March 16, 2006
Princeville, Hi. -
In a unique format of head-to-head match play, Illinois State senior Kris Wildenradt came back from a front-nine deficit to beat Western Illinois' Dan Vojta, but that was the only Redbird victory as the Western Illinois golfers took a 5-1 golf decision from Illinois State at the Poipu Bay Golf Course on the Island of Kauai.
Before the match, Illinois State associate head coach Pina Gentile and WIU head coach Mel Blasi paired-off their six golfers with a random draw. Then, each twosome battled for three points over 18 holes: one point for winning the front nine, one for the back nine and one for low 18-hole score.
Besides Wildenradt, the only two Redbirds to score tied for a nine-hole point: Chris Eddy and Matt Miller each scored 0.5. Matt Maskel, Jason Kemp and Ben Murphy all lost 3-0.
The heavy rains which pounded Kauai over the past two weeks made playing conditions a bit soggy on the Poipu Bay course, the 7,123-yard home of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf and the site of Phil Mickelson's historic 59 score in the 2004 PGA Grand Slam. But Gentile didn't think the conditions made a difference in the outcome.
"We got beat. Western played some outstanding golf," said Gentile. "Kris' win was impressive because his opponent played the front nine in three-under-par. But Kris came back to win the back nine and the 18-hole point."
Both the Redbirds and Leathernecks plan to move across the island to play in the 7th Annual Kauai Collegiate Cup, a 12-team event hosted by Western Kentucky, on Friday and Saturday.
The event begins at 11:30 a.m. central time Friday with teams playing 36 holes at the Makai Course, ranked among the top 50 resort courses by Golf Digest magazine. The tournament concludes on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. central time with teams playing the final 18 holes.
"The weather has caused some excitement here," said Gentile. "The heavy rains caused a reservoir to break and the road from our hotel, on the south side of the island, to the Makai Course, which is up north, to be closed. But things cleared up today (Wednesday) and we're expecting to have a great tournament.
After returning home from Hawaii, the `Birds will travel to Stevinson Ranch, Calif., to compete in the Colorado/Stevinson Ranch Invitational on March 27th-28th at the Stevinson Ranch Golf Club, hosted by Colorado.
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Western Illinois 5, Illinois State 1
Ben Hermes (WIU) def. Matt Maskel (ISU) 3-0
Ryan McClintock (WIU) def. Chris Eddy (ISU) 2.5-0.5
Kris Wildenradt (ISU) def. Dan Vogta (WIU) 2-1
Nick Kwaterski (WIU) def. Matt Miller (ISU) 2.5-0.5
Tim Streng (WIU) def. Jason Kemp (ISU) 3-0
Zach Guthrie (WIU) def. Ben Murphy (ISU) 3-0
