OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – The No. 11 Fighting Illini men's golf team made a strong push to challenge for the team title during Sunday's final round at Olympia Fields Country Club. However, despite a pair of top-five individual finishes from fifth-year seniors Adrien Dumont de Chassart (T-2nd) and Tommy Kuhl (5th), the Orange and Blue were unable to fully overcome a late-second-round swoon, finishing in a tie for second behind 15th-ranked Stanford.
"Well, it's a tough finish to a solid tournament," head coach Mike Small said. "To come in and finish second in this field is a solid week. But we were really in position to win this thing and I think we lost our momentum yesterday afternoon. The way we finished yesterday, giving up eight or nine shots to fall behind, was a big deficit to overcome. We cut into it, and had the lead with nine holes to go; we were playing pretty well, but the same thing happened as yesterday and we just couldn't close it out."
As a team, the Illini stormed out of the gate to open Sunday's final round, with the five-man lineup combining to shoot 3-under on the front nine, and 5-under through the first 11 holes. The result was the Illini momentarily regaining the lead as the final pairings made the turn.
From that point on, however, the team was 10-over, allowing Stanford to close out the 12-stroke win with a 54-hole total of 831 (-9). No. 3-ranked Florida closed with the second-lowest round of the day to tie the Illini at 843 (+3) for the tournament. No. 5 Arizona State slid one stroke back of the Illini and Gators to place fourth, while (RV) Alabama finished at 850 (+10) for a distant fifth-place finish.
"We got beat at our own game this week," added Small. "We pride ourselves on playing solid golf and not making unforced errors, and Stanford did that today. Us and Arizona State faltered toward the end, and the tough golf course got us. We need to figure out, individually and as a team, how we can sustain ourselves through some adversity, through some nervousness, and close out these tournaments.
"The first round was as good as it gets, and today for the first 11 or 12 holes, it was as good as anybody in the country. The potential is there, but we need to clean things up and be able to play all 54 holes."
Dumont de Chassart, who led after Rounds 1 and 2, slid one spot down the individual leaderboard with a closing 72 for a three-round total of 204 (-6). Florida's Ricky Castillo jumped two spots, carding three-consecutive rounds of 68, to tie Dumont de Chassart for second. Neither, however, was able to catch the Cardinal's Michael Thorbjornsen who closed with a 66 to jump from sixth to claim the one-shot win.
"For a player to shoot 66 to come back and beat Adrien ... I know you can't play defense; sometimes someone just comes and beats you," Small said. "I know that Adrien's got a few wins still to come. He's going to win a few times this year, in my opinion. But you can't play defense, so hats off to Michael Thorbjornsen from Stanford. Overall though, two top five individual finishes is good. We just need to continue to work on that depth throughout the lineup."
Kuhl's fifth-place finish marked the best of his career at the OFCC, while his 206 (-4) established a career-best 54-hole tally for the Morton, Ill., native.
Behind Kuhl, Matthis Besard was the only Illini to close tied for 26th in his debut with the Illini. Besard, who opened with a 69 on Friday, bounced back from shooting 6-over in Round 2 with a closing round of even-par 70 to finish at 215 (+5). Junior Piercen Hunt tied for 43rd in the 78-player field at 219 (+9), while sophomore Jackson Buchanan tied for 50th at 221 (+11). Seniors Jerry Ji (226) and Nico Lang (229) were also in action, competing as individuals, and finished tied for 68th and ties for 72nd, respectively.
UP NEXT
The Illini travel to Grand Haven, Mich., to compete in the Folds of Honor Collegiate hosted by Michigan State and the GCAA at American Dunes Golf Club, Sept. 26-28. This new event, will feature of field of 18 programs, with proceeds benefitting Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of military members who have fallen or been disabled while serving in the United States Armed Forces, and the GCAA Presidential Scholarship Fund..
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