JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's golf team opened up a large lead over MacMurray College in the Crosstown Cup on Friday afternoon, then strolled past the Highlanders with another solid performance on Saturday, retaining the Cup with a 16.5 to 3.5 victory.
Friday opened with a pair of nine-hole matches to get things underway. Illinois College and MacMurray had four pairs play alternate shot on the front nine of The Links of Jacksonville and best ball on the back nine.
Bryce Oden and
Louis Faivre won the alternate shot, 1 Up, taking a lead on the sixth hole that lasted the rest of the way. They had an easier time on the back nine, going 1 Up on the 11th hole, then winning the 14th, 15th and 16th for a 4 & 2 victory.
The pairing of of
Ryan Kaufmann and
Ethan Beck led from the opening hole and had a 3 & 2 win on the front nine. They then won the 12th and 13th holes to go 2 Up and halve everything else from there for a 2 & 1 win.
Freshmen
Ryan Naile and
Cameron Nickerson won their first three holes of the day on the front and quickly put together a 4 & 3 win on the front nine. On the back, they were 3 Up by the 13th and cruised to a 2 & 1 win.
The final pairing for IC was
JR Batson and
Riley Nelson. 1 Down after the sixth hole, they squared the match on the seventh hole and then took a 1 Up lead on the par-3 8th, winning 1 Up. On the back nine, they pulled ahead on the 10th hole and extended the lead out until they had a 3 & 2 win.
In a best ball format on Saturday morning, the Blueboys took 2.5 out of a possible four points to go ahead 10.5 to 1.5. Oden and Faivre again paired up for a 1 Up win out of the first group. Kaufmann and Naile were the second group of the day for Illinois College and they had a 3 & 2 win. The other half-point came from Nelson and Nickerson, halving the match out of the third group.
Head-to-head singles matches were then played and Illinois College came away with five wins and two halves to reach the final total. The first five matches all went IC's way. Oden was a 5 & 4 winner, Faivre won 7 & 5, Kaufmann had the largest win of the day at 8 & 6, Naile won 6 &5 and Nelson was a 3 & 1 winner. The two halved matches for Illinois College came from Nickerson and
Alex Anderson to reach the final point total.
The Blueboys move from The Links of Jacksonville to the Jacksonville Country Club for Monday's McNaughton Invite. Tee times at JCC begin at 10 a.m.
