Illini golfers take Western Amateur by storm
The University of Illinois golf program is being well-represented at the Western Amateur this week. The tournament, whose past winners include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus is taking place this week at North Shore Country Club in Glenview,IL from Aug. 1-6.
With four Illini playing in the tournament, only Oklahoma State has more representatives with five players. Redshirt junior Mason Jacobs, senior Luke Guthrie, junior Ross Frankenburg and incoming freshman Alex Burge are the current Illini competing. Scott Langley, who graduated in May and ended his career as one of the most decorated golfers in Illinois history is also competing.
“It shows that Illinois is a great program and it’s exciting to have so many of our guys here, Langleysaid. I think we can all fair very well this week.”
Jacobs, Guthrie, Burge and Langley played together during the practice round on Monday. The foursome stood out for looking like a regular group of college friends enjoying a round of golf on a Monday afternoon. They told jokes on the tee box and walked in a tight line down most of the fairways, conversing and laughing.
“It’s nice to have your friends here, and to have people to hang out with while you’re here, Langleysaid. It definitely helps.”
What only separated them from a normal group of friends enjoying a round of golf was their stellar play. Langley, Jacobs and Guthrie, along with Frankenburg helped the Illini to a Big Ten championship in May and a fifth place finish at the NCAA Golf Championships in June, which was the highest finish for the Illini since they finished fourth in 1941.
Burge will join the Illini in the fall. While at Bloomington high school he twice finished in the top three in the IHSA Class 2A State Tournament. The Western-Amateur figures to be an experience that should help prepare him for college golf in the fall.
“It’s always good to get experience in a deep field on a tough course, Burge said. I think playing here will help a lot going into this fall.”
Langley, who won the 2010 NCAA individual National Championship, figures to be in the hunt for the win this week.
“As far as processed goals go, I’m just challenging myself to stay in my tempo the whole week, Langleysaid. That’ll be they key.”
Guthrie, who was First Team All-Big Ten in the spring, hopes to be playing on Friday.
The format of the Western Amateur is 18 holes on Tuesday, 18 holes on Wednesday and 36 holes on Thursday before the cut is made. On Friday, the sixteen remaining golfers play 36 holes of match play on Friday, before the final four and eventually final two duke it out in match play on Saturday.
“I just want to find my way to the top sixteen come Friday, Guthrie said. Once you get there to match play anything can happen.”
Both Langley and Guthrie have similar strategies for attacking the course.
“The biggest thing is you just have to do whatever you can to keep the ball in play, in the fairway, Langleysaid. If you do that you can make birdies, but if not it’s going to be hard.”
Guthrie agreed but noted that it’d be important to stay focused when he’s not hitting the fairways. “You have to keep in mind that you’re going to miss some fairways, so if you go through a rough start it’s not that big of a deal. You just have to keep your head in it.”
With the field the Western Amateur features in 2011, staying focused will be vital for all the Illini golfers as they try to make the cut to Friday.
Tom Lewis, the top Amateur at the 2011 British Open and Patrick Cantlay the top amateur at the 2011 U.S. Open are in the field. The defending tournament champion, David Chung of Stanford, and defending U.S. Amateur champion, Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State are in the field as well.
Despite the talent the field has, Langley, a lefty with pinpoint accuracy doesn’t hesitate to state what his intentions are this week.
“I definitely want to win,Langleysaid. There’s no point in playing if you don’t want to win.”
