Golf is a wide-reaching sport that spans nearly every country, and that is one of the many reasons why you should appreciate the excellence it takes to play in a major championship.
The National Golf Foundation estimates that 28.1 million people in America played on a course in 2024. Just think about that. I can’t think of another sport that has that type of participation. Yet, despite all of those people, someone like former Illini golf star Thomas Detry has found his way into The Open Championship.
As I type this, Detry is on the back nine of the final round of The Open. He is even par for the round and even par for the tournament. Playing on Sunday means that Detry made the cut in one of the most competitive tournaments in the world.
Just qualifying to participate in a major like The Open is an achievement that is rare, but to make the cut and likely finish with a respectable score is out of this world good.
Alongside this former Illini legend is another great Illinois golfer, Brian Campbell. He has had one of the best years by an Illinois golfer in quite some time, winning the Mexico Open back in February and then taking home the John Deere Classic back home in Illinois.
While Campbell didn’t fare as well as Detry in The Open, finishing at +3 and missing the cut by two strokes, he still was competitive and made it to one of the top four tournaments in the world. That is an incredible achievement in itself, and it is one that is starting to become a familiar spot for Illinois golfers.
The run Illinois golf is on in major championships is only the beginning of something special
Detry and Campbell held the Illinois torch for The Open, one making the cut and the other watching as he likely fine-tunes his game for the next tournament. Making the cut isn’t anything new for Illinois golf, though.
Dating back to the 2022 Masters Tournament, Illinois golf has had a player not only participate, but we had someone make the cut in 13 out of the last 16 major championships. So, only three majors have been played when an Illinois golfer wasn’t teeing it up on the weekend.
It is not like it was just one Illinois golfer who was just making the cut every major, like saying Stanford had a player make every major cut from 1999 through 2006 because Tiger Woods was so dominant.
Out of the 13 majors, Illinois had four different golfers play the weekend. Detry is leading the pack by making the cut in seven out of the last 16 majors. Campbell has made three cuts. Nick Hardy has made two cuts. Thomas Pieters has made six cuts.
Four different Illinois golfers have made an impact on the weekend at majors in the last four years. That doesn’t account for all who have participated, either. Six Illinois golfers have teed it up at the 16 majors in the last four years, too. Adrien Dumont de Chassart qualified for the 2022 US Open, and Jackson Buchanan qualified for the last two US Opens in 2024 and 2025.
Mike Small has the men’s Illinois golf team always playing at a high level and seeing great success. 13 Big Ten Championships out of the last 16 seasons and 16 NCAA Championship appearances in the last 17 seasons are nothing to scoff at. That success at the collegiate level is now translating into the professional ranks. Illinois golf has made its presence known, and they are here to stay.