021 Mobile Bay Intercollegiate. The finish is Kuhl's 12th-career top-20 as an Illini.
Dumont de Chassart bounced back from lack-luster Round 2, besting his opening score by one stroke and matching Kuhl's total with a closing 68 (-5). Dumont de Chassart, has now tallied sub-par scores in five of six rounds – with the exception of Monday's 75 - to open the spring slate. He finished three strokes behind Kuhl and one shot outside of the top-18 in a tie for 21st, climbing 19 spots over his final 18 holes.
Junior Jerry Ji (73-69-73) finished with a 54-hole total of 215 (-1), tying for 32nd in the 84-player field. Sophomore Piercen Hunt also continued his ascent up the leaderboard on Tuesday. After an opening 80, Hunt answered with a 70 (-2) on Monday and closed with a 71 (-1) on Tuesday, jumping 10 more spots into a tie for 62nd with a three-round total of 221 (+5). Freshman Jackson Buchanan also shot his best round of the event in Tuesday's finale, carding a 3-over 75 to finish in 83rd with a three-round score of 234 (+18).
The tournament field featured eight of Golfstat's top-30-rated programs, with each of the ranked squads bunching up at the top of the final leaderboard. No. 1 Oklahoma (-38) won the team title by seven strokes over No. 5 Pepperdine (-31). No. 15 Texas (-29), No. 24 Florida (-20), and No. 12 Georgia Tech (-19) rounded out the top five, while No. 9 Georgia and No. 29 New Mexico finished just ahead of the 19th-ranked Illini at -16 and -15, respectively.
UP NEXT
The Illini will face another desert challenge when they return to action March 18-19 at the National Invitational Tournament hosted by the University of Arizona at OMNI Tucson National.
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