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Illinois men’s golf leads the NCAA Championship heading into Monday’s final round of stroke play.
The Illini (-6 after three rounds) easily made the 15-team cut, six strokes ahead of second-place Virginia following Sunday’s round at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in California. For perspective, Illinois is currently 29 strokes ahead of the cut (East Tennessee State is +27).
After 54 holes, the score is quite remarkable.
But there’s still work to be done: the top eight teams from Monday’s fourth round — which Illinois appears to be in good shape to do barring a big collapse — will proceed to bracket-style match play, with the winner proclaimed national champion.
On Sunday, rookie Max Herendeen once again took care of business, now tied for fourth on the individual rankings at the championship (-2). He ended at -2 on Sunday, with three birdies in five holes on the back nine.
Tyler Goecke also finished under par on Sunday, at -1, and is tied for seventh place.
For years, we’ve referred to Illinois as a #GolfSchool, but this is where the wheels have fallen off. While the Illini participated in match play in 2011, 2013, 2017, 2021, and 2023, they only finished second once (2013).
What is the most ironic part? The orange and blue did not even win the Big Ten this year; that honour went to Northwestern, which did not even go to the Championships.
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