Three Illini Named Big Ten Preseason Honorees

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Three Fighting Illini men’s golfers were recognized by the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday (Aug. 31) as fifth-year seniors Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl, and junior Piercen Hunt were named 2022-23 Preseason Honorees.

The trio of upperclassmen return for Fighting Illini after helping the team to a conference-record seventh consecutive Big Ten Championship, and a berth in the NCAA Regionals to close out the 2021-22 season.

Dumont de Chassart is coming off of his second consecutive B1G Player of the Year nod, joining Illini legend Steve Stricker as the only two-time winners in program history. The native of Villers la Ville, Belgium, was tabbed as a second-team All-American by both PING (GCAA) and Golfweek, and was named first team all-region, first team All-Big Ten, and All-Big Ten Tournament team, while appearing on both the Haskins and Hogan Award watch lists in 2021-22. He secured the Les Bolstad Award as the Big Ten season leader in stroke average through the end of the conference championship, and at the conclusion of the Illini’s postseason run his average of 70.08 established an Illinois record for a single season. Dumont de Chassart recorded top-20 finishes in 11 of 12 collegiate stroke-play events last season, and tied for 21st in his only finish outside of the top-20 at the Southern Highland Collegiate. Overall, he led the team with seven top-10 finishes, and closed as Illinois’ first- or second-place finisher in all 12 tourneys, pacing the squad in a team-most six. He tallied 29 of 36 rounds at par or better, including 15 rounds in the 60s, and won the third collegiate event of his career at the Boilermaker Invitational in early April. This summer Dumont de Chassart competed, for the second straight season, for Team International at the Arnold Palmer Cup, after first advancing through local qualifying to compete as one of 15 amateurs in the 156-player field at the 122nd U.S. Open. He enters the season at No. 15 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and debuted at No. 7 in the PGA TOUR University preseason rankings released last month.

Kuhl, a native of Morton, Ill., was tabbed as an All-Midwest Region performer for the Illini, and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors in 2021-22, the first all-conference nod of his career. Kuhl emerged as one of the Illini’s top…