CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Six former Illini are in action this week, highlighted by head coach Mike Small teeing off alongside former teammate and longtime friend Steve Stricker on the PGA TOUR Champions.
PGA TOUR
Thomas Detry, currently ranked a career-high 52nd in the Official World Golf Rankings, is set to tee off this week at the Memorial presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
It is his final tune-up before the U.S. Open, June 13-16 at Pinehurst. He was exempt from U.S. Open qualifying by virtue of his top-60 OWGR ranking. Detry also ranks inside the top 25 on the FedEx Cup standings at No. 23 entering play this week looking to add to his four top-10 finishes on the season.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Steve Stricker and Illini head coach Mike Small will compete this week at the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge Golf Club in Madison, Wisconsin.
Stricker is the defending champion at the event, one of six PGA TOUR Champions victories he notched on his way to Tour Player of the Year honors last season.
For Small, it marks his first PGA TOUR Champions event of the season. In his career, he has made the cut in 18 of 19 Champions Tour events, including each of his previous six appearances at the AmFam Championship. He posted his best finish in the event, a tie for 10th, in 2018 and last season finished T22.
Earlier this week, Small earned his 13th Midwest Coach of the Year honor from the GCAA.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Brian Campbell and Dylan Meyer are in action this week at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, looking to make it two years in a row for an Illini to hoist the trophy after Adrien Dumont de Chassart's victory in his professional debut last season.
Campbell, who qualified along with current Illini Jackson Buchanan to join Thomas Detry at the U.S. Open next week, is in the midst of a stellar season. He currently ranks 11th on the tour's season-long points list with two top-10s and a runner-up finish via playoff to his credit.
Campbell has posted three top-10 finishes in his career at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, finishing T2 in 2016, T3 in 2019, and T8 in 2020.
Meyer is playing in his fourth Korn Ferry Tour event of the season, having made two of three cuts. It marks his second start at the BMW Charity Pro-Am after also competing in the event in 2019.
LIV GOLF LEAGUE
Thomas Pieters returns to action at LIV Golf Houston this week. He has moved up to No. 22 in the LIV player standings, coming off of a T5 finish in Singapore last month.
Between LIV events, Pieters also teed off at the DP World Tour's Soudal Open in his home country of Belgium, alongside countrymen and former Illini Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Matthis Besard.
Pieters had an excellent week in Antwerp, carding rounds of 67, 66, 68 and 66 to finish one stroke back in a tie for second.
