The Illinois golf team concluded its season with a second place finish at the NCAA Championships and celebrated its fifth consecutive Big Ten Championship. Since the season’s conclusion, team members and their coach have played in various professional tournaments across the country, highlighted by head coach Mike Small’s fourth place finish at the PGA Professional National Championship in June. The Daily Illini sat down with Small to discuss the latest with his playing career and the team.

The Daily Illini: You’ve been playing in some tournaments, is that basically what you’ve been doing so far this summer?

Mike Small: I’ve only played in two tournaments this summer. One was out in Oregon, the National Professional Open and the Illinois Open last week. So, I’ve been recruiting and running a couple camps and stuff like that. But I’ve got a big one coming up next week at the PGA.

DI: Right, and that’s with all of the professionals, the PGA tour?

Small: Yeah, I play with all professionals all the time. But this is a major. It’s one of the four biggest tournaments in the world.

DI: You’ve played in a bunch of those.

Small: This is my ninth PGA championship and 12 majors all together.

DI: What’s it like to play in a major? Is it any different than playing in other professional event?

Small: Oh yeah. PGA tour events are as big as they get but then once you get into the majors it’s a lot bigger. The intensity, and there’s a lot of people there. The intensity is ratcheted up a notch.

DI: What are your expectations for yourself when you play in a major? Just playing well or making the cut?

Small: Yeah, I’ve made the cut a few times, but I seem to play the best over the years when I don’t have any expectations. We talked on our team a lot. Expectations can sometimes limit you. You set them too high or too low, and you kind of gravitate towards that, so why not set any expectations and just play the best you can.

DI: That’s good advice. What’s your relationship like with the PGA guys?

Small: I know a lot of guys on the Tour. I played with a lot of guys back in the ’90s, and I’ve coached a lot of the younger guys. So I know a large percentage of the players, and they’re the best in the world, so it’ll be fun to spend a week with them.

DI: You played with Steve Stricker when you were here at Illinois, right?

Small: Oh yeah. We were teammates, and we’ve been friends a long time.

DI: Earlier in June, you were voted into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, what does that mean to you?

Small: It’s really cool. It’s humbling, and I guess I’m the youngest player to ever be voted in so that’s pretty neat.

DI: So what’s next for you? After the PGAs are you just winding down recruiting?

Small: Well, we’re always recruiting so that goes on all year-round, but we have our big fundraiser in two weeks, the Steve Stricker Classic where all of our Tour guys come back and play with the boosters and that’s the week before school starts and then practice starts after that.

DI: You had one of your best players leave, Thomas Pieters.

Small: Yeah, our best player was an underclassman, a junior, and he left to turn pro, so we’ve got a big hole to fill.

DI: Are you confident that you guys are able to fill the hole without him?

Small: Yeah, I’m as curious as anybody, I want to see how we can fill the holes and who’s going to step up to the next level.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.