FRENCH LICK, Ind. – The Fighting Illini men's golf team made history on Sunday at the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort, battling windy conditions in a back-and-forth contest to overtake Michigan State and secure the Big Ten Championship for a conference-record seventh consecutive season, and the 12th time in the last 13 years. Overall, it marks the 19th Big Ten Title for the Illini program.
"If golf can have a 'slobber-knocker' this was it," head coach Mike Small said. "(It came down to) who can survive to the end and not make any more bogeys coming in to avoid the big numbers, and we did that at the end. You win a lot of championships in golf, specifically, by not losing it yourself and by staying steady. Under these conditions, that's about as steady as we could have stayed, and it turned out to be one (stroke) enough."
Illinois entered the day one stroke behind Michigan State and outshot the Spartans 307 (+19) to 309 (+21) to come away with the win by a single stroke. The Illini finished the event with a 54-hole total of 885 (+21).
"The biggest opponent was the wind," Small added. "The thing that we had to do was stay in the present, stay in the next shot and put our energy out in front of us. If you put all the energy on yourself in these conditions, and you're worried about yourself, the more you try to control it the harder it becomes. You've got to send it out into the window that you've envisioned and then you have to be strong on the greens. Putting was tough because the ball was oscillating on the greens a lot. These are good players and the scores we counted today are pretty high, so it just shows you how tough it was.
"I'm just happy for these guys and the way that they put up with the expectations of a long winning streak and embrace them. And to come in and not have a great week, top-to-bottom, but still play solid enough to win."
Gallery: (5-1-2022) Men's Golf at B1G Championship - Day 3
Adrien Dumont de Chassart shot a closing 79 and finished the weekend in second place with a three-round total of even-par 216. It marks the third straight medalist (top-three) finish for the senior who won the event in 2019 and tied for second on his way to conference Co-Player of the Year honors in 2021. Dumont de Chassart also earned All-B1G Championship Team honors by virtue of his top-five finish.
Sophomore Piercen Hunt's final round of 72 set the pace for the Illini on Sunday and proved to be the difference in the win as he jumped 25 spots up the leaderboard to finish in a tie for ninth at 221 (+5). Senior Tommy Kuhl and sophomore Jackson Buchanan rounded out the scoring for the Illini in Round 3 with a 77 and 79, respectively. Kuhl tied for 27th at 226 (+10), just one shot ahead of Buchanan (T33rd), who also came up huge for the Illini with the team's final birdie of the day on 18. Junior Jerry Ji (228) placed close the weekend with a share of 36th.
UP NEXT
Next up, the Fighting Illini will await the selection of the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship field, which will be released as part of GOLF Channel's College Central coverage on Wednesday, May 4 at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT.
NCAA Regionals are slated for May 16-18, and will be held at six sites: Traditions Club (Bryan, Texas; host: Texas A&M), OSU Golf Club – Scarlet Course (Columbus, Ohio; host: Ohio State), Yale Golf Course (New Haven, Conn.; host: Yale), PGA National Resort – Champions Course (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; host: Florida Atlantic), The Reserve at Spanos Park (Stockton, Calif.; host: Pacific), and Jimmie Austin Golf Club (Norman, Okla.; host: Oklahoma).
DUMONT DE CHASSART EARNS LES BOLSTAD AWARD
In addition to the team title and all-championship team honors, Dumont de Chassart also took home the Les Bolstad Award on Sunday, closing the tournament with a season stroke overage of 70.15 to lead all Big Ten golfers. The honor is the ninth all-time in program history.
Illini Les Bolstad Award Winners
• Adrien Dumont de Chassart (70.15 in 2022)
• Michael Feagles (70.83 in 2021)
• Charlie Danielson (70.70 in 2016)
• Thomas Detry (70.26 in 2015)
• Charlie Danielson (71.07 in 2014)
• Luke Guthrie (70.90 in 2012)
• Chris DeForest (71.45 in 2010)
• James Lepp (71.41 in 2003)
• Steve Stricker (72.05 in 1988)
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