The Illinois golf team continues to produce talented players each and every year.
The current rendition of the Illini men’s team doesn’t stray away from the prior years. They have some great golfers on the roster and some who are up-and-coming. One of the players who is on a rapid rise is Adrien Dumont de Chassart.
Adrien is a freshman for the Illini. He hails from Villers la Ville, Belgium. Does Belgium sound familiar? That is because Illinois has one of the strongest recruiting pipelines to that country. Adrien is in a long line of Belgium players to come through Champaign. He joined the current roster this season with Giovanni Tadiotto who is from Anderlecht, Belgium. Some other notable Illini to come from Belgium include Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters, both playing on the professional tour circuits.
It looks like the newest Belgium on the team is already on his way to being one of the best we have. It was announced on Wednesday that Adrien is the Big Ten Golfer of the Week. This is an honor that goes out to the top golfer, and it is impressive that a freshman took home the award. It doesn’t come as a surprise, though.
Congratulations to #Illini freshman Adrien Dumont de Chassart who was named B1G Golfer of the Week today after earning his first individual tournament title in North Carolina!https://t.co/BbXDXPO6Ew pic.twitter.com/PsHxYeuCsm
— Illinois Men’s Golf (@IlliniMGolf) March 27, 2019
Illinois only played in one tournament this past week. They competed in the Tar Heel Intercollegiate and finished in a strong second to host North Carolina. The team, overall, played well, but Adrien was the star of the show. He took home medalist for the tournament shooting a three-round total of -9. He was six shots ahead of the second place finisher.
Finishing at -9 is a pretty impressive feat, but Adrien playing well isn’t shocking anyone. He has the third-best stroke average on the team this season with 71.61 strokes per tournament. That is right behind Michael Feagles and Bryan Baumgarten. In the spring session, Adrien actually has the second-best stroke average on the team at 71.83 strokes per tournament. That is only a half-stroke behind Feagles.
The great play by Adrien is happening at the right time. Illinois is entering the home stretch of their schedule. They have the 3M Augusta Invitational and then the Hawkeye Invitational before the Big Ten Championships start. A couple of strong finishes at these two events would be great. If Adrien continues to put up numbers as he did at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate, I think the Illini will be just fine.