BALTIMORE, Md. – The Fighting Illini men's golf team, No. 13 nationally in the NCAA Division I team rankings, tees off this week at Baltimore Country Club for the 2025 Big Ten Men's Golf Championship.
The Orange and Blue are in search of their 14th victory in the last 16 league championships dating back to the 2008-09 season, and the program's 21st Big Ten crown overall.
THE SETTING
Baltimore Country Club was founded in 1898, is listed by the USGA as one of the first 100 clubs established in the United States, and is one of only seven clubs nationwide to operate two campuses. Today Baltimore Country Club, some 3,000 members strong, is widely recognized as one of the top 50 country clubs in the nation, and was featured as one of the 100 "Most Prestigious Clubs in the World" by LINKS Magazine.
The club's A.W. Tillinghast designed Par 70 Five Farms East Course, with back-to-front pitched greens, limited water hazards, and 96 bunkers, has received many honors including making Golfweek's list of "America's Top 100 Classic Courses" (pre 1960) numerous times. It is also listed as the best Classic or Modern (post 1960 design) Course in the state of Maryland.
Baltimore Country Club has hosted a Men's U.S. Open, a PGA Championship, a Men's U.S. Amateur, a U.S. Walker Cup, a U.S. Women's Open, and a Champions Tour Major. The club also hosted the Big Ten Men's Golf Championship in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The 54-hole tournament will be played over three days, Friday-Sunday, with 18 holes slated for each day. The low four scores will count towards the team score in each round. Tee times for Friday and Saturday begin at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT. Sunday's final round is scheduled to tee off beginning at 8 a.m. ET/7 a.m. CT and will be immediately followed by the awards ceremony.
THE FIELD
The field includes all 18 Big Ten men's golf programs. The Illini, No. 13 in the latest NCAA Men's Golf team rankings, are one of six top-50 ranked teams in the league, along with UCLA (12), defending champion Northwestern (27), Oregon (36), Purdue (37), and USC (50). Michigan State (61), Michigan (71), Indiana (75), Nebraska (81), Ohio State (83), Iowa (92) and Washington (100) all rank inside the top 100, followed by Minnesota (107), Wisconsin (111), Rutgers (125), Maryland (135), and Penn State (144).Â
FIGHTING ILLINI LINEUP
No. 1:Â Jackson Buchanan
No. 2:Â Max Herendeen
No. 3:Â Trey Marrion
No. 4:Â Ryan Voois
No. 5:Â Jake Birdwell
Alternate: Ethan WilsonÂ
ILLINI AT THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2025 Big Ten Men's Golf Championship marks the conference's 105th championship tournament dating back to 1920 and the 104th for the Fighting Illini who have competed for the league title every year except for 1929 when only seven programs played in the event. No tournament was held in 2020.
Illinois ranks second all-time with 20 conference championships and sits in the lead spot in the Big Ten record book with 29 individual medalists (top-3 finishers). Illini have also captured the individual conference championship a Big Ten-record 21 times.Â
Under head coach Mike Small, the Illini have won 13 of the last 15 Big Ten Championships dating back to the 2008-09 season, including a conference-record eight straight from 2015 to 2023. During the Small era, the Illini also won or shared the individual title for nine consecutive seasons between 2011 and 2019, the longest streak in Big Ten history.
Four of the five members of the Illini lineup – senior Jackson Buchanan, junior Ryan Voois, and sophomores Max Herendeen and Ethan Wilson – boast Big Ten Championship experience.
Buchanan will play in his fourth conference championship after making his debut in the Illini's thrilling one-stroke victory in the 2022 tourney at The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort in French Lick, Ind. In 2023, at the rain-shortened event held at Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., Buchanan finished tied for fifth to help the Illini capture the team title. He was leading the event when play was halted and scores were reverted to the 36-hole totals midway through Round 3. Last season in the Illini's runner-up team finish at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio, Buchanan also finished second, one stroke off the pace of medalist Daniel Svard of Northwestern.
Voois, the team's alternate through the 2023 postseason, made his Big Ten Championship debut last season at Scioto alongside the then-freshmen duo of Herendeen and Wilson. Voois finished T26, Herendeen tied for 16th. Wilson, who will begin the weekend as the Illini's alternate, finished with a share of 30th last season. Freshmen Trey Marrion and Jake Birdwell are set to make their Big Ten Championship debuts.  Â
B1G CHAMPIONSHIP RETURN TO BCC
The Big Ten Championship returns to Baltimore Country Club for the third time, after hosting back-to-back league championships at the venue in 2017 and 2018, both won by the Fighting Illini.
Illinois shot 11-under as a team to win the 2017 Big Ten Championship by 16 strokes over runner-up Northwestern, led by Dylan Meyer's medalist performance of 5-under 205 (63-73-69).
The following year, Nick Hardy (who also won the Big Ten Championship in 2015) carded a 6-under 204 (69-68-67) to capture his second individual conference championship, and led the Illini (-4) to victory by 15 strokes over runner-up Ohio State.Â
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring for the Big Ten Championship will be available via Clippd Scoreboard. A recap and results will be posted on FightingIllini.com following each day of competition.
BIG MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ON BTN
Big Ten Network, for the first time, will offer live coverage of the final round of play at the Big Ten Men's Golf Championship. Coverage is scheduled to begin Sunday, April 27 at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT. Rick Pizzo, Will Haskett, Emma Carpenter and Erik Ciotti are among those who will anchor the golf championships on BTN.Â
UP NEXT
Following the Big Ten Championship, the Fighting Illini return home to continue their postseason run as hosts of one of six NCAA Regional tournaments at Atkins Golf Club in Urbana, May 12-14. Other regional sites are: Auburn University Club (Auburn, Alabama), Gold Mountain Golf Club (Bremerton, Washington), Montreux Golf and Country Club (Reno, Nevada), Poplar Grove Golf Course (Amherst, Virginia), and Seminole Legacy Golf Club (Tallahassee, Florida).
The complete field for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship will be revealed live on Golf Channel's Golf Central Special: NCAA Men's Selection Show, Wednesday, May 30 at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.
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 enters 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.
