NCAA regional selection 'customary' for Illinois

May 4—URBANA — It was a low-key watch party Wednesday afternoon at Demirjian Indoor Golf Practice Facility for the NCAA regional selection show.

Honestly, calling it a watch party probably stretches the definition of that phrase.

Some of the Illinois men's golfers had academic responsibilities that kept them from watching. The golfers at the facility slowly filtered into the main lobby — with the sizable flat screen TV — in the minutes before the show started.

There were no uncertainties about what would happen on Wednesday.

Illinois earned an automatic regional bid after winning its eighth straight Big Ten championship on Sunday.

A No. 1 seed was also a given considering the Illini's move to No. 2 in the nation in Tuesday's updated Golfweek poll to go with its No. 3 Golfstat ranking. And that top seed would likely mean a short trip to Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath, Mich., for May 15-17 NCAA regional action.

All of that ultimately came to pass as the six regional fields were announced. Illinois was, in fact, the top-seeded team headed to Michigan.

A zero-stress selection show has become the expectation for a program that's qualified for each of the last 15 NCAA regional rounds. It's old hat for the Illini.

"Making regionals has been, but not knowing what's next hasn't," Illinois coach Mike Small said. "It's not new. It's something you've always got to guard against. We've had good seasons — we've been No. 1 in the country a couple times and made it to the Final Four — but it was still, a couple of those years, dicey getting past the regionals. It's a tough deal.

"You've got five teams make it. Three days. A lot of variables you have to deal with. Making it here to this day getting in regionals has kind of been customary for a long time, but we've still got to play hard to make it to the finals."

Illinois will field a team rich in NCAA regional experience in two weeks in Michigan. Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl have played on three NCAA regional teams. Fellow fifth-year senior Matthis Besard played in two regionals in his time at Southern Illinois. And Piercen Hunt and Jackson Buchanan were both in the Illinois lineup last season.

Last year's regional has stuck with the Illini. Mostly because it marked the end of one of the more impressive streaks in college golf. Illinois had advanced to the NCAA Championships in 13 consecutive seasons before a tie for sixth place last May in New Haven, Conn.

"We learned from it," Kuhl said. "We don't want to feel that feeling again. It was not fun for any of us, but we know now that if we don't show up at regionals and play how we play, we can get beat and not make nationals. That's a possibility. That's why we've got to bring it every day, bring the mindset and compete hard."

Illinois has used that approach to win seven of its 11 tournaments in its 2022-23 season. The Big Ten championship was its third straight, fifth this spring and led to a slew of postseason honors. Dumont de Chassart was named Big Ten Golfer of the Year for the third straight season, which is an honor only Luke Donald (Northwestern, 1999-2001 and Randy Leen (Indiana, 1996-98) can claim. Kuhl, Besard and Buchanan joined Dumont de Chassart on the All-Big Ten First Team — giving Illinois half of the honors. Hunt was an All-Big Ten Second Team selection, and Small won his record 13th Big Ten Coach of the Year award.

Adding Besard as a graduate transfer and the continued development of Buchanan and Hunt have given Illinois the depth to win at the level it has this season.

Small considers it the primary reason for his team's success.

"If you look at our events all season, we haven't finished worse than fourth because of the depth," Small said. "If somebody has a bad day or a bad tournament, somebody is there to hold them up. That's what you look for in college golf. It's not easy to find, but we have it."

Dumont de Chassart likens this year's team to the one that finished fifth at the NCAA Championships in 2021 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. That team had Michael Feagles tie for fifth individually and saw Jerry Ji, Dumont de Chassart and Kuhl all finish in the top 45.

"We were pretty consistent," Dumont de Chassart said of the 2021 team. "That just showed why we went pretty far that year. It's great to be able to rely on five guys instead of four."

Kuhl said Illinois didn't have that consistent fifth score enough last season. This year's team has had four different top finishers. Dumont de Chassart has posted the Illini's top tournament score five times, Kuhl's been in that spot four times and Besard and Buchanan have done it twice each.

Hunt is the only Illinois golfer not to claim that top spot for the team in a tournament, but he's come on strong in the last month. After being dropped from the lineup at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational in early April, he bounced back with top-five finishes at the Tiger Collegiate Invitational and Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate.

That kind of depth has been crucial for Illinois this season. It's how the Illini have won so frequently and at the right time with three consecutive tournament victories heading into NCAA regional play.

"This is the time of year you want to be building momentum," Kuhl said. "We're playing great golf. We don't need to overcomplicate it this time of year. We just need to keep falling back on those wins and just know that we're a good team and we're capable of playing well."