Last weekend, the Illini played at the John Burn Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii on the island of Kauai. The tournament was hosted by the University of Hawaii at the Wailua golf course.

Out of the 21 participants, the Illini placed fourth with a team score of minus seven. Illinois finished behind Texas A&M, New Mexico and Brigham Young University.

The Illini did well but not as well as they hoped.

“The goal is winning the tournament as a team,” said senior Giovanni Tadiotto. “We, unfortunately, came up short, although we were contending all tournament.”

Throughout the tournament, the team was competing at the top, but Illinois couldn’t keep up with Texas A&M and New Mexico for this particular outing.

They finished 12 and seven strokes better than the Illini. The team was good, but A&M and New Mexico were just extraordinary those couple of days.

“We had our chances this week,” said head coach Mike Small. “We played our way into contention several times the last two days, but couldn’t sustain the momentum to push in front. All-in-all, it was a good week and I saw a lot of bright spots in our play.”

Small said he expects their comfort level with a lead to improve and their closing ability will also get better as the spring season advances.

Most teams would be satisfied with a third or fourth-place finish, but not Illinois.

“Everyone can think about one shot that they could have improved but … the whole team looks at the bigger picture,” Tadiotto said. “We’re more frustrated with not coming up first, then coming up just short of third.”

Sophomore Tommy Kuhl said the expectations as an individual and as a team are always to win, regardless of the circumstances.

Even though the team didn’t do as well as they would have liked, Tadiotto was named Big Ten Golfer of the Week. He’s been superb for the first two weeks of the spring season, placing third last week and fourth this week in the field. Tadiotto attributed his great start to his mentality.

“Just my mentality, I developed a little more this year with coach,” Tadiotto said. “We’ve talked a lot about my expectations and … it’s just a mindset that I established in how I go to my rounds and every shot. Not getting frustrated by a bad shot or not getting too excited about a great shot.”

Tadiotto said that getting to Hawaii four days before the tournament helped as the team was able to get adjusted to the time difference and what to expect of the course.

Tadiotto said his improved mentality was s a big reason for his hot start, but Kuhl blamed his lack of mentality at this particular tournament as the reason for some of his struggles and based on the expectations he sets for himself.

“I think the expectation of winning got to me a bit, instead of just staying in the present I think I got a little ahead of myself,” Kuhl said. “It’s a great learning experience, and right now I’m just focused on the next tournament.”

During Small’s time as head coach at Illinois, the team has only played in Hawaii one time before, so the most recent trip was significant. It was at the Turtle Bay Collegiate Invitational a decade ago during the 09-10 season where Illinois placed second out of 12.

“Yeah, it was definitely special and different for our team,” Kuhl said. “Traveling to Hawaii, it was a brutal trip getting there, but overall I think our team got a lot of positives out of the week. A lot of the golf we played, we did get to experience some of those good views and take in the Hawaii air and landscape, but we went there with one goal in mind, and that was to win.”

Illinois jumps back into action on March 16 and 17 at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette, Louisiana. The tournament is hosted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

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