OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – The No. 9-ranked Fighting Illini men’s golf team, fresh of a season-opening victory at the Sahalee Players Championship, continues action this weekend as the host team for the 17th annual OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club, Friday-Sunday.
THE SETTING
The OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational will be contested on the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club, once again providing a demanding but fair test for a field that includes some of the nation’s best players and programs. The course will feature a Par 70, 7,310-yard layout.
Over the years, the famed club has been home to several premier events, having hosted the U.S. Amateur (2015), two U.S. Opens (1928, 2003), two PGA Championships (1925, 1961), a U.S. Senior Open (1997), plus five Western Opens (1920, 1927, 1933, 1968, 1971) and the BMW Championship in 2020 and 2023.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The 54-hole tournament will be played over three days with 18 holes slated for each day of competition. Tee times for Rounds 1 and 2, on Friday and Saturday, respectively, begin at 8 a.m. CT. Sunday’s final round tee times are set for 7:30 a.m. CT.
THE FIELD
The 2023 OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational field is made up of many of the nation’s most successful collegiate golf programs:
- 14 of 15 teams are ranked or receiving votes in the first GCAA Coaches Poll of the season
- Programs in the 2023 tournament field have combined to account for 17 of 24 spots in the 12 NCAA Championship match play finals since the current format began in 2009
- Each of the last five programs to win the NCAA Championship will be represented: Florida (2023), Texas (2022), Pepperdine (2021), Stanford (2019), and Oklahoma State (2018)
- All 15 of the programs in the field competed in the 2023 NCAA Regionals
- 11 of the 15 teams advanced to the 2023 NCAA Championship stroke play
- The field includes 7 of the 8 teams that made up match play at the 2023 NCAA Championship: quarterfinalists Arizona State, Illinois, and Pepperdine; semifinalists Florida State and North Carolina; and finalists Florida and Georgia Tech
FIGHTING ILLINI LINEUP
No. 1: Max Herendeen
No. 2: Jackson Buchanan
No. 3: Tyler Goecke
No. 4: Ryan Voois
No. 5: Timmy Crawford
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Individual: Piercen Hunt
Individual: Jerry…
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