This weekend, the Illinois men’s golf team will head west to Iowa to compete in the Hawkeye Invitational. The event is hosted by the University of Iowa and will take place at the Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City.

The Illini are coming off a seventh-place finish after competing at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational in Augusta, Georgia.

The Illini were led by Champaign-native sophomore Varun Chopra. Chopra shot 3-under-par after three rounds and ended tied for 16th in the entire tournament.

Freshman Adrien Dumont de Chassart and junior Michael Feagles were the only other Illini under par. Both shot 2-under-par and ended tied for 24th place.

There will be 13 teams competing, including Illinois. DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Kansas, Kansas State, Oral Roberts, South Dakota State and the University of Missouri, Kansas City will be the nonconference opponents present.

There will be six Big Ten schools competing in the field, including Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The match will be a chance for the team to gain some spots in the rankings, given their performance in Augusta forced them out of the No. 25 spot, according to Golf Coaches Association of America rankings.

The team will also be looking to continue its dominance over the conference in the tournament, especially since it’s filled with Big Ten competition. The program has won nine Big Ten Championships in the last 10 years.

This will be the last event for the Illini before the Big Ten Championships from April 26-28.

@brendyn_jones

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