Illinois takes charge

Illinois, which came into Sunday’s third-round three strokes back of Virginia, sent a message to the rest of the field by shooting 6-under-par over the first nine holes. Senior Tyler Goecke shot a 3-under-par 69 to lead the charge for the Illini, and was backed by a 70 from senior Piercen Hunt and a 71 by freshman Max Herendeen (pictured above). Illinois at 2-under-par is six strokes ahead of second place Virginia and 11 strokes in front of third place Vanderbilt.

The other 12 teams which advanced to the fourth and final round of stroke play on Monday include Florida State, Ohio State, North Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Arizona, Georgia Tech, Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Tennessee and East Tennessee State.

The 15 schools advancing to Monday will be joined by the low nine individuals on non-advancing teams for Monday’s final round.

Seven of the nine individual spots were claimed on Sunday and included Karl Vilips of Stanford (3 under), Connor Gaunt of LSU (even par), Ben Warian of Minnesota (even par), Palmer Jackson of Notre Dame (1 over), Calum Scott of Texas Tech (2 over), Nick Mathews of NC State (2 over), and Nick Gabrelcik of North Florida (2 over).

There will be a 3-for-2 playoff on Monday (8:30 a.m. PT start time on hole 16) between the following players who also finished at 4 over - Ethan Evans (Duke), Andrew Swanson (Clemson) and Braxton Watts (Utah).

“I think every team gets a little better and learns the golf course,” said Illinois Head Coach Mike Small. “We just played good golf today. We started off with nothing spectacular, but solid. I don’t think the par-5s were as good as we would have liked them to be, but the par-3s were solid. We were 6 under the back nine and I think we played No. 10 over par, which was pretty good. The wind came up the back nine, we met it head on and played solid golf.”

Illinois, which is in the lead for the top seed position for match play, is seeking its first NCAA team championship. “We need to play Illinois golf tomorrow, look forward, not behind,” said Small. “We want to play from strength and just play the golf course the way it is set up to play it and what happens, happens. If we control our space, we will be okay.”

We leaked a little oil from 13 through 18, but the guys played great

Virginia shot a 3-over-par 291 on Sunday to fall behind Illinois. “We played well and had it going great until 13,” said Head Coach Bowen Sargent. “We leaked a little oil from 13 through 18, but the guys played great and 72s and 73s are good scores out here. Obviously our goal is to win and get the number one position, but you want to be in the top eight and get a chance to play in match play.”

Looking to become the sixth Ohio State golfer to win the NCAA individual championship, Adam Wallin rebounded from a 74 on Saturday to record a 3-under-par 69 on Sunday. Wallin’s round included five birdies and two bogeys. He leads Ben James of Virginia and Vilips of Stanford (3-under-par 213) by three strokes.

“Really solid day, don’t know exactly how many greens I hit, I think like 16 or something, which was really solid. I never made any mistakes, just strung together a good round of golf,” said Wallin. “Tomorrow we'll hope for same as today, just play solid golf, hit the fairways and greens and play smart.”

I didn’t hit it that well but I putted really good. It shows how golf is weird.

Through the first three days — total of 468 individual rounds played, only five players have recorded a bogey-free round: James of Virginia (third-round 69), Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech (third-round 70), Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt (second-round 69), John DuBois of Florida (first-round 69) and Vilips (first-round 69).

“I hit it really good and didn’t make a bogey all day which is pretty hard to do,” said James. “I drove it really well today. It’s kind of funny, the other days I didn’t hit it that well but I putted really good. It shows how golf is weird. I had a lot of control in my wedges, and my distances were really good. My pitching and chipping have been the things I’ve been most impressed about. I’ve pitched and chipped really good, and that was something I knew was going to be tough.”

“It was tough, I hit it pretty well today, but I just made a couple more mistakes than I did in the first two rounds,” said Vilips (ab ove), who led after two rounds. “I didn’t make as many putts, and I think that’s really all it was. It’s pretty easy to make a couple bogeys on this golf course, but I just didn’t make it up with any birdies really.”

At 2-under-par 214, Sargent of Vanderbilt (below) is three strokes back of Wallin. “I feel like I carried the momentum from yesterday over and stuck to my game plan,” said the player who won the NCAA individual title as a freshman in 2022. “I’m really just hitting it well and hitting my spots. I didn’t necessarily make a lot of putts, but stress-free pars are always good out here. It was another solid round that helped the team out a little bit, and I’ll keep that game plan for tomorrow.”

To have the team lead after three rounds was a bit unexpected for Illinois. “We beat the No. 1 team in the country a couple of times this year, but lost to teams outside the top 100 for the first time in a long time,” said Small. “We have had our ups and downs. There is potential there, but we are a young team. We lost three tour players off of last year’s team. To come back and do this speaks volumes about these guys understanding what our program is all about and how the game should be played.”

Sunday featured the first hole-in-one of the championship scored by Calum Scott of Texas Tech. The Red Raider junior aced the par-3, 231-yard 12th hole at La Costa with a 5 iron.

After only three teams posted under-par rounds over the first two rounds of the championship, five teams posted under-par rounds on Sunday — Illinois (-6), Florida State (-2), Florida (-1), Oklahoma (-2) and Texas Tech (-3).

Monday’s (May 27) fourth and final round of stroke play will tee off at 10:45 a.m. PT. Teams competing on Monday will be vying for one of the eight match play seed positions, with the round determining the 72-hole NCAA individual champion.

The team national champion will be determined by a match-play format that will consist of quarter-final and semi-final matches conducted on Tuesday, May 28, followed by the finals on Wednesday, May 29.

Photos courtesy of C. Morgan Engel (NCAA Photos)