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Illini golf team runs out of comebacks

University of Illinois golf coach Mike Small has insisted that the last four seasons have been the best in the history of the Illini program, and there's no arguing that point after what has happened in the last few weeks.

The Illini trailed Iowa going into the last round of the Big Ten tournament but came back to win with a strong showing in the final round. The same thing happened in the NCAA regional at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, and again in Monday's final round of the NCAA finals at Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

With only the top eight teams advancing to the match play conclusion to the tournament, the Illini rallied again. Illinois was tied for ninth after 54 holes but three of the five Illini players - Thomas Detry (67), Dylan Meyer (69) and Nick Hardy (69) of Northbrook - bettered par in the final round as the Illini rallied for a second-place finish. Charlie Danielson, was the top Illinois player in the individual standings, finishing in a tie for eighth after a 1-over 71 on Monday.

Only Texas - with Arlington Heights standout Doug Ghim among its players - could top the Illini in the 72-hole portion of the championship. Ghim, a sophomore from Buffalo Grove High School, had the second-lowest score for Texas during the fourth round with a 71, which tied him for 22nd overall.

The Longhorns, with a 1-stroke edge over Illinois in stroke play, earned the top seed in Tuesday's eight-team match play tournament.

But Illinois' season came to an end for the second straight year in the semifinals of the national championship. The Illini were eliminated by host Oregon late Tuesday, meaning the host Ducks will host top-seeded Texas in the championship match on Wednesday. The Longhorns' five players include Arlington Heights sophomore Doug Ghim, who contributed a point by winning his semifinal match against Southern California on Tuesday.

Texas defeated Oklahoma in Tuesday's match play showdown with Ghim winning his match 7&6. The Longhorns were to meet Southern California in the other semifinal.

The first of Chicago's two pro tour stops of 2016 begins on Monday with two qualifying rounds for Web.com Tour's Rust-Oleum Championship. Eliminations at both Pine Meadow in Mundelein and at Stonewall Orchard in Grayslake will offer six berths in the $600,000 tournament proper at Ivanhoe Club.

Monday's program also features a celebrity pro-am that tees off at noon at Ivanhoe. On Tuesday there'll be a practice day plus the first local qualifying round for next year's Drive, Chip & Putt competition, and a final pro-am will be held on Wednesday before the 72-hole, four-day tournament proper begins on June 9.

Entries into the 156-man starting field for the $600,000 competition close at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Web.com Tour is competing this week at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. Two Chicago area players - Vince India and Joe Affrunti - are in the field there.

U.S. Open berths on the line:

A few local players will be among the nearly 600 participating in Monday's 10 sectional qualifiers for the U.S. Open. Those 36-hole tests will determine who plays in the Open proper June 16-19 at Oakmont, in Pennsylvania. Survivors of the local eliminations have their choice of sectional sites.

While the U.S. Golf Association again bypassed Chicago as a sectional site, the area did host two locals at both Village Links of Glen Ellyn and at Exmoor in Highland Park. Two of the top local players, though, chose to compete elsewhere.

Tee-k Kelly, the two-time Illinois Amateur champion from Wheaton, got through the local with a tie for third at Rattlesnake Ridge in Ohio before competing as an individual in the NCAA Championships. Libertyville's Michael Schachner, an invitee to the Rust-Oleum Championship to be played as his home club, was medalist in the local at Bishops Bay in Wisconsin. Northbrook's Tim Puetz also advanced to sectional play at Bishops Bay.

Here and there:

• The Arlington Heights Park District is opening registration on Wednesday for players wanting to play in the July 1 reopening of the Arlington Lakes course. It has been closed for over a year to undergo a renovation.

• Japan club manufacturer XXIO will host a demo day from 1-5 p.m. on Friday at Cog Hill in Lemont.

• John Platt gave Mistwood's professional staff another title last week when he defeated Craig Carney of Bull Valley in the final of the Illinois PGA Senior Match Play Championship at Shoreacres in Lake Bluff.

• The downstate team of Tom Kearfott of El Paso and Tim Sheppard of East Peoria won the new Chicago District Golf Association Senior Amateur Four-Ball tourney last week at Crystal Tree in Orland Park.

• For more golf news, visit lenziehmongolf.com. Len can be contacted by email at lenziehm@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZiehmLen and check out his posts at Facebook.com/ lenziehmongolf.

Oregon's Aaron Wise gets an ice bath from his Duck teammates after winning the individual title at the NCAA Division I men's college golf championship at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore., Monday, May 30, 2016. (Brian Davies/The Register-Guard via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
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