Last year, the Illinois men’s golf team opened the month of April by competing against the defending national champions and the top-ranked team in the country.
When Illinois heads south for the Augusta State Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, it will find itself in a similar situation.
Two-time defending NCAA Champions Augusta State and No. 1 Texas highlight a field that also includes No. 13 Clemson and No. 25 Oklahoma State. The field, while challenging, is also familiar. The Illini have already faced six of the 16 teams this year.
Texas’s strong team presents many individual challenges for Illinois. The Longhorns feature four players in the top 37, including the top-ranked and second-ranked individuals in the nation in Jordan Spieth and Dylan Frittelli, while the Illini only have two (No. 20 senior Luke Guthrie and No. 72 sophomore Thomas Pieters) in the top 250.
“The competition allows us a good opportunity to get good wins,” junior Mason Jacobs said.
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However in the past few years, Illinois has struggled to place well against the stiff competition at the Augusta State Invitational. The team placed eighth in the 17-team field last year, and in 2010 the team placed seventh out of 18 teams.
The familiarity with the course could help the Illini, though, as three golfers — Jacobs, Pieters and Guthrie — competed in the event last year.
Illinois has struggled the last few times out this season, placing ninth of 16 teams at the Barona Collegiate Cup in San Diego on March 22 and 23, and 11th of 15 teams at the Louisiana Classics Invitational in Lafayette, La., on March 5 and 6.
One of the reasons for the recent disappointments is the short game. Jacobs said the team has been practicing putting and chipping in practice this week to help combat these issues.
Illinois head coach Mike Small said the team also needs to rebound mentally from its recent struggles to have success in this event.
“Good teams deal with their deficiencies and their problems and they move on,” Small said. “So that’s what we’ll do.”
Across town from Forest Hills Golf Club, where the event will be played, a more famous golf tournament will be starting Monday.
The Master’s, held annually at Augusta National Golf Club, will open practice to its participants on Monday. One unique aspect of the Augusta State Invitational is that it allows teams to watch the PGA Tour members as they prepare for the annual tournament.
“It’s really cool,” Jacobs said. “It’s a really good perk of the tournament.”
Small said the team will follow Steve Stricker on Monday as he prepares for the event. Sticker, currently the No. 5 golfer in the world, is an Illinois alumnus and former teammate of Small.
The Augusta State Invitational is the second-to-last tournament of the regular season for the Orange and Blue. The Illini will head to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Boilermaker Invitational on April 21 and 22. The tournament will allow the Illini to size up five Big Ten opponents before competing against them again at the end of April in the Big Ten Championships.
