On a U.S. Open golf course, even-par usually wins golf tournaments.

So when junior Harris English opened the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational on Friday at the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club, he said he thought even-par would be a great score with the golf course being so difficult.

That honest assessment turned out to be pretty close to spot on, as English fired a three-day total of 1-over-par 211 to take home his third collegiate victory, earning co-medalist honors with Trent Whitekiller of Oklahoma State.

“It feels good to win. It has been since my freshman year when I had two in a row, but it’s definitely a good start to the year,” English said.

“I had a lot of confidence coming in, and played really well and had a great tournament.”

However, the team as a whole didn’t play quite as well as their star junior, finishing in a tie for 8th out of the fifteen team field.

The Bulldogs were thirteen shots back of winner Arizona State at 43-over-par – a noticeable improvement from last week’s tie for 10th at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic.

“Well, we made a little progress this weekend,” head coach Chris Haack said. “Slowly but surely, one at a time, we’re heading in the right direction.”

An encouraging sign for the Bulldogs was the emergence of freshman Brian Carter, who finished in a tie for 10th at 6-over-par 216, and started the day in contention, one shot back of the lead.

Carter was looking strong before a rough, seven-over-par, nine-hole stretch on holes 8 -15 derailed his round and supplanted him from contention.

“It was good to see,” Haack said of his freshman’s first top-10 finish. “We knew he had the potential, so it was great to see him do it on a difficult golf course like this because there are so many land mines out there. So it was good to see him avoid those during the first two rounds.

“Even today, he hit a bad streak in the middle there, but he played really well to finish it up, so it was a round that didn’t totally get away from him.”

Carter believes his experience in contention will act as a confidence booster going forward, providing him with the confidence needed to go along with talent, which his coach says rivals anyone in the program’s history.

“It really felt good. I got a little nervous going into the back nine because I knew I was pretty close to the lead and stumbled around there after the 10th hole,” Carter said.

“But it’s good for me to know I can be in this position, and it’s given me some things to work on.”

When the Bulldogs return to action in three weeks at the Brickyard Collegiate, October 10-12, it could be with the much-awaited fall debut of sophomore Will Kropp, who is scheduled to return from a nerve injury which has sidelined him for all of the fall season thus far.

“It’s going to be good,” English said of Kropp’s return. “Will has a lot of experience , and he was a really good high school player.

“I’m looking for this to be his breakout year, and he can definitely put up some good numbers, no matter what course he plays in, and he’s going to be a very big factor in our team.”