The Illinois men’s golf team dominated last year’s D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate from start to finish, ending 28 strokes ahead of second-place Iowa State.

Now they’re going back.

“We’re pretty confident heading into this weekend,” junior Mason Jacobs said. “It was nice to have a week off to straighten out some of the things we’ve been struggling on as a team. We’re very excited to get out there and compete.”

Head coach Mike Small emphasized a total team effort as one of his keys to having a successful weekend.

“We need to have our dropout scores finishing very low,” Small said. “Everyone will need to contribute and put forth their best effort.”

“At the D.A. Weibring, you want to try and have a large percentage of fairways hit. Positioning the ball is very important so that you don’t end up with any high numbers.”

The D.A. Weibring is held at the Weibring golf club at Illinois State University. This is the Illini’s third and final fall tournament in their home state as they travel next weekend to Columbus, Ohio, for the Jack Nicklaus Invitational.

“It’s nice to be so close sometimes,” Jacobs said. “We can have friends and family come out and watch us play. Traveling is fun but after a long weekend tournament, it’s kind of nice to only have an hour drive home instead of something longer.”

Jacobs will look to continue his successful 2011 campaign — he was named last week’s Big Ten Player of the Week, becoming the Illini’s fourth player in the past two seasons to earn the award.

Jacobs finished 11th overall (6-over) at the highly competitive Olympia Fields Invitational two weeks ago.

“Mason has been a starter for me the past two years,” Small said. “He played two great rounds against tough competition at Olympia and really deserved that recognition. I’m very excited to see how he progresses even farther throughout the season.”

Sophomore Thomas Pieters will look to repeat his performance from last year’s D.A. Weibring.

Pieters fired back-to-back even-par 71’s for his second and third round scores to finish in a tie for second place overall with then-senior Scott Langley at 6-over.

“The course definitely fits me very well,” Pieters said. “I’ve been practicing really hard this week and hope I can do it again this weekend as well as get our first win as a team.”

A win would point the Illini in the right direction after finishing in the middle of the pack at their first two tournaments of the year.

“It’s very important that we get that first win,” Pieters said. “We’ve all been struggling a little bit, but I think we have a really good shot at it this weekend.”