Illinois Golf: Illini exceeded expectations this season
Just because the men’s Illinois golf team fell short of advancing to the top 15 of the NCAA Championship doesn’t mean the season was a disappointment.
That is the mindset that players and fans should have about the season that just concluded on Sunday. Illinois shot a three-round total of +51 which put them in the bottom three of the NCAA Championship and nearly 20 strokes from getting to Monday. But, while the NCAA Championships didn’t go as planned, that doesn’t mean the entire Illini Nation isn’t proud of these kids.
Coming into the season, Illinois was trying to figure out who was going to replace two of the greatest golfers to every come through the program. Dylan Meyer and Nick Hardy graduated and left two massive holes in the team. These two won tournaments and helped propel the Orange and Blue to four of the best years in team history. Those are some huge shoes to fill.
There were a couple of old faces that returned to help the Illini this season, though. Michael Feagles and Giovanni Tadiotto both were important pieces as juniors for this team. But Illinois had to rely on a few freshmen as well.
Illinois threw both Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl into the fire as true freshmen. That is a lot to ask of players who are just coming from the high school ranks. But these two played well this year and the Illini showed that, despite having two huge players leave the team, the future is still bright for the Orange and Blue.
This young team was able to wow the masses with the way they played this season. They won a total of four tournaments and two of those were postseason events. Illinois took down The MacDonald Cup and the Fighting Irish Classic in the fall and then won the Big Ten Championship and the NCAA Regionals just in the last month.
Illinois had three individual medalists as well. Adrien took home medalist at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate back in March. He won that shooting a three-round total of -9. He then followed that up with the medalist honors at the Big Ten Championship shooting a three-round total of +2. Feagles couldn’t let a freshman get all the glory, so he decided to take home medalist honors at the NCAA Regional with a three-round total of -15.
Next. Bernard Kouma ready to sign with Illini. dark
While the season didn’t end great, this entire Illini team showed us that the future is bright and there is still a lot of talent left in this program. As a fan, I couldn’t be prouder. Every player is returning to this program and I can’t wait to see what they can do with a year of experience under their belts.