ATHENS, Ga. - The Fighting Illini men's golf program's hunt for a national title will begin at the NCAA Athens Regional at the University of Georgia Golf Course, where the Orange and Blue will matchup with 13 programs and 10 individuals, May 18-20, competing for a spot in the field at the 2026 NCAA Championship.
Illinois - No. 12 in the NCAA Division I team rankings - tees off Monday to begin three days of competition. The Fighting Illini are making their 18th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and are looking to advance to the NCAA Championship round for the 17th time in the last 18 seasons.
THE SETTING
The 2026 NCAA Athens Regional is hosted by the Georgia Bulldogs at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga. Located south of the Georgia campus, the UGA Golf Course is widely regarded as one of the best university courses in the United States. In 2022 it was rated as the No. 1 College Course in the nation by Golflink and Golf Advisor, and in 2024 it was tabbed as the No. 5 Public Course in the state of Georgia by GolfPass.
The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., opened in 1968, and has received several renovations and upgrades over the years. In May 2006, the greens and the greens complex were completely renovated by Love Golf Design of St. Simons Island. The new green design brought the course up to the championship standards. The greens are very characteristic of a Jones course and the renovation included 21 new tees, making the course more versatile for both amateurs and professionals.
Over its history, the UGA Golf Course hosted a number of different collegiate tournaments including the annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, the men's and women's SEC Championships, men's and women's NCAA Regionals, as well as the women's collegiate national championships on five occasions - the 1971 Division of Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS) Intercollegiate Championships, the 1981 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Championships, and the 1983, 1993 and 2013 NCAA Championships.
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. 2 seed at the Athens 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. 12-ranked and second-seeded Illini, the field will feature No. 1 Auburn, No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 24 BYU, and host and No. 26-ranked Georgia to round out the top-five seeds. Louisville (36), Kansas (37), Big Ten foe Northwestern (50), College of Charleston (51) and Rice (62) are seeded sixth through 10th, respectively, followed by Southern Miss (63), Ivy League champion Harvard (124) and NEC Champion Howard (190) to round out the 13-team field vying for five bids to the NCAA Championship, May 29 - June 3 in Carlsbad, Calif., at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
The 10 Individual qualifiers battling for a spot at the NCAA Championship are: Louisiana's Malan Potgieter (54), South Alabama's Hugo Thyr (116), SBC Champion Max Bengtsson (161) and teammate Drew Sykes (175) of Coastal Carolina, UAB's Erik Olin (185), Stetson's Matthis Lefevre (188), Andrew Ferworrn (207) of North Alabama, Shaun Cook of Kennesaw State (233), plus MAAC Champion Rasmus Ditzinger (312) of Fairfield and SWAC Champion Vincente Rodriguez (1419) of Alabama A&M.
FIGHTING ILLINI LINEUP
No. 1: Ryan Voois
No. 2: Max Herendeen
No. 3: Freddie Turnell
No. 4: Dane Huddleston
No. 5: Trey Marrion
Alternate: Jake Birdwell
ILLINI HISTORY AT THE NCAA REGIONALS
The 2026 NCAA Athens Regional marks the 24th regional appearance for the Fighting Illini since 1989, and the 21st under the guidance of head coach Mike Small (since 2000-01). Small has now led the program to 18 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 18 of his previous 20 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 three seasons, with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Bath Regional in 2023 and back-to-back team titles at the 2024 NCAA Stanford Regional and 2025 NCAA Urbana Regional.
Illinois' seven regional title under head coach Mike Small's guidance rank as the second-most in NCAA history – tied with former Clemson head coach Larry Penley – just one off the lead shared by Texas' John Fields and Oklahoma State's Alan Bratton.
Prior to Urbana in 2025 and 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 at Stanford in 2024. 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 Ryan Voois and junior Max Herendeen will each start their third regional tournaments. Voois was the team's alternate competitor as freshman throughout the 2023 postseason, including at the Bath Regional. He finished T10 at Stanford in 2024, and was T2 last year when the Illini hosted in Urbana. Herendeen took home medalist honors at Stanford in his first taste of NCAA postseason action, and last year posted a T11 finish.
Sophomores Trey Marrion and Jake Birdwell are making their second postseason runs with the Illini. Last year as a freshman, Birdwell finished T51. Marrion began as the Illini's alternate before playing Rounds 2 and 3 in the lineup to help the Orange and Blue share the team title with Oklahoma State.
Newcomers Dane Huddleston and Freddie Turnell will compete in the regional rounds for the second time in their careers, but their first as Illini. Huddleston, as a sophomore at Utah Valley in 2025, finished T5 as an individual qualifier at the NCAA Reno Regional and missed advancing to the NCAA Championship by just one stroke. Turnell was slotted into the lineup for Rounds 2 and 3 as a freshman at Little Rock last year in the NCAA Auburn Regional.
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring for the NCAA Athens Regional will be available on Clippd Scoreboard. Following each day of competition, a recap and results will be posted on FightingIllini.com.
STREAMING COVERAGE
For the first time, streaming coverage of each of the six NCAA Regionals will be available (via subscription) at BabygrandeGolf.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 29 - June 3. Illinois enters regionals in search of the program's 17th NCAA Championship berth in the last 18 tournaments dating back to 2008, the 19th under Small's guidance since 2001, and the 32nd in program history, overall.
