The weekend is finally here, which means the men’s golf season is here. The men’s team will travel to Bloomington, Indiana for the Hoosier Collegiate Invitational which will be taking place at the Pfau Course. This course is very unfamiliar to the Illini because it was just opened in 2020 and is a par-71 course.

For Illinois, this is their first time playing at Pfau course; in the past, Illinois has played at Zionsville and Carmel, Indiana. The tournament will be 54 holes being played over a two-day period, with the final round ending on Monday.

Though the Illini will be faced with new scenery for this year’s Hoosier Invitational, it does not overshadow the winning history that Illinois has in the Hoosier Invitational, which is a span of wins from 2008 and 2011-15. With this being the first match of the year, it will include schools such as Loyola Chicago, Memphis, Lipscomb and more.

With 16 schools in this tournament, competition will be at an all-time high for the Illini, though this not an issue for Illini senior Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who received the Big Ten Co-Golfer of the Year award for the 2020-21 season. The Illini lineup will include him alongside Piercen Hunt, Nico Lang, Jerry Ji and Luke Armbrust. The No. 10 ranked Illini are in for a tough matchup this upcoming weekend.

After this Labor Day weekend, the Illini will answer the question of whether they deserved their top ten ranking. They will also be back in their home territory at the Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields Illinois for the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational next week. The Illini concluded last season with a quarterfinal finish in the NCAA championship, which means this year they are motivated more than ever to get close again.

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