2017-18 Illini Golf

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#526      
breadman
Guthrie is hanging in there.
Looks like he has taken the Stricker/Patrick Reed path and has his wife on the bag this week.
A family affair may be the reason why.
 
#527      
WhiteRhino
Hardy, Meyer and Stricker all finish at -10 (t43) for the John Deere Classic.

Illini sticking together :)
 
#529      
ILLINI IN NE
WhiteRhino said:
Hardy, Meyer and Stricker all finish at -10 (t43) for the John Deere Classic.

Illini sticking together :)
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And Coach Small with his 3rd top ten in 4 starts on the Champions at the Constellation Senior Players Championship.


He is 59th in the Schwab Cup with $175,000.
 
#532      
Deleted member 645583
It's kinda funny: US golfers complaining about course conditions at US Open, but I don't hear a peep from them at Carnoustie! And course condtions there are utterly ridiculous and far worse - thanks to the weather. The pundits talk about a heat-wave in Scotland: it was 70 there today! Problem: no rain. Play it as it lies.

Thomas Pieters is in the mix!

Man, I'll take 70 degrees anytime in summer In Illinois!
 
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#533      
FlyNavy
Pieters makes the cut, currently T40 and 7 shots off the lead. Hopefully he can make a run this weekend!

In the Web.com tour, Luke Guthrie made a hole-in-one on the second-to-last hole to make the cut! He sits at 76th on the money list (top 75 make the Web.com finals), so a strong weekend would definitely be a big boost for him. Unfortunately Langley and Campbell missed the cut.

I will say that I was extremely impressed with the Golf Channel coverage at The Open. They covered it from beginning to end Thursday and Friday, and stated that they covered every player. I didn't get to catch most of it, but I enjoyed what I was able to watch. I only hope that NBC covers it the same way this weekend. It should be entertaining, quite a crowd on top of the leaderboard. I just hope Pieters pulls off a great round tomorrow!
 

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#534      
FeelYourPaign
No Illini in the hunt in The Open, but what a battle!! 11 guys within two strokes on the back none on Sunday. Tiger, Spieth, Rory and more. Love it
 
#535      
FlyNavy
Definitely the best Sunday for the majors this year, it was pretty much anybody's Open until the last few holes with Rory and Rose sitting in the clubhouse at -6 (just imagine those two and maybe Tiger and Jordan in a 4-hole playoff). But then Molinari decided he wanted it more, and props to him for going bogey-free on a day when Jordan shot 76 and most of the field struggled. He definitely earned the title!

Pieters stayed steady for a T28, looked better than he had for most of the year. He should still qualify for the PGA Championship, and will need a strong showing to get into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Elsewhere D.A. is sitting T20 during a rain delay at the Barbasol, and Guthrie struggled in the weekend at Web.com, currently T67. D.A. has the benefit of a 2-year exemption through next season, but Guthrie needs to get one more good tourney under his belt to get into the Web.com Finals.
 
#536      
FlyNavy
I totally missed this one, but Dylan got a last-minute sponsor exemption for the Canadian Open. He had a rough start with 4 bogeys in the first nine but rallied to get to +1. Still work to do to make the cut, but in decent shape. Strick is currently T15 at -4, and D.A. is +2.

In other action, Brian Campbell is -5 through 11 in Web.com Tour. Nick Hardy at +1 thru 6. Detry is E in the European Tour in Germany, and Lipparelli is T8 in the Euro Challenge Tour.
 
#537      
Deleted member 645583
Sorry Dylan and Nick didn't make the cuts. Welcome to the big time guys. I know you will do well in the long run.

I was commenting about lousy scheduling here in US with Women's senior, John Deere, Champion's event in Chicago all the same week. But now you've got Senior men at St. Andrew's, women at Scottish Open the week after The Open at Carnoustie! What gives?

Go Illini!
 
#538      
FlyNavy
oleoleahy51 said:
Sorry Dylan and Nick didn't make the cuts. Welcome to the big time guys. I know you will do well in the long run.Go Illini!
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Missing cuts is all part of the gig, even the top guys miss them once in a while (e.g. Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas at the Open). I really believe Tiger's streak of 142 cuts made will go down as his greatest achievement, even if he breaks Jack's 18 Majors won. Going 7 years without having a bad weekend is mind-blowing. Here's a good quick read on the top 6 "made cuts" streak: https://www.thoughtco.com/most-consecutive-cuts-made-on-the-pga-tour-1565924

Succeeding in the PGA Tour takes dedication, and there are quite a few guys on tour that don't make it until their mid-thirties; Jimmy Walker comes to mind. Just for the Illini, we have four guys in recent years (Langley, Guthrie, Campbell and Affrunti) that played on the Tour within the last five years but have lost their cards. Langley will get his back this year and the others have work to do, but these ups and downs are so common among ~80% of the golfers on the tour. It's definitely a heck of a ride that Dylan and Nick are in for...Dylan should be in for the Web.com finals, which will give him a shot at a Tour card or full Web.com status. Nick will need to go to Q-school unless he plays really well in the next few weeks.

BTW both Dylan and Nick received exemptions for the Barracuda Championship next weekend in Reno, good luck to them both!
 
#539      
Deleted member 645583
You are verbose, NAVY, and so am I ! But keep it up; more is better. I'm with you ! I look forward to your posts!
 
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#540      
Deleted member 645583
It appears Baumgarten, Feagles and Gio missed the cut at Western Amateur. Too bad. Hardy and Meyer missed too last weekend. That's golf, unfortunately.
 
#541      
FlyNavy
Meyer is T10 after posting a +10 in the opening round (yeah, the Stableford scoring took me by surprise too). Hardy is T43 with a +6 including a hole-in-one! Hopefully these guys go high in the second round (yeah, that doesn't sound right).
 
#542      
FlyNavy
I should implement the modified Stableford when I play golf. That way a double, triple, and quad bogey all look the same on my scorecard. Definitely would come in handy!

As far as Nick and Dylan, it seems pretty common to get the recent college grads into PGA and Web.com events with exemptions (there have been other big names throughout the NCAA as well). It seems kind of like sink-or-swim - if they put together a few good finishes, they get to forego Q-school.

Dylan has done well enough were he will almost certainly get into the Web.com finals - he had an eagle to finish +12 today, so he'll get even more points. If he plays well there, he can get a Tour card. If not, he can still get Web.com status with a couple decent finishes. Nick needs a big finish to make the finals; short of that, he'll have to go to Q-school.

The Web.com finals will be fun for Illini fans - Langley, Campbell, and Meyer will be there - Guthrie is on the cusp, hopefully he gets in as well. The finals is a set of four tournaments in August/September, and I think all the events are on Golf Channel.
 
#543      
ILLINI IN NE
Coach Small at 3 under and in a T19th at the 3M Championship. Looks like he is on his way to another nice check Sunday.
Meyer will play the weekend at the Barracuda at +12 as mentioned already.
Hardy is on the cutline at +7 with 3 to play. Finish strong Nick.
 
#544      
WhiteRhino
oleoleahy51 said:
Hate to be critical, but shouldn't Coach Small have been there at Western Am in Chicago with his charges instead of at Champion event in Minnesota? Maybe he was for a short time at Sunset Ridge. Wondering. Let us keep in mind that his salary and perks are paid for by the citizens of Illinois.
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A big part of keeping Small at Illinois and helping him to be successful is giving him the freedom to play in pro events. It helps him stay on top of his game so that he can best help his players and it pays big dividends in recruiting.

I'm sure there are some times when Small must make tough decisions when it comes to playing in tournaments.

And, technically, Small is not paid by taxpayers, but by athletic department revenue and donations.
 
#545      
FlyNavy
oleoleahy51 said:
Thanks, you make very good points. I'll have to look into where his salary comes from.

But I think his players, not his own golf prowess and earnings, should be first and foremost. And, by the way, Illinois doesn't have much in the way of athletic revenues!

But thanks again, WhiteRhino.


P.S. Simply this: if he wasn't, Small should have been at Western Amateur, I think, with his players and at other events his players entered.
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I disagree. The Western Amateur is not an NCAA event, so Coach wouldn't be able to do much outside of give advice between rounds. Additionally it's an individual event as opposed to the NCAA events which are all team-based. He'll probably still give them plenty of feedback, but this gives the players a chance to develop as individuals before rejoining the team when they get back to campus.
 
#546      
westms77
When your playing as well as he is you need to keep playing. You’ve got to get while the gettin’s good so to speak. The more exposure he gets the better it is for recruiting. Kids see him and realize he can teach and do.
 
#548      
WhiteRhino
oleoleahy51 said:
Sorry, I don't see it that way. If you're a coach, you coach. If you want to join Champions (sic) Tour at age 52, join that tour. But you are needed wherever your players are competing, just like 2015 tournaments at Rich Harvest; he was there; I was there. And this Illinois team, it appears, can use plenty of coaching.
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He is not obligated to coach his players in the off-season in non-NCAA events. If he did it in 2015, that's great, but he didn't have to.

I don't know how any Illinois fan can criticize Mike Small. He is possibly the greatest coach in the history of the University (certainly top-5). Whatever he is doing works.
 
#549      
FlyNavy
oleoleahy51 said:
Sorry, I don't see it that way. If you're a coach, you coach. If you want to join Champions (sic) Tour at age 52, join that tour. But you are needed wherever your players are competing, just like 2015 tournaments at Rich Harvest; he was there; I was there. And this Illinois team, it appears, can use plenty of coaching.
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It's hard to question Coach's commitment; he went to Dubai to support Pieters (an alum, not a current player) a couple years back. When a player plays a non-Illini event such as the western amateur, being there to support is nice but not an expectation in my opinion. Plus the kids need to learn how to get by without the parents around. Agree to disagree, I guess...

Dylan's putting together a solid round today, currently +6 on the day (+18 overall in the modified Stableford) and top 25 w/ two par-5's to go. Keep going low, I mean high, Dylan!
 
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