COLUMBIA, Mo. – Sophomore Jackson Buchanan closed out a record-setting performance on Tuesday afternoon at the Tiger Collegiate Invitational, holding off teammate Adrien Dumont de Chassart to claim his first collegiate victory with a program-best 54-hole tournament score of 194 (-22). Buchanan's effort led the way for the Illini, sparking the team to a program-record score of 796 (-68) to secure the Orange and Blue's fifth team title of the 2022-23 season by 28 strokes over host Missouri at The Club at Old Hawthorne.
"I'm proud of the team," head coach Mike Small said. "I'm proud of the way that they took care of business, and understood that today was a new day even though yesterday was a record-breaking performance. I was proud that they didn't come out and have a hangover from yesterday. They were all focused, in the present, and took care of business today."
Buchanan, who set the program's single-round record Monday afternoon with a 62 (-10) in Round 2, was dialed in again in Tuesday's finale. He entered the day with a four-stroke lead over Dumont de Chassart, and matched his opening round of 66, including a stretch of 6-under of his final 10 holes of the day, en route to a 22-under par 194 to set the program's 54-hole tournament record.
Buchanan's score eclipsed the old mark of 197 (-13) posted by Brian Campbell at The Macdonald Cup in October 2013. The individual title is the first of Buchanan's career, and the first by an Illini since Dumont de Chassart won the 2022 Boilermaker Invitational last April.
Dumont de Chassart finished four strokes behind Buchanan with a three-round total of 198 (-18) in a tie for second. His score also marked the third-lowest in program history, and was four shots better than his previous personal best of 202 (-8), which he carded at The Macdonald Cup as a freshman in 2018.
Piercen Hunt also posted several personal bests, finishing in solo fifth, his best individual finish since winning the Isleworth Collegiate in October 2021. Hunt, like Buchanan, shot a career-low score in Round 2 (8-under 64), and finished with a personal-best tournament score of 202 (-14).
Tommy Kuhl closed as the Illini's No. 4 finisher with a score of 7-under 209 (68-68-73), to tie for 16th overall. Matthis Besard secured a top-25 finish, carding a score of 211 (-5) including a 6-under 66 in Round 3, his lowest single-round score of the season.
Freshman Ryan Voois, playing as an individual competitor in his fourth collegiate event, finished tied for 32nd with a personal-best tournament tally of 214 (-2).
As a team, the Illini lineup posted 13 of a possible 15 rounds at or below par, and Illinois' 28-stroke victory marked the team's largest since a 38-shot win at the 2021 Louisiana Classics.
"Our goal is and always has been, to achieve a standard that is good enough to win at the highest level," Smalll added. "Daily, we chisel and knock off deficiencies in our games- to become better players, so that when the time comes when we have to produce at the highest level, we can just hit our standard and not have to 'peak' to achieve success. I don't want to leave success up to chance. This week showed me that we are making that progress'.
UP NEXT
The Illini return home to host the inaugural Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate, April 22-23, the team's final regular-season tournament leading up to the 2023 Big Ten Championship. The Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate will officially christen the championship-caliber Atkins Golf Club at the University of Illinois. It not only marks the first collegiate event at the newly renovated facility, but also the team's first event in the Urbana-Champaign community since the 2010-11 season, the program's final year hosting the Illini Spring Classic at the venue, then known as Stone Creek Golf Club.
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