CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – University of Illinois men's golf head coach Mike Small announced the program's complete schedule on Tuesday, adding six spring events to the team's previously announced fall slate leading up to the 2025 postseason.
Illinois' 2024-25 season, the 25th under Small's guidance, opens next week at the Folds of Honor Collegiate.
"Both the fall and spring portions of our schedule feature a combination of familiar and new events that are designed to prepare our team as we build toward our championship goals," Small said. "Each season, we build a schedule to facilitate the physical and mental growth necessary to reach our standard. Beginning next week, each event will offer unique challenges and opportunities to test ourselves in first-class tournaments against the top programs in the nation."
SEPTEMBER
The season opens Sept. 9-11 when the Fighting Illini tee off at the Folds of Honor Collegiate, co-hosted by Folds of Honor, Michigan State, Florida State, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), and HNS Sports Group, at American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Michigan. It marks the second time in the field at Folds of Honor for the Illini who won the inaugural event in 2022 behind a stellar performance (T3) from then-sophomore Jackson Buchanan.
The 2024 Folds of Honor Collegiate will feature live television coverage on Golf Channel and Peacock.
Following play in Michigan, Illinois hosts another of the season's most prestigious collegiate events at famed Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois. The Fighting Illini will once again welcome 14 peers for the 18th annual OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational, Sept. 20-22, contested on the Par-70, 7,310-yard North Course. The event is recognized annually for offering a demanding but fair early-season test that attracts one of the best fields in collegiate golf.
The Orange and Blue remain in Illinois to close out the first month of the season at the Windon Memorial Classic, hosted by Northwestern at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, Sept. 29-30.
OCTOBER
Illinois closes out the fall with a pair of new challenges over an eight-day span along the Gulf Coast.
First, the Orange and Blue tee off at the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational, co-hosted by Southern Miss and Ole Miss at Fallen Oak at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino's Fallen Oak Course in Saucier, Mississippi, Oct. 19-21.
The Illini's final event of the fall begins just five days later at South Alabama's Steelwood Collegiate Invitational, which will be contested at Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, Alabama, Oct. 26-27.
FEBRUARY
The spring schedule begins, unofficially, when the Illini tee it up in Placida, Florida, for the Tinervin Cup, an annual match-play event that pits the Orange and Blue against program alumni in an exhibition. The event offers the squad a chance to test themselves at one of the top courses in the state of Florida – Coral Creek Golf Club – as they prepare for the spring schedule. The exact date of the 2025 Tinervin Cup is still to be determined.
The spring slate opens in earnest, Feb. 13-15, at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate hosted by Hawai'i at The Ocean Course at Hokuala in Lihue, Kaua'i, Hawai'i. It marks the Illini's first trip to the islands since 2020 when the team posted a fourth-place finish in the same event.
MARCH
March features a stretch of three tournaments beginning with the Illinois' fourth straight season in the field at the Southern Highlands Collegiate, March 2-4, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event, hosted by UNLV, annually draws a strong field of championship-caliber programs to test themselves on a challenging desert track. The Illini won the event in 2023.
The Orange and Blue close out the month at a pair of events new to the team's schedule. First Illinois heads to California to compete, March 17-18, at Loyola Marymount's Pauma Valley Invitational at Pauma Valley Country Club. Two weeks later, the Illini close the month, March 31-April 1, in Cordova, Tennessee, for the Memphis Intercollegiate at Colonial Country Club.
APRIL
April continues with the Illini returning to Augusta, Georgia, for the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational. The event is hosted by Augusta University at Forest Hills Golf Club – just miles from Augusta National Golf Club – and takes place April 5-6, concluding on the eve of Masters week.
Following play in Augusta, the Orange and Blue close out the regular season at Purdue's Boilermaker Invitational, April 19-20, at the Ackerman-Allen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Indiana.
POSTSEASON
The Fighting Illini's 2025 postseason run begins April 25-27 at the Big Ten Championship at Baltimore Country Club in Baltimore, Maryland. Illinois is in search of its 14th Big Ten title since 2009.
NCAA Regionals are slated for May 12-14, and will be held at six sites around the country: The Blessings Golf Club (Fayetteville, Arkansas), Gold Mountain Golf Club (Bremerton, Washington), Karsten Creek Golf Club (Stillwater, Oklahoma), Montreux Golf and Country Club (Reno, Nevada), Poplar Grove Golf Course (Amherst, Virginia), and Seminole Legacy Golf Club (Tallahassee, Florida).
The NCAA National Championship is set to return for Year 2 at the North Course at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, May 23-28. Illinois will enter the 2025 postseason in search of the program's 16th NCAA Championship berth in 17 years dating back to 2008. After winning the NCAA Stanford Regional title last spring, the Illini finished first through 72 holes of stroke play at La Costa before posting the team's ninth top-five national finish since 2011 as one of the final eight program's vying for the national title in the match play portion of NCAA Championship.
Tournament dates and times are subject to change. Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois men's golf.
