CARLSBAD, Calif. – The No. 11-seeded Fighting Illini men's golf team is moving on to Round 4 of the NCAA Men's Golf Championship at the top of the team leaderboard. The Orange and Blue closed out Round 3 with the lowest team round of the weekend – a 6-under 282 – overtaking Virginia as the field was pared down to the top 15 teams, and nine individuals, for Monday's stroke play finale on the North Course at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
"I think every team gets a little better and learns the golf course; every round you play you continue to learn about this place," head coach Mike Small said. "We just played good golf today, we started off with nothing spectacular but solid. I don't think the par-fives were as good as we would have liked them to be, but the par-threes were solid. We were 6-under the back nine, and I think we played No. 10 over-par, which was pretty good. The wind came up the back nine, there was no wind on the front nine. We met it head on and played solid golf."
Illinois shot 5-over in Round 1 on Friday, improved by six strokes for a 1-under 287 on Saturday, and used their impressive finish on the back nine Sunday to erase seventh-seeded Virginia's three-shot advantage. And with another cut to the top-eight teams on the horizon prior to the start of match play on Tuesday, the Illini's performance has all but solidified their standing, 23 shots ahead of a tie for ninth place between 10th-seeded Arizona and No. 13 seed Georgia Tech.
Two Illini sit inside the top 10 of the individual title race that will be determined Monday. Freshman Max Herendeen, in a tie for fourth at 214 (-2) and fifth-year senior Tyler Goecke, in a tie for seventh at 215 (-1) are in the hunt for what would be the program's third NCAA individual championship under Small. Ohio State's Adam Wallin is alone in first at 211 (-5) after 54 holes.
Since the 2000-01 season, Small's first at the helm of the Illini program, Illinois (Scott Langley, 2010; Thomas Pieters, 2012), Oklahoma State (Jonathan Moore, 2006; Matthew Wolff, 2019), and Florida (Nick Gilliam, 2001; Fred Biondi, 2003) are the only programs to have produced multiple individual NCAA champions.
Goecke and Herendeen were two of three Illini to shoot under par in Round 3, along with senior Piercen Hunt, who bounced back from a lackluster Round 2 with a 70. Hunt opened particularly strong, with a bogey-free 3-under 33 at the turn. His fourth birdie of the day on No. 13 helped minimize bogeys on 10 and 15, and his 2-under finish moved him 33 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 34th.
Goecke carded a team-best 69 (-3), shooting four-under on the back nine and five-under over his final 15 holes after a pair of early bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3. Herendeen closed his day with a 71 (-1). Following bogeys on No. 1 and No 5, he shot 3-under with five birdies and just two bogeys over his last 13 holes of the round.
Junior Jackson Buchanan also posted a strong finish, tallying birdies on two of his final five holes to finish at even-par 72 for the Illini's fourth score of the round. Buchanan moved up 14 spots into a tie for 40th.
Ryan Voois was steady throughout the day and his 1-over 73 was the lowest non-counting score for any team this week. The sophomore opened with 11 straight pars before his lone bogey of the day on No. 12, then quickly regrouped to finish with par on each of his last six holes. He is one shot outside of the top 20 with a three-round total of 219 (+3).
Behind Illinois (-2) and Virginia (+4), Vanderbilt (+9), Florida State (+10), Ohio State (+13), North Carolina (+15), Auburn (+15), and Florida (+20), will begin inside Monday's cutline for match play.
"(We need to) play Illinois golf tomorrow, go look forward, not behind. Don't compare," Small added. "We want to play from strength and just play the golf course the way it is set up to play it and what happens, happens. If we control our space, we will be okay."
Round 4 tee times begin at 12:45 p.m. CT/10:45 a.m. PT, with the Illini, Cavaliers, and Commodores teeing off together beginning at 2:35 p.m. CT/12:35 p.m. PT. Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.com, with GOLF Channel live coverage slated for 5-9 p.m. CT/3-7 p.m. PT.
