URBANA, Ill. -- The Fighting Illini men's golf program's hunt for a national title will begin at the NCAA Urbana Regional at Atkins Golf Club at the University of Illinois, where the Orange and Blue will host 13 programs and 10 individuals, May 12-14, competing for a spot in the field at the 2025 NCAA Championship.
The Illini - No. 14 in the NCAA Division I team rankings - tees off Monday to begin three days of competition. The Orange and Blue are making their 17th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and are looking to advance to the NCAA Championship round for the 16th time in the last 17 seasons.
THE SETTING
The 2025 NCAA Urbana Regional is hosted by the Fighting Illini at the program's championship-caliber home course, Atkins Golf Club at the University of Illinois (Par 71 / 7,533 yards). Located in Urbana, just minutes from Illinois' state-of-the-art on-campus practice facilities, Atkins Golf Club is an 18-hole public golf course, formerly known as Stone Creek Golf Club, that has served as the home course of the Fighting Illini men's and women's golf programs for more than two decades.
After the course was gifted by the Atkins Family to the University of Illinois and the Illinois Foundation in 2020, Fighting Illini Athletics partnered with architect Drew Rogers to enhance the already strong golf course by rebuilding all greens, relocating many and rebuilding all bunkers using the Better Billy Bunker system, and adding length to allow the team to stretch the course to more than 7500 yards. The renovation has resulted in a championship venue that is capable of providing a fair and challenging experience for the nation's top collegiate players.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The 54-hole tournament will be played over three days, Monday-Wednesday, with 18 holes slated for each day. The low four scores will count towards the team score in each round, with the top five teams, and the low individual not on one of those teams, advancing to the NCAA Championship.
THE FIELD
The Fighting Illini enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed at the Urbana Regional in a strong field that includes 11 of 13 programs ranked inside the top-65 of the latest NCAA Division I team rankings. In addition to the No. 14-ranked and third-seeded Illini, the field will feature No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 23 Texas Tech, and No. 26 Long Beach State to round out the top-five seeds. UCLA (35), Houston (38), Marquette (47), Troy (51) and Pacific (60) are seeded sixth through 10th, respectively, followed by NC State (64), Illinois State (136), and Wright State (163) to round out the 13-team field vying for five bids to the NCAA Championship, May 23-28 in Carlsbad, Calif., at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
The 10 Individual qualifiers battling for a spot at the NCAA Championship are: Michigan's Hunter Thomson (50), Kentucky's Jack Schoenberger (134), Iowa State's Paul Beauvy (135), Austin Peay's Patton Samuels (159), Valparaiso's Anthony Delisnati (175), Indiana's Clay Merchent (199), and Cincinnati's Ryan Ford (222) who all earned at-large bids. Ben Cors (764) of Dayton, Titus Boswell (794) of IU Indy, and Trey Wall (1,409) of Murray State are also in the hunt coming off of individual titles at their respective conference championships.
FIGHTING ILLINI LINEUP
No. 1: Max Herendeen
No. 2: Ryan Voois
No. 3: Jackson Buchanan
No. 4: Jake Birdwell
No. 5: Ethan Wilson
Alt: Trey Marrion
ILLINI HISTORY AT THE NCAA REGIONALS
The 2025 NCAA Urbana Regional marks the 23rd regional appearance for the Fighting Illini since 1989, and the 20th under the guidance of head coach Mike Small (since 2000-01), who has now led the program to 17 consecutive regional berths dating back to 2008.
Small's teams have experienced great success in the regional round, having advanced to the NCAA Championship in 17 of his previous 19 regional berths, including a stretch of 13 straight between 2008 and 2021. After narrowly missing out on advancing in 2022 with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA New Haven Regional, the Illini returned to the NCAA Championship in each of the last two seasons, with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Bath Regional in 2023 and a team title at the NCAA Stanford Regional last season.
The win at Stanford in 2024, marked Illinois' sixth regional title under head coach Mike Small's guidance. This mark is tied for fourth in NCAA history (since 1989) among all head coaches, and is third nationally among active head coaches. Prior to Stanford in 2024, the Illini's most recent regional title came in 2019 at Myrtle Beach. The Illini claimed four consecutive regional titles in 2013 (Fayetteville), 2014 (Sugar Grove), 2015 (Noblesville), and 2016 (Kohler), the longest streak in NCAA history prior to Oklahoma State's run of six consecutive from 2016-22.
Individually, five different Illini have captured six medalist finishes at regionals, following Max Herendeen's victory last year at Stanford. Former Illini Michael Feagles (2019 Myrtle Beach), Nick Hardy (2017 West Lafayette), Brian Campbell (2015 Noblesville and 2014 Sugar Grove), and Luke Guthrie (2011 Central) all took home regional medalist honors during their collegiate careers.
Senior Jackson Buchanan will make his fourth straight NCAA Regional start for the Illini. Buchanan tied for 37th at the New Haven Regional in 2022, finished T43 at the Bath Regional in 2023, and finished T34 in the Illini's win at the Stanford Regional last year.
Junior Ryan Voois and sophomore Max Herendeen will each start their second regional tournament. Voois was the team's alternate competitor as freshman throughout the 2023 postseason, including at the Bath Regional, and finished T10 at Stanford last season. Herendeen took home medalist honors for his first collegiate win at Stanford in his first taste of NCAA postseason action.
Illinois freshmen Jake Birdwell and Trey Marrion, and sophomore Ethan Wilson are all looking for their first NCAA Regional experience. Wilson was the Illini's alternate competitor last year at Stanford. He and Birdwell are expected to tee off in Round 1 for the Illini, while Marrion is slated to begin the week as the team's alternate.
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring for the NCAA Urbana Regional will be available on Clippd Scoreboard. Following each day of competition, a recap and results will be posted on FightingIllini.com.
UP NEXT
The low five teams and low individual not on a qualifying team from each of the six NCAA regional sites will advance to compete at the NCAA Championship on the North Course at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, May 23-28. Illinois enters regionals in search of the program's 16th NCAA Championship berth in the last 17 tournaments dating back to 2008, the 18th under Small's guidance since 2001, and the 31st in program history, overall.
FULL NCAA REGIONAL NOTES
