Photo By: Kristyn Sonnenberg | Photo EditorSenior Eric Lilleboe ana­lyzes his angle for a put into hole two at Saturday’s tour­na­ment. Lilleboe was a first place medal­ist with his even-par 210 score.

Senior Eric Lilleboe is cur­rently ranked No.1 in the Division II Golfstat Cup Standings and No.2 across all divi­sions nationally.

In the first three tour­na­ments of the year, Lilleboe has proven how tal­ented he is on the golf course. In the Bulldog’s first tour­na­ment at Saginaw Valley State, Lilleboe led Ferris to a vic­tory as he shat­tered the pre­vi­ous course record by four strokes as he shot a school-record 14-under par.

“It really wasn’t any­thing amaz­ing, I just saw every putt, and the few mis­takes I made ended up in a very playable spot,” said Lilleboe.

He fol­lowed that with a sec­ond place fin­ish at six-under par at the Great Lakes Region Tournament in South Haven, Mich. Even with that respectable out­ing, he was dis­ap­pointed with the end result, as the Bulldogs fin­ished sec­ond overall.

“We have set such high expec­ta­tions for our­selves as a team, we do get dis­ap­pointed if we place only sec­ond,” said Lilleboe.

In the team’s last tour­na­ment, the Ferris State Matt Pinter Invitational, Lilleboe took top hon­ors yet again with a three– round score of 210. He has yet to fin­ish out­side the top two in any event this season.

There is no secret to the rea­son behind his and the Bulldogs’ early suc­cess: hard work. The team prac­tices four days a week and has 7 a.m. work­outs two days a week.

Lilleboe will have to keep prac­tice and his great play going if he hopes to achieve his dream of turn­ing pro­fes­sional after grad­u­a­tion. He will apply to a qual­i­fy­ing school in which there are approx­i­mately 200 golfers and only 25 will make it to the PGA.

He was only eleven when he started going to the dri­ving range with his dad, who was an avid golfer. Apparently, Lilleboe paid close atten­tion. His love of the game and moti­va­tion to suc­ceed has led to back-to-back Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Athlete of the Week honors.

As of now, Lilleboe is not con­cerned about his per­sonal suc­cess. He wants to see the Ferris State Bulldogs win a national title. This sea­son the Bulldogs have fin­ished first twice and sec­ond once through their first three tournaments.

“There are no lim­its on this team and there is no rea­son we can­not win Nationals,” said Lilleboe.