CHAMPIONSHIP TEE TIMES
No. 3-seed Alabama vs. No. 5-seed Illinois
8:00 a.m.: Bobby Wyatt vs. Thomas Detry
8:10 a.m.: Trey Mullinax vs. Charlie Danielson
8:20 a.m.: Justin Thomas vs. Thomas Pieters
8:30 a.m.: Scott Strohmeyer vs. Brian Campbell
8:40 a.m.: Cory Whitsett vs. Alex Burge
Illinois coach Mike Small shot down the notion that his team is some Cinderella story, and said people in the golf world know just how talented the Fighting Illini’s men’s golf program is.
Now, after going head-to-head with top-seeded California and knocking off the Golden Bears, the nation is taking notice. The No. 5 seeded Illini upset Cal 3-2 on Saturday in the match play semifinals of the NCAA men’s golf championship to advance to its first NCAA finals. California had won 11 of 13 events entering this event.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 seed Alabama easily handled second-seed Georgia Tech 3-0-2 to advance to its second consecutive NCAA finals on the Crabapple Course at the Capital City Club.
For Illinois, Thomas Pieters, the 2012 individual champion, posted a 1-up win in extra holes to give the Fighting Illini the victory over Cal senior Max Homa, the 2013 individual champion. Pieters was 3 down after nine holes, but chipped away at Homa’s lead.
Illinois played unencumbered all week, and no one gave them a chance against the juggernaut that is Cal men’s golf, so was Pieters nervous?
“Honestly, I wasn’t. I was just having fun,” Pieters said following his match. “That’s why I came here. I want to have this chance, and I want to be in this position. I love it.”
Homa was a different story.
“It was tough not to think about all of it,” Homa said of the playoff. “Had just a lot of thoughts. I was just trying to block them out and just think about golf.”
He lipped out on his final putt and broke out into tears, showing the kind of raw emotions that give sports life. Homa’s parents, family and friends and Cal fans tried to console him, but nothing worked. Both anger and sadness overtook him as reality set in. Cal’s Joel Stalter sat on the course staring at what could have been, as everyone else walked away.
“It’s mixed feelings. As a coach and a competitor, I’m fired up. We just stood toe-to-toe with the best team I’ve seen in a long time,” Small said. “But as a human being, to see those kids and how well they played all year, every week, it’s tough to see that. Now I know what NCAA basketball coaches feel like.”
Still, Cal coach Steve Desimone thinks the Bears are the best team in the country and that the loss doesn’t diminish their accomplishments.
“My humble opinion is that this is the best college golf team that’s ever played,” Desimone said. “I don’t know what else you can say. I’m so proud of these guys. It’ll be a very rough afternoon, and it’ll be a rough couple of days, but what they’ve accomplished is going to live for a long time.”
After squeaking past Cal, only Alabama stands between the Illini and their first national championship. The Crimson Tide won on their talent and experience. The Tide returned four players who lost in the finals last year against Texas. The Tide are tired of answering the questions about Texas, coach Jay Seawell said.
“We get a chance to do something again that these guys dream of,” Seawell said. “I know the kids from Illinois will be dreaming about that tonight. All of us will walk out of here thinking about it. We won’t talk about last year, but we realize that it is an opportunity that most teams don’t get, so we will see how it goes tomorrow.”
The Tide know their first two days of dominate match play won’t matter much Sunday.
“Tomorrow we start at zero,” Seawell said. “That’s kind of our motto every day, you start over. We will play a great Illinois team, and I found that out when we played with them in stroke play, that Mike Small is one of, if not, the best golf coach in the country.”
Sunday’s tee time has been moved to 8 a.m. because of the threat of inclement weather later in the day.
About the Author
