The Illinois State men’s golf team finished in fifth place at the 2026 Memphis Intercollegiate: Spirited by Old Dominick, after posting a final-round score of 295 on Mar. 31 in Cordova, Tennessee.
The tournament result highlights the team’s competitive standing among eleven participating schools. Host Memphis won the event with a total score of 866, followed by Wright State and Eastern Kentucky. Troy edged Illinois State by one stroke for fourth place, while Tarleton State, Dayton, Lipscomb, Central Arkansas, Louisiana Monroe, and Jacksonville State completed the field.
Senior TJ Barger led Illinois State in the final round with a one-under-par 71. Barger recorded two birdies and fifteen pars in his last round and finished tied for fifteenth overall with a three-round total of 222. He also made forty-one pars over fifty-four holes—the most of any golfer at the event. Pietro Pontiggia was Illinois State’s top individual finisher for the tournament; he tied for tenth place with a three-round score of 220 and posted three birdies and eleven pars during his final round.
Other notable performances included Max Faucquez tying for twenty-eighth after rounds of seventy-five, seventy-five, and seventy-four (totaling 224), Gonzalo Cuellar placing forty-first after an eighty-three in his last round, and Sam Ottwell tying for forty-second with his lowest round—a seventy-five—featuring two birdies and twelve pars.
According to the official website, Illinois State Redbirds benefits from the Redbird Athletics Excellence Fund to support competitiveness and recruitment according to the official website. The university’s athletic program is linked to Illinois State University according to the official website and competes in NCAA Division I events across various regions according to the official website. Student-athletes use facilities such as the OSF HealthCare Athletics Training Center for preparation according to the official website, while news updates about teams like men’s basketball—which recently posted an eight-win start—are available online according to the official website.
Looking ahead, Illinois State will compete next week at The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Missouri during Missouri’s Tiger Invitational on April 6-7.
