BRADENTON, Fla. — On Thursday, the Golf Channel announcing crew picked Illinois as one of the favorites in the NCAA men’s tournament. So far, Mike Small’s team is making them look right.
The Illini shot a 2-under-par 286 on Friday at Concession Golf Club to take a 2-shot lead over Georgia in the 30-school field.
“A solid day of golf for us,” Small said. “We played how we wanted to play. We didn’t count any big numbers. When we had bad holes, we didn’t follow it with more bad holes. We got back on track.”
The top eight teams after 72 holes advance to the match-play finals, which start Tuesday.