The Illinois men’s golf team didn’t finish as well as it expected at the Boilermaker Invitational this past weekend but placed third, with junior Thomas Pieters tying for fourth overall in a 90-person field.

The par-72, 7,465-yard Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind., proved to be difficult for the Illini, who stumbled down the stretch and finished two shots back of Louisville and Iowa with a three-round score of 16 over par.

Despite the rough finish, head coach Mike Small said he isn’t discouraged by the Illini’s play.

“Thomas played a solid tournament,” he said. “But as a team, we had a chance to win there. I saw a lot of positives from the team all around. We played such a solid second round, and we were in contention the third round, fighting back from 6 or 7 shots, but weren’t able to finish.”

Pieters wasn’t discouraged by his own individual play either, but he said he was looking for a better overall team finish.

“For me, the tournament was very positive,” he said. “I had a decent finish. I didn’t really putt well throughout, though. The last day, I didn’t have much going for me. As for the team, it was very disappointing. We messed up on 17.”

The par-3 17th hole was a blunder for many of the Illini in the third round Saturday. 

After leading the first two days of the tournament, the Illini’s finish Sunday made it difficult to climb to the top of the leaderboard. 

“Hole 17 has water just along the green, so you can’t go for the flag,” Pieters said. “You have to miss left. Everyone was in the water on the right side, but I hope they learn from it and not make the same mistake again.”

Small said Louisville and Iowa came out on top because Illinois “never crossed the finish line, ending up short.” But with the Big Ten Championship starting April 26, he isn’t worried about crossing that finish line, as the team has the same goals they’ve had all season.

“The guys need to play fearless and confident golf. Just getting better everyday; that’s it,” Small said. “That is what will allow us to stand out in the Big Ten Championships.”

Despite Small’s confidence in the team, Pieters still is preparing for intense competition.

“It definitely adds more pressure going into this tournament,” he said. “All the other teams want it so bad because we won (The Big Ten Championships) the past four years. We don’t have Luke (Guthrie) anymore,  but we’re still a good team. But that still means we need to step it up. We need to shoot a lot under and just play solid golf.”

This week, before the Illini return to Indiana to play on Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Ind., to vie for the Big Tens, they will have time to work out any issues at practice.

“Right now, we’re relaxing, taking care of business back on campus before we leave on Wednesday,” Small said. “Sometimes, we get ahead of ourselves, and that could be our downfall. Just living in the present and being confident, that’s what will get us to win a championship.”

Claire can be reached at [email protected] and @ClaireLav228.