Mike Small will use the weekend to finalize his lineup for the NCAA Urbana Regional, but five of these six will hit the links at Atkins Golf Club next week, with the top four scores each round counting toward the Illini\u2019s pursuit of another regional title. Illini beat writer Scott Richey spotlights Small\u2019s choices:<\/p>\n
Jackson Buchanan<\/p>\n
\u279c Year: Senior<\/p>\n
\u279c Hometown: Dacula, Ga.<\/p>\n
\u279c Stroke average: 70.68 (Second)<\/p>\n
\u279c Best 2024-25 finish: Buchanan came on strong after a rocky start with rounds of 68 and 66 to win the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 21 in Saucier, Miss. The 6-under 66 in the final round helped him eke out a one-stroke win ahead of LSU\u2019s Arni Sveinsson and Mississippi\u2019s Kye Meeks.<\/p>\n
\u279c Postseason experience: The veteran Illini has been in the lineup all four years, making his NCAA regional debut in 2022, and finishing as the runner-up in stroke play at the 2023 NCAA championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.<\/p>\n
Max Herendeen<\/p>\n
\u279c Year: Sophomore<\/p>\n
\u279c Hometown: Bellevue, Wash.<\/p>\n
\u279c Stroke average: 70.75 (First)<\/p>\n
\u279c Best 2024-25 finish: Three rounds in the 60s got Herendeen to 12-under and into a playoff at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational in early April in Augusta, Ga. North Carolina\u2019s David Ford edged out Herendeen with a birdie on the first playoff hole to take medalist honors.<\/p>\n
\u279c Postseason experience: Herendeen\u2019s standout freshman season included a tie for second at the NCAA championship, as he fell just one stroke behind Georgia Tech\u2019s Hiroshi Tai at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. (the site of this year\u2019s championship).<\/p>\n
Ryan Voois<\/p>\n
\u279c Year: Junior<\/p>\n
\u279c Hometown: Ladera Ranch, Calif.<\/p>\n
\u279c Stroke average: 71.72 (Third)<\/p>\n
\u279c Best 2024-25 finish: A tie for third at the Memphis Intercollegiate was one of two top 10 finishes for Voois this spring and was the best finish for Illinois en route to its team title. A pivotal 3-under 69 in the second round put Voois in position to contend after a 5-over 77 in the first round.<\/p>\n
\u279c Postseason experience: Voois was Illinois\u2019 postseason alternate as a freshman in 2023 but didn\u2019t compete. His debut last spring included a tie for 10th at the Stanford Regional and then a tie for 11th at the NCAA championship to help the Illini finish first by a significant margin in stroke play.<\/p>\n
Trey Marrion<\/p>\n
\u279c Year: Freshman<\/p>\n
\u279c Hometown: Chesapeake, Va.<\/p>\n
\u279c Stroke average: 72.92 (Fourth)<\/p>\n
\u279c Best 2024-25 finish: Marrion\u2019s best efforts came in the fall, with a tie for ninth at the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational one better than his tie for 10th in his Illinois debut at the Folds of Honor Collegiate. His 1-under total in the former marked his lone tournament under par so far this season.<\/p>\n
\u279c Postseason experience: Next week\u2019s NCAA regional will, of course, be Marrion\u2019s first, but he got a taste of postseason golf at the Big Ten championship at Baltimore Country Club. The Illini freshman carded rounds of 76, 67 and 79 to tie for 58th.<\/p>\n
Jake Birdwell<\/p>\n
\u279c Year: Freshman<\/p>\n
\u279c Hometown: Blaine, Minn.<\/p>\n
\u279c Stroke average: 73.10 (Sixth)<\/p>\n
\u279c Best 2024-25 finish: Birdwell spent the majority of the season playing as an individual. That\u2019s how he notched the first win of his career, playing in the alternate individual tournament at the Boilermaker Invitational last month in West Lafayette, Ind., with rounds of 71, 70 and 71 to finish 4-under.<\/p>\n
\u279c Postseason experience: The Big Ten championship was only Birdwell\u2019s second tournament in Illinois\u2019 lineup, and he put himself in position to win the conference title. Back-to-back rounds of 68 followed by a final-round 71 saw the Illini freshman tie for third overall.<\/p>\n
Ethan Wilson<\/p>\n
\u279c Year: Sophomore<\/p>\n
\u279c Hometown: St. Albert, Alberta<\/p>\n
\u279c Stroke average: 73.47 (Fifth)<\/p>\n
\u279c Best 2024-25 finish: A pair of top 10 finishes this spring highlighted Wilson\u2019s season. His best came playing as an individual at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii in February where rounds of 70, 67 and 69 got him into a tie for eighth.<\/p>\n
\u279c Postseason experience: Wilson got an up-close look at championship season golf last year \u2014 albeit as a spectator \u2014 when he served as Illinois\u2019 alternate in both the NCAA regional and NCAA championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Small will use the weekend to finalize his lineup for the NCAA Urbana Regional, but five of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,3706,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-24207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-illini-sports","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114486081304970068","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}