Thomas Pieters may be the defending NCAA Champion and current Big Ten champion, but he still can’t one-up his former teammate and PGA golfer, Luke Guthrie.

Guthrie, taking a week off from his PGA tour schedule, visited Champaign-Urbana this week, playing against Pieters and the other Illini at practice Monday. Guthrie and Pieters faced off against each other but neither could gain an advantage, as Pieters won the front 9 and Guthrie won the back 9.

The good news for Pieters is that he won’t face any PGA tour competition this weekend when the Illinois men’s golf team heads to Fayetteville, Ark., for NCAA Regionals. The Illini will tee off Thursday morning.

In their last outing, the Illini won their fifth straight Big Ten Championship. Illinois dominated, winning by nine strokes, and had the top two golfers at the tournament, Big Ten individual champion Thomas Pieters and sophomore Brian Campbell. Illinois will bring the same five players to Fayetteville.

“Our goal is to continue the momentum from Big Tens,” head coach Mike Small said. “It’s been a couple of weeks ago, but we did play well.”

Shortly after the tournament, Illinois swept the Big Ten annual awards with Pieters taking Player of the Year, Small taking Coach of the Year and Charlie Danielson winning Freshman of the Year.

Despite all this, the Illini still come into regionals as underdogs, the No. 6 seed in a tournament that advances five teams to the NCAA Championships. The field features five teams in the nation’s top 30, including No. 5 Texas, No. 13 Arkansas and No. 16 Oklahoma State. Still, Illinois is 10-6 against the field this season and 6-1 in spring play.

Arkansas will have the advantage of playing on its home course.

“This golf course is difficult, from what I’ve heard,” Small said. “We’ve never been there, but it’s hard and it’s going to be a survival test.”

Small said his team is excited about the challenge.

“We take pride in being challenged by tougher golf courses; we like that. Hopefully that mindset shows itself again,” he said.

Illinois has made five straight NCAA Championships, a feat only matched by five other teams in the country.

In the past five championships, Small’s squads have advanced as both favorites and underdogs.

“We’ve had success in the past because we’ve approached this as its own tournament,” he said. “It’s another leg in our three-pronged process of Big Ten Championships, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships. Too many teams at regionals get too worked up into who’s there, who’s not, and trying to make the top five. Our mindset is we don’t care who’s there; we’re going to win the tournament. We’re going to play the best we can play.”

Thomas Pieters will begin the quest to defend his national title Thursday. Pieters can advance as an individual if Illinois fails to make the NCAA Championships, but he has to be the low golfer not on one of the advancing teams. He is attempting to become the first golfer to win back-to-back NCAA titles since Phil Mickelson.

If Illinois advances, it will play in the NCAA Championships in Atlanta on May 28.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.