ADDISON — Danville native and University of Illinois head men’s golf coach Mike Small won his first Illinois Senior Open Championship on Tuesday at the Preserve at Oak Meadows.
Small came back from a two-strike deficit to hold off Wheaton’s Danny Mulhearn and Bloomington’s Mike Henry with a two-round score of 138.
“I thought it was a well-played round for the three of us today for about 14 holes,” said Small. “We all played solid. Starting on 15 I started making a variety of errors. I made some on 15, and then Danny made some, and Mike made some at the end, but we all mixed in some good shots in there too. All in all, it was a great round, I didn’t have my best stuff there at the end, but I was able to hang on.”
Down three strokes by the sixth hole on Tuesday, Small found his way to a three-way tie by the 12th hole. On that hole, Small took the lead with a birdie and Henry and Mulhearn made par.
Small would bogey 15 to fall into a tie with Mulhearn and would get into a tie again with Henry going into the final hole. Small made par, while Henry double bogeyed and Mulhearn bogeyed to give Small the win.
“That last chip was not an easy shot,” said Small. “The way I bogeyed 17, I knew I couldn’t give another one away. That was about all I could do from there. I was in the rough with little green to work with and I flopped up there to about a foot away. That was a great way to end, and I just have to remember those types of shots and take those with me.”
