NORMAN, Okla. -- A trio of Illinois men's golfers were honored by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) on Sunday (May 29) when Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Tommy Kuhl, and Piercen Hunt were selected to the 2022 Division I PING All-Midwest Region team.
The honor is the third all-region selection for Dumont de Chassart, while Kuhl and Hunt each garner the first all-region nods of their Illinois careers. This marks the 14th consecutive season that the Illini have placed at least two golfers on the all-region list.
Dumont de Chassart, the reigning two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, also earned an all-region recognition as a freshman in 2019 and again as a junior in 2021. Dumont de Chassart was a unanimous first-team All-B1G selection this season, his third-career all-conference award. He took home a second-place individual finish to help lead the Illini to their seventh consecutive Big Ten Championship at The Pete Dye Course at French Lick. Following the thrilling Championship finish, Dumont de Chassart was presented with the Les Bolstad Award as the golfer with the league's best average (70.15), and finished the year at 70.08 after the NCAA New Haven Regional to establish a new program single-season record. Dumont de Chassart captured his third collegiate victory earlier this season at the Boilermaker Invitational, and posted top-20 finishes in 11 of 12 events on the year, including seven top-fives. He closed as Illinois first- or second-place finisher in all 12 tournaments, pacing the squad in a team-most six tournaments, and has tallied a team-leading 29 (out of 36) rounds at par or better.
Kuhl's all-region selection marks his first and comes on the heels of his first-team All-Big Ten honor during the 2021-22 season, the first all-conference nod of his career. The Morton, Ill., native emerged as one of the Illini's top performers, ranking second on the team with a season stroke average of 71.61, nearly a full stroke ahead of his previous season-best (72.53) set as a sophomore in 2019-20. Kuhl placed as the Illini's top finisher in four events in 2021-22, the second-most on the team behind Dumont de Chassart. Kuhl closed the season with seven top-20 individual finishes, including a trio of third-place showings at the Hoosier Collegiate, the Boilermaker Invitational, and the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate. Kuhl also tied for sixth at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational posting a career-low round of 65 and a personal-best 54-hole score of 207 (-9). He finished as the top Illini at the NCAA New Haven Regional with a tie for 12th, and tallied 19 of 36 rounds of the season at par or better, tying for the second-most on the team.
Hunt also takes home his first all-region selection after a breakout year for the Illini that led to a second-team all-B1G selection. The sophomore from Hartland, Wis., ranked third on the team with a season stroke average of 71.94, more than a full stroke ahead of his freshman season (73.20). He recorded top-10 finishes in six of 12 tournaments, including a tie for ninth at the Big Ten Championship. Hunt won the first tournament of his collegiate career at the prestigious Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in October, tallying a then-career-low single-round score of 68 (-4) in Rounds 1 and 3, and finishing with a career-best 54-hole tally of 209 (-7). He broke his single-round mark on Day 1 of the NCAA New Haven Regional, posting a 6-under 64 at Yale Golf Course. He closed as Illinois top finisher in two events on the season, and matched Kuhl for second on the team with 19 rounds (out of 36) at par or better on the year.
All three all-region performers are slated to return to the Illinois roster 2022-23, with seniors Dumont de Chassart and Kuhl having expressed plans to take advantage of an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
