Following a second-place finish at the August Haskins Award Invitational, Illinois men’s golf will travel to Columbia, Missouri to challenge the field at the Tiger Collegiate Invitational on Monday and finish play on Tuesday.

The stage is set for 54 holes of golf to take place in a five-count-four format at The Club at Old Hawthorne. This course was the site of the 2014 NCAA Regional and features a daunting system of water hazards with wide fairways spanning over the 631 acres of what was once a horse farm.

Illinois rolls in as the tournament favorites ranking fifth in the nation by golf stat and is joined by ten other teams ranking inside the top 100: Kansas State (25), Missouri (52), Marquette (60), Arkansas State (77), Mississippi State (81), Rutgers (83), Iowa State (90), Lipscomb (93), Michigan (95) and ULM (99).

The Illinois lineup for the tournament will include fifth-years Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Tommy Kuhl and Matthis Besard, along with junior Piercen Hunt and standout sophomore Jackson Buchanan. Freshman Ryan Voois will also compete in the invitational as an individual in his fourth career tournament.

With Masters play wrapping up this past Sunday, many can’t help but wonder how the team’s fifth-year seniors stack up against other amateurs in preparation for the pros. Currently, each of them ranks within the top 55 according to PGA TOUR University Rankings, with Adrien Dumont de Chassart sitting at No. 4 nationally, Tommy Kuhl at No. 19 and Matthis Besard at No. 52.

Dumont de Chassart has continued to thrill for the Illinois men’s golf program; last week he showed a glimpse into what makes him a top five golfer at the collegiate level by being named Big Ten Golfer of the Week for the fifth time in his exceptional career thus far. This came as a result of his masterful display of composure in Augusta where he posted a season-low of 13 under par which was good enough for his seventh career runner-up finish.

The Illini look to extend their streak of top five finishes from eight to nine after a very solid showing at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational with this same level of play from Adrien Dumont de Chassart and the rest of the team. In its second to last tournament before the Big Ten Championship, Illinois golf will have to continue to find ways to limit strokes and avoid the hazardous perils in Missouri.

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