Carolina opens play at OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational Friday

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina men’s golf tees it up again this weekend at the 2018 Olympia Fields Country Club Fighting Illini Invitational (Sept. 14-16). First round action gets underway Friday morning at Olympia Fields Country Club, just outside of Chicago, at 8:30 a.m. ET.
 
“We’re looking forward to playing in one of the premier events in college golf this week,” said head coach Bill McDonald. “Olympia Fields golf course and the strength of the competition will provide a great experience for our team.  We hope everyone back home takes appropriate safety measures in regards to the impending hurricane. Our thanks are to those tasked with responding to, and assisting, those in need during this time.”
 
The Gamecocks are fresh off a solid showing at the Carpet Capital Collegiate last weekend to open the 2018-19 season. Carolina shot 863 (-1) to finish T-4th in a 15-team field that featured seven teams ranked in the top-15 of the Preseason Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll.
 
Seniors Will Miles (T-11^th, -2) and Scott Stevens (T-16^th, E) led the Gamecocks with top-20 performances. They will be in the lineup again this week alongside freshman Ryan Hall, who finished T-27 (+3) at The Farm in his collegiate debut. Hall shot 69 (-3) in the final round last Sunday, which marked the lowest round of the tournament by a Gamecock.
 
Freshman Teddy Tetak will be playing in the lineup for the first time this weekend. The Limbach, Slovakia, native, finished T-41^st (+5) at the Carpet Capital Collegiate playing as an individual. Junior Jamie Wilson is also making his debut this week.

HISTORY AT OFCC/FIGHTING ILLINI INVITATIONAL
Carolina is making its first ever appearance at this weekend’s OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational. It’s the 13^th year of the event, which is annually one of the top fall tournaments in collegiate golf.

ABOUT THE COURSE
Olympia Fields Country Club is one of the premiere golf courses in the upper Midwest. Since it opened in 1915, it has hosted two U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships, five Western Opens and a U.S. Senior Open among other high-level tournaments. This week, teams will be playing the North Course, a 7,353-yard par 70 setup.

TOURNAMENT FIELD
It’s another loaded field this week for Carolina to go up against with the top two teams in the country playing in No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Alabama. Eight more teams in the 14-team field are ranked in the Preseason Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll: No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 11 Cal, No. 12 Stanford, No. 14 Baylor, No. 16 Illinois, No. 20 Southern Cal, No. 23 UNLV and No. 25 Florida State.

Texas A&M is the defending champions after shooting a 54-hole total of 837 (-3) in 2017. They were the only team in the field to shoot under par. Davis Riley of Alabama is the defending individual champion after carding a 10-under score of 200 (66-67-67).  

MCDONALD’S 21
Gamecock head coach Bill McDonald is the winningest coach by tournament victories in school history with 21. McDonald broke the previous record of nine held by Puggy Blackmon (1995-2007) with Carolina’s win at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in September 2014. McDonald captured a school-record five wins in 2014-15 and the team’s third-straight title at the 2017 Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate last spring. His latest win came last fall at the 2017 Camden Collegiate Invitational as Carolina won the event for the third time in four seasons thanks to three individual top-10 finishes.