March 18, 2006
Princeville, Hi. -
After nearly four days of rain and dreariness, the sun came out early Friday afternoon on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. And, with the sun, junior Matt Miller and the Illinois State men's golf team started to shine as well, with Miller firing a six-under-par 66 and the Redbird team carding a four-player score of 10-under-par 278 at the Makai Course to take the lead in the 7th Annual Kauai Collegiate Cup hosted by Western Kentucky University.
Miller, who shot 33 on each nine, leads the individual field by two strokes while the Redbird team score leads Western Illinois by seven and host Western Kentucky by eight. The same Western Illinois team the Redbirds led Friday beat Illinois State in a head-to-head match 5-1 on Wednesday.
The 278 team score is the best of the year by the Redbird golfers, six strokes lower than the previous leading score. Miller's round matched his season best for a single round. The junior was followed by senior Kris Wildenradt with a 69, Matt Maskel with 70 and Chris Eddy with 73. Ben Murphy was the team's fifth player with a 76, and Jason Kemp--entered as an individual--matched Murphy's score.
The teams played the Lakes Nine and the Ocean Nine on the 27-hole Makai Course--one of the nation's top 50 courses, according to Golf Digest magazine. Friday's course played at 6,953 yards for the par 72.
Under threatening skies and soggy conditions, the Redbirds were on the course at 6 a.m. Before the front nine was finished, the players were pulled off the course because of weather and went back out at 1 p.m. to finish the round after a 2-hour, 30-minute delay. Redbird associate head coach Pina Gentile was thrilled with the results--especially after the delay and the days of dreary weather.
"I guess it's just amazing what a little sunshine will do for you," said Gentile. "We've been here since Monday and it felt like it had been raining since we arrived. We were playing pretty well, then had to sit, then went out and really finished strong. To be 10-under-par on a day like today is a great score."
Gentile reported that Wildenradt, tied for fifth in the individual standings, was consistent from start to finish, while Maskel posted four birdies on the back nine to shoot 32, the best nine-hole score of the day. The other four Redbirds took different approaches to good scores.
"Matt Miller seemed to hit every green (in regulation)," said Gentile. "Chris Eddy's round was grinding--he had to get up and down to save pars several times and he hung in there. Ben only had two bad holes, a triple-bogey and a double-bogey, and that was the difference between him and a sub-par round."
Because of the weather, the teams played just one of two scheduled rounds on Friday, with the tournament shortened to 36 holes. The final 18 will be played Saturday afternoon starting at 12:30 p.m. Hawaiian Time (4:30 p.m. central).
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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Kauai Collegiate Cup
* Individual Princeville Makai Course Princeville, HI
Dates: 03/17 - 03/18 (Today:03-18-2006)
Par: 72
Yardage: 6953
Fin. Top 20 Teams Scores
1 Illinois State U. 278
2 Western Illinois U. 285
3 Princeton University 286
4 Rollins College 287
5 Murray State Univ. 289
6 Western Kentucky U. 290
7 Yale University 291
8 North Dakota St. U. 295
9 Skidmore College 299
10 Toronto 301
11 BYU-Hawaii 326
12 Walters State JC 327
Fin. Top 20 Players School Scores
1 Matt Miller Ill. St. 33- 33 66
2 Eric Johnson ND State 35- 33 68
Darren Lundgren Rollins 34- 34 68
*Dan Vojta W Illinois 35- 33 68
5 Kris Wildenradt Ill. St. 34- 35 69
Tim Streng W Illinois 35- 34 69
Will Cox Murray St. 35- 34 69
8 Jason Gerken Princeton 36- 34 70
Michael Craft Murray St. 34- 36 70
Matt Maskel Ill. St. 38- 32 70
*Drew Malinak Princeton 35- 35 70
12 Mark Matza Yale 34- 37 71
Rick Reissman Yale 36- 35 71
Ben Hermes W Illinois 36- 35 71
Brent Herlihy Princeton 37- 34 71
16 Robby Shaw W Kentucky 39- 33 72
John Sawin Princeton 37- 35 72
Jeff Noeske ND State 37- 35 72
Brent Long W Kentucky 37- 35 72
Parker Scarbro W Kentucky 37- 35 72
Andrew Pranger Rollins 38- 34 72
Ryan McClintock W Illinois 36- 36 72
Scott Newell Skidmore 38- 34 72
GOLFSTAT COLLEGIATE SCORING SYSTEM
Developed by: Mark Laesch, Golfstat
COPYRIGHT (C) 2005, All Rights Reserved, Golfstat
