Illinois, Meyer step it up

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Next time a curling downhill six-footer feels like the biggest problem in the world, consider Dylan Meyer’s last couple of weeks.

The 21-year-old Illinois junior wasn’t feeling great during the Big Ten tournament, even though he won the individual title, and didn’t know why. It showed in his golf at the NCAA regional at Purdue, where he finished at 8-over 225, unaccustomed territory for him.

So was Carle Foundation Hopsital in Urbana, but that’s where he ended up for three days between the conference tournament and the regional – during finals week – while being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. He’ll live with it the rest of his life, but thanks to the quick diagnosis, he’ll be able to have a normal life.

“I’m just happy we figured it all out. It’s good to have great doctors around that helped figure everything out. I’m feeling a lot better,” Meyer said. “The medication’s working. I got my second loading dose before we left. And I have to go to the hospital and get infusions every eight weeks.”

That’s every eight weeks forever.

Illinois coach Mike Small has been impressed with Meyer’s pluck through the illness, diagnosis and recovery.

“He got a bad lie,” Small said. “We talked about it. It’s the cards he’s dealt. What are you going to do about it. Whine, or get up there and hit the bad lie as well as you can. He got a bad lie in life, and he’s got to deal with it. I think he will.

“This is a serious illness, and something he’s going to have the rest of his life, but the doctors have a handle on it. I was relieved that we found out what it was and we got it taken care of.”

Meyer played only one practice round between the Big Ten championship and the NCAA regional, and was not sharp. But he appeared back on track on Saturday. Saying he was 100 percent on Saturday and playing like it, he scored 5-under-par 67 at Rich Harvest Farms in the second round of the NCAA Championship after finishing the final seven holes of the storm-delayed first round in the morning.

He finished with a deft lob pitch from the rough to the right of the 18th green to within three feet of the cup, and poured the putt in for his sixth birdie of the day and fourth of the back nine. A bogey on the par-4 15th sullied his otherwise-pristine card, with opened with a birdie and featured a stylish par save at the par-4 eighth.

“It was a momentum booster,” Meyer said.

Was it ever. Meyer birdied the ninth and then birdied three in a row beginning at the 12th. He sat in a tie for sixth at 6-under 138 after the morning wave of the second round with only a handful of afternoon players threatening, and was all but a lock for a top 10 placing going into Sunday’s third round – weather permitting, as the forecast calls for thunderstorms after 10 a.m..

“He’ll be a first-team All-American,” Small went on. “He’s had a great season. He keeps getting better all the time. I envision him next year being even better than he is now. It’s a progression. When he gets a chance to showcase it, we want him to go full-bore, go after it and embrace this moment. And he does.”

Fellow junior Nick Hardy, who scored even-par 71 in the second round and stands at 1-under 143, had empathy for his pal, who he’s known since before they became teammates.

“Whenever you see someone go through adversity like that, they find a way to bounce back and become stronger,” Hardy said. “Dylan was dealt some tough adversity the past month and a half, and he fought through it really well. I didn’t even know he’d play regionals, so it was pretty cool being able to pick him up a little bit. He was struggling, but he’s back to 100 percent and he’s definitely got it figured out.”

Meyer and Hardy led the way for the Fighting Illini, with teammates Edoardo Lipparelli (71-141), Michael Feagles (76-145), and Giovanni Tadiotto (74-148) also in the mix.

Illinois is third after 36 holes at 11-under 565, behind only Nevada-Las Vegas (14-under 562 and Olkahoma (13-under 563). Of the top 12 teams at the halfway point of the stroke-play portion, only Illinois is a northern school. All the others, including usual suspects Southern California, Louisiana State and Oklahoma State, are from warm (or warmer) areas of the country.

“We’re right in the thick of it, right in the position we wanted to be,” Hardy said. “We’re excited.”

What Illinois had ten-fold compared to the other teams was local support. The combination of the weekend, the sun finally coming out and the track record Illinois has compiled over the last decade conspired to draw about 2,200 people to Rich Harvest by 1 p.m., with more coming in the gate after that. For college golf, that’s an enormous crowd.

“It’s huge,” Meyer said. “It helps with the adrenalin, gets you going, but you’ve got to manage it in the correct way, be able to keep yourself calm going to the next tee box.”

He didn’t have to do that after sinking the shortie for a birdie 4 at the last. A fist pump and a fierce wave of his visor both reacted to and incited the pro-Illini gallery around the home hole to get louder.

“This is a lot more people than what we’re used to,” Meyer said. “It can be distracting if you let it be distracting, playing to the crowd if you let it be distracting.”

But not so much for Meyer, who won the Western Amateur before a healthy gallery at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest last year, or Hardy, who romped in last year’s Illinois Amateur and has played in the last two U.S. Opens. They seem unflappable.

“We’re a mentally strong-enough team that we don’t really worry about that, just go and play your game,” Meyer said.

– Tim Cronin