NAPA, Calif. – Fighting Illini men's golf alumnus Nick Hardy tees off this week to open his rookie season as a PGA Tour member.
Hardy is one of 26 rookies slated to debut among the 156-player field in Thursday's first round of the 2021 Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort and Spa. The tournament marks the opening event of the 2021-22 PGA Tour season, and the first of 48 FedExCup events.
A 2018 Illinois grad, Hardy secured his PGA Tour Card in August with a top-25 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour's season-long points list, and was recently featured on PGATour.com as one of "The new Korn Ferry Tour grads you need to know in 2021-22."
Hardy becomes the seventh Illini golfer to play for head coach Mike Small's program before going on to reach full exempt status on either the PGA or European Tours, joining Joe Affrunti (PGA), Brian Campbell (PGA), Thomas Detry (European Tour), Luke Guthrie (PGA), Scott Langley (PGA), and Thomas Pieters (European Tour).
Hardy played in three PGA Tour events – the 2015 and 2016 U.S. Opens and the 2017 John Deere Classic - during his time as an Illini. As a professional, he has also made nine-career PGA Tour starts with five made cuts and a top-15 finish earlier this year (T14) at the at the Sony Open in Hawai'i in mid-January.
During his time at Illinois from 2014-18 Hardy established himself as one of the best players in program history, while maintaining a standard of excellence for Fighting Illini men's golf. A native of Northbrook, Ill., he helped lead the Illini to four consecutive Big Ten titles, book-ending the run with B1G Championship medalist honors as a freshman in 2015 and a senior in 2018. Hardy also captured top honors as co-medalist at the 2017 NCAA West Lafayette Regional.
The 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and 2018 Big Ten Player of the Year concluded his collegiate career as a four-time All-Big Ten selection, a four-time NCAA Ping All-Midwest Region honoree, a three-time Academic All-Big Ten performer, and a two-time All-American including a first-team nod in 2018.
As a junior in 2017, Hardy also helped Team USA defeat Team Europe in the Arnold Palmer Cup, and the following year capped his Illini career in 2018 by establishing a then-program record for lowest single-season stroke average (70.61).
