The Illinois men’s golf team traveled to Windermere, Florida over the weekend where the team finished tied for 11th place with Minnesota in the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational, with a total score of 17-over par.

Hosted by the University of Central Florida, which took first place in the tournament with a 20-under par performance, and West Virginia University, which finished in last at 27-over. The Tavistock Invitational is one of the most esteemed annual tournaments in college golf and hosts premier golf teams from around the country.  Some of those teams include Louisiana State University (-6), Vanderbilt (-1), Texas Tech (E) and California (+1) who all had top-five finishes on the par-72 country club.

The Illini took another step back as they were looking to bounce back from their seventh-place finish in their last tournament in Carmel, Indiana. Illinois’ five golfers finished in the middle of the 75-participant field; its top competitors were freshman Jerry Ji and senior Giovanni Tadiotto, who tied for 43rd place.

Ji shot his lowest score of the season Tuesday with a 72 while Tadiotto’s outing saw him shoot a 73 on Monday and Tuesday. Sophomore Adrien Dumont de Chassart and seniors Bryan Baumgarten and Michael Feagles tied for 48th with a single round under par between the three of them over three rounds.

With one more tournament left for the fall schedule, Illinois is searching for a strong finish as it heads to Pebble Beach, California for the Cypress Point Classic next week.

In the two-day event starting Monday, eight teams will compete in a Ryder Cup-style tournament. The teams will be divided into two groups on Monday for two-v-two foursome stroke play followed by a four-ball match. On Tuesday, there will be a singles match to conclude the tournament hosted by Stanford University.  Bordering the cliffs on the western coast of California, Cypress Point is one of the most distinguished private country clubs in America, having been highly reviewed in several esteemed course rankings since its inception in 1928.

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