The Illinois Fighting Illini men's golf team represents the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

in the sport of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

. The Fighting Illini compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

(Big Ten). They play their home matches at the Atkins Golf Club, which is located five miles from the university's campus. The Fighting Illini are currently led by head coach Mike Small. The Fighting Illini men's golf program has won 20 Big Ten championships, including the last eight consecutively, and in 2013 finished as national runner-up at the

NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, played in late May or early June, is the top annual competition in U.S. men's collegiate golf. The teams that win their respective Division I conference championships are given automatic spots in th ...

, which was the highest finish in the program's history. The Fighting Illini have qualified for the match play portion of the NCAA Championship 8 times since the stroke play/match play format was introduced in 2009, and reached the Final Four in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The Fighting Illini have won 13 of the last 14 Big Ten Golf Championships. Illinois golfers won the Big Ten Individual Conference Title for nine consecutive seasons (2011−2019).

Individual honors

National champions

* Scott Langley − 2010 *

Thomas Pieters Thomas Pieters (born 27 January 1992) is a Belgium, Belgian professional golfer who currently plays on the European Tour. Early life Pieters was born in Geel, Belgium in 1992. He started playing golf at the age of five, learning the game at the ...

− 2012

All-Americans

{{Div col, colwidth=30em * Joe Burden – 1972 (HM) * Marty Schiene – 1979 (HM) * Mike Chadwick – 1983 (HM) * Steve Stricker – 1987 (HM), 1988 (1st), 1989 (1st) *

D. A. Points Darren Andrew "D.A." Points (born December 1, 1976) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. Early years and amateur career Born and raised in Pekin, Illinois, Points attended Pekin High School, and the University o ...

– 1999 (3rd) *

James Lepp James Lepp (born November 19, 1983) is a Canadian professional golfer and entrepreneur. Lepp was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia and attended high school at the Mennonite Educational Institute. He began his collegiate golf career at the Univ ...

– 2002 (HM), 2003 (2nd) * Patrick Nagle – 2003 (3rd) * Scott Langley – 2009 (2nd), 2010 (1st), 2011 (HM) * Chris DeForest – 2011 (HM) * Luke Guthrie – 2011 (1st), 2012 (2nd) *

– 2012 (1st), 2013 (HM) * Charlie Danielson – 2013 (HM), 2014 (HM), 2015 (2nd), 2016 (1st) *

Thomas Detry Thomas Detry (born 13 January 1993) is a Belgian professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He was a highly ranked amateur golfer before turning professional. In his first professional win at the Bridgestone Challenge, he set ...

– 2014 (HM), 2015 (2nd), 2016 (2nd) *

Brian Campbell Brian Wesley Campbell (born May 23, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the Stanl ...

– 2014 (2nd), 2015 (2nd) * Dylan Meyer – 2016 (HM), 2017 (1st), 2018 (2nd) *

Nick Hardy Nick Hardy (born January 26, 1996) is an American professional golfer from Northbrook, Illinois. Hardy played college golf for the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign men's golf team He has also played at the professional level in the ...

– 2017 (2nd), 2018 (1st) * Michael Feagles – 2019 (HM), 2021 (2nd) * Jerry Ji – 2021 (HM) *

Adrien Dumont de Chassart Adrien Dumont de Chassart (born 1 March 2000) is a Belgian professional golfer. Amateur career When Dumont de Chassart was 15, he finished second in the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, one of the major tournaments for players of 18 years or und ...

– 2021 (2nd), 2022 (2nd), 2023 (1st) * Tommy Kuhl - 2023 (1st) * Jackson Buchanan - 2023 (1st) {{div col end ''Note: 1st = first team, 2nd = second team, 3rd = third team, HM = honorable mention''

Other

Since 1923, sixteen Fighting Illini golfers have won twenty-one Big Ten individual titles.{{cite web , url=https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/fightingillini.com/documents/2023/1/17/22-23_M_GOLF_RECORD_BOOK.pdf, title=2022-2023 Fighting Illini Men's Golf Record Book , publisher=Illinois DIA , year=2016 , access-date=May 3, 2023 Thirty-nine Fighting Illini golfers have received All-Big Ten honors.

Coaching staff

Mike Small is the head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini men's golf team, and 2022-2023 will be his 22nd season with the Fighting Illini.{{cite web , url=http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/mike_small_223475.html , publisher=Illinois DIA , access-date=October 17, 2014 , year=2014 , title=Mike Small Profile , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021174155/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/mike_small_223475.html , archive-date=October 21, 2014 , url-status=dead He has been named

Coach of the Year a record thirteen times and is also an eleven time NCAA Regional Coach of the Year as named by the

Golf Coaches Association of America The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is a non-profit organization that is a professional association of men’s collegiate golf coaches. It was founded in 1958, and is located on 1225 West Main Street in Norman, Oklahoma. The GCAA has o ...

. As a professional, Small is a record-tying three time PGA Professional National Champion and has won the Illinois PGA Championship a record-setting twelve times.

Notable alumni

* Luke Guthrie *

* Scott Langley * Dylan Meyer *

* Steve Stricker

Facilities

Demirjian Indoor Golf Practice Facility

Opened in 2007, the university's $5.2 million, 14,150-square-foot Demirjian Indoor Golf Practice Facility features a 6,300-square-foot putting, chipping, and pitching area that includes sand bunkers and different strains of artificial grass, six heated hitting bays which open onto the range, team locker rooms, coaches offices and a team lounge. Prior to the completion of the Demirjian Indoor Golf Practice Facility, indoor practice's were typically held in the basement of

Huff Hall Huff Hall is a 4,050-seat multi-purpose arena in Champaign, Illinois, United States. The arena opened in 1925 and was known as Huff Gymnasium until the 1990s. It is named after George Huff (baseball), George Huff, who was the school's athletic dir ...

on an old handball court. In 2008, the facility received an Honor Award from the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

Illinois Chapter in the Architecture Design Award Category.

Lauritsen/Wohlers Outdoor Golf Practice Facility

Construction on the $2 million, 24 acre facility began during the summer of 2014, with a completion date in fall of 2014. Taking inspiration from the

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. Unlike most private clubs which operate as non-profits, Augusta National is a for-profit corporation, and it does no ...

practice facility, the Lauritsen/Wohlers Outdoor Golf Practice Facility was designed by Fighting Illini head coach Mike Small, former Fighting Illini and

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

professional Steve Stricker, and golf course architect Jeff Brauer. Training center with target fairways, target greens, fairway and greenside bunkers, putting greens, chipping greens and a wedge area{{cite web , url=http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/061114aac.html , title=UI Announces Lauritsen/Wohlers Outdoor Golf Practice Facility , date=June 11, 2014 , access-date=October 17, 2014 , publisher=University of Illinois DIA , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021173821/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/061114aac.html , archive-date=October 21, 2014 , url-status=dead The outdoor facility is located directly adjacent to the Demirjian Indoor Practice Building.

Atkins Golf Club

The Fighting Illini men's golf team host its home matches at the Atkins Golf Club, located in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

{{convert, 5, mi, km southeast of the university's campus. The university course was originally designed by noted golf course architect

Dick Nugent Dick Nugent (1931-2018) was a golf course developer and architect from Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1958 with a degree in landscape architecture and started his professional career with Robert Bruce Harris, later becomi ...

and his son Tim in 1999. The course is a 7,118-yard par 72, and the facilities include a practice and teaching center for the surrounding community. The Atkins Golf Club has hosted several Big Ten Conference men's and women's golf championships. Originally named Stone Creek Golf Club, the course was gifted to the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics by The Atkins Group and renamed to the Atkins Golf Club on June 30, 2020.{{Cite news , url=https://www.news-gazette.com/news/update-ui-atkins-group-seal-stone-creek-deal/article_03237002-3510-595c-9aa1-0d00089fedcd.html , title=UPDATE: UI, Atkins Group seal Stone Creek deal , last=Richey , first=Scott , newspaper=The News-Gazette , date=June 30, 2020 , access-date=2020-06-30

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official site
{{University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus {{Big Ten Conference men's golf navbox