Feb. 26, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State junior Jeff Kellen, the reigning Missouri Valley Conference Golfer of the Week, will lead the Redbirds into Placida, Fla., to take on No. 14 Illinois in the seventh-annual Tinervin Cup, Saturday. The one-day tournament, which will be held at the Coral Creek Club, will feature 36-holes of action on a par-71 course.
The event, which is a change from traditional stroke scoring, features three two-on-two, head-to-head, better-ball matches in the morning session and six individual head-to-head, stroke-based matches in the afternoon session. Each separate match is worth one of nine team points.
The Redbirds are looking to rebound from a disappointing tournament last year when senior Kyle Bragg claimed the lone point for the ISU, as Illinois prevailed 8-1.
"Obviously Illinois is a great team and we've got an idea of what to expect from them since we've been doing this on an annual basis," head coach Ray Kralis said. "We have a little better sense of some of the pitfalls we run into and the reality is we have to play great golf."
The Fighting Illini has won each of the first six Tinervin Cups, an event named after Illinois State and Illinois benefactor Jeff Tinervin.
In addition to Bragg and Kellen, seniors Tommy Bliefnick and Joe Emerich, junior Will Cullen and sophomore Eric Meier will also be competing.
"We're coming in with some great momentum from last weekend's performance in south Alabama, and having mixed it up with some of the top teams there does nothing but help our confidence," Kralis said. "We'll need some good things to happen, but I believe we have one of our best squads that we've taken down to this event. I know the guys are fired up and we're excited to get down there and mix it up on Saturday."
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