Following a three-week break after finishing 10th at the Fighting Illini Invitational, Illinois men’s golf will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, to face off against the field at the Purdue Fall Invitational on Monday and wrap up play on Tuesday.
Everything is in place for 54 holes of golf to unfold, with 36 holes being played on Monday and the remaining 18 on Tuesday at the Boilermakers’ Ackerman-Allen Course. This course is set to be a challenge as it is a parkland-style Pete Dye design featuring large bent-grass greens, fairways and tees. The course is set up to play as a par-72 at 7,245 yards.
Illinois comes into the tournament as the front-runner, ranking ninth in the nation by Golfweek, and goes up against six other top-100-ranked teams: Purdue (40), UNLV (54), VCU (79), Illinois State (84), Ball State (85) and Nebraska (87). The rest of the field includes Butler, Central Arkansas, Dayton, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Miami, Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky.
The Illinois lineup for the tournament will consist of freshmen Ethan Wilson and Max Herendeen, fifth years Timmy Crawford and Tyler Goecke and junior Jackson Buchanan. The three individual competitors include sophomore Ryan Voois, fifth year Jerry Ji and senior Piercen Hunt.
Following a disappointing finish in the Fighting Illini Invitational, Illini fans are desperate for a top finish in Illinois’ first Purdue Fall Invitational. Illinois seems to understand this, as they are heading to West Lafayette with their four highest-ranked golfers in the PGA Tour university rankings, with Goecke ranking No. 75 nationally, Hunt at No.79, Crawford at No. 149 and Ji at No. 172.
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Herendeen shined in September with back-to-back top 15 finishes in the Sahalee Players Championship and Fighting Illini Invitational. Herendeen finished second in the Sahalee Players Championship, displaying grit, composure and excellence in Washington, where he turned in a near-flawless five-under-par performance.
If the Illini are able to get this excellence from Herendeen, they should be set up to succeed, as the team won the Sahalee Players Championship, with Herendeen’s masterful performance playing a big role in their top finish.
The Illini look to bounce back from the rough finish in the Fighting Illini Invitational with a top five finish to prove why they are a top 10 team in the country. The Illini look to show flashes of the team that won the Sahalee Players Championship just a month ago with stout-level play from Herendeen and the rest of the team.
In the team’s third to last tournament of the calendar year, Illinois men’s golf will look to end the year strong by going low and avoiding hazards in West Lafayette.
@Jordan_Goodhart
