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Men's Golf
Illinois places 17th at NCAA Championship
May 31, 2008 West Lafayette, Ind. - A successful season came to an end for Illinois Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind. The Illini tied Arizona State for 17th at the 111th NCAA Golf Championship. In addition Scott Langley, who was tied for 24th individually, qualified for a three-man playoff to determine the final individual spot in the fourth and final round. Third round play had been suspended Friday after strong storms rolled through the Purdue campus. The Illini, already in the clubhouse at +52, held onto slim hopes of making the final cut of 15 teams to Satutrday's final round. After the third round was completed Saturday, the Illini were tied for 17th place, just three shots in back of the cut. After the 15 teams were decided, the next six individuals not on those teams also qualify to play the final 18 holes. Illini freshman Scott Langley was tied with Virginia Tech's Jurrian Van der Vaart and St. Mary's Chadd Cocco at +9 for the final spot. The three players engaged in spirited sudden death playoff that eventually lasted four holes. All three players made par on the par 3 17th and Langley made a nice up and down on 18 to join Cocco and Van der Vaart in scoring par as well. Langley's bunker shot allowed him to save par on the third playoff hole back on 17 once again sending all three men to 18. Van der Vaart was the only one of the three players to reach the green in regulation and drained a birdie putt to win the playoff. "Scott's been solid all spring," said Illinois coach Mike Small. "That four-hole playoff to make the cut at the national championship is experience you can't buy." It has been quite a run for the Illini, particularly in the last two months of the season. On the year, Illinois won three tournaments as a team while three different players - Chris DeForest (D.A. Weibring Invitational), Scott Langley (Argonaut Invitational) and Matt Hoffman (Fighting Illini Spring Invitational) won tournaments individually for the first time in school history. The Illini placed third in the Big Ten Tournament and defeated a number of ranked teams in placing third at the NCAA Central Regional. 18th. Then came the run at the NCAA, where a first round 302 (+14) put the Illini sixth individually. Despite a tough day in round three, Illinois came up just three strokes out of making the final cut at the biggest tournament of the season. The secret to Illinois' success has been the contribution by every member of the team. "If you looked at the scores the last month, they all played a prominent role sometime down this deal," Small said "There wasn't one guy carrying us. Every one of these five guys in the last four tournaments took ownership. This was a total team effort." With all five players in the final line-up - Langley and fellow freshman Chris DeForest, sophomores Matt Hoffman and Zach Barlow and junior Larry Blatt - returning next season, Small believes the experience of making it to the NCAA Championship will go a long way in aiding in the team's success in 2008-09. He also adds the rookie stripes have come off as his club goes from young to veteran starting next year.
"(Playing in the NCAA Championship) is something you can't practice for, you just have to come in and experience it," Small said. "It was a huge experience for our team. We've been talking all spring how young this team is, but that is in the past now. They had a great year and this experience makes them all a year older. Getting here was a win-win situation. We didn't win the championship, but in placing 17th out of over 300 schools nationally, these guys should be proud of that." |
