Illini Golfers in the Pros

#653      

ILLINI IN NE

Omaha,Ne.
I've posted this numerous times, so why stop now. I noticed Nick had the :illinois: on his score book. Just wish Pieters and Detry would do the same...
I just started watching season one of One shot away on youtube. It is about the Korn Ferry tour and Nick Hardy is one of the young pros covered. He speaks highly of the university and said that one of the golf programs goals is to get players on the tour. He wears a lot of Illini gear on the show which can't hurt with recruiting. I agree it would be nice if Pieters and Detry did the same.
 
#654      
Winning on any of these tournaments is hard work. PGA Tour has a decent amount of "side tourneys" where the top dogs don't always play and Hardy/Riley showed up and took care of business. I don't get into match play and team events like this much but was definitely watching this thing out on the last day.

Nice to see Hardy(and Riley) with his first win. Know he is exempt for few years but gets automatically entered into the upcoming PGA Championship and 5-6 more invitational events.


Steve Stricker is a beast on the Champions Tour. He can pick and choose certain events between PGA Tour and Champions Tour. I get why he rotates between them....if he focused just on Champions Tour he would dominate it. Barring injuries he is always one of the favorites at the events.
 
#655      

FlyNavy

Los Angeles
Hardy withdrew from this week's Mexico Open. Most likely to rest up for the next two weeks (Wells Fargo and PGA Championship), which he might not have qualified for prior to the big win. D.A. Points will be the sole Illini this weekend.

Also for the PGA Championship, I was trying to understand the qualifiers:
- Nick Hardy - Qualified via TOUR win
- Thomas Detry - Currently #53 on "Money List", likely will qualify
- Thomas Pieters - Per PGA Tour website, Top 100 in the World Rankings typically get a special invite. So he should be in (currently #48), but will his LIV status matter?

PGA Championship "Money List"

Also one of the drawbacks of moving the tournament from August to May is you will no longer see Coach Small in the field. He finished 2nd in the Illinois PGA, so he would've had a shot to make the field this year, but would have to miss the Big Ten Championship to play the national qualifier (and Regionals if he were to make the field). Hopefully they fix that someday.
 
#656      
Pieters on the podium this week, as the Range Goats won the team competition in Singapore. Individually, he is still struggling in Liv.
 
#657      

FlyNavy

Los Angeles
Nick Hardy back in action this weekend at Wells Fargo in NC. Detry is skipping this one, which is surprising given the $20M purse.
 
#658      
Stricker heavy favorite under 3/1 this week at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. Rest of field starts 10/1 or higher. Hope he wins but not laying Rahm odds on that :ROFLMAO:
 
#660      

FlyNavy

Los Angeles
The PGA Championship field has been made official. Hardy, Pieters and Detry will tee it up at Oak Hill on May 18-21. Congrats to all three for making the field, and best of luck next week!
 
#663      

FlyNavy

Los Angeles
Tee times for this week's PGA Championship at Oak Hill:

Round 1, 10th tee/Round 2, first tee
1:09 p.m./7:44 a.m.: Thomas Pieters, Belgium; Keith Mitchell, St. Simons Island, GA; Pablo Larrazabal, Spain
2:26 p.m./9:01 a.m.: Thomas Detry, Belgium; J.J. Killeen, Lubbock, TX; Matt Wallace, England
2:37 p.m./9:12 a.m.: Nick Hardy, Northbrook, IL; Greg Koch, Orlando, FL; Eric Cole, Delray Beach, FL

This will be Pieters' 7th PGA Championship, his best finish being T6 in 2018 (and he definitely had a shot on Sunday that year). It will be Detry's second PGA, he missed the cut in 2021. Hardy will be competing in his first PGA Championship (and first major outside of the U.S. Open, which he has played 4 times).

Best of luck to all three!
 
#664      

WWWWRocU

Herndon, VA
Going off on a bit of a tangent here, but, the Oak Hill course is a Donald Ross design. For those into golf course architecture, if you want to experience a Donald Ross course in the Chicago area, look no further than south suburban Homewood where Ravisloe Golf Course exists. It used to be a private course but is now public and reasonably priced. The "Live at the PGA" show on the Golf Channel on Monday did a piece on the Oak Hill architecture, and those sand traps are very similar to those at Ravisloe. When I played Ravisloe I felt like I was stepping back in time as Ravisloe was built around 1927 or so. I thought it was a great golf experience. Enjoy!
 
#667      
Nick at the bottom in driving accuracy so far(0-10) and near the bottom in putting. Not a good combo. +5 on the day and just took a penalty drop on his last hole before play was suspended.
 
#668      

FlyNavy

Los Angeles
Oak Hill appears to be the winner so far, as DeChambeau's 66 (-4) is the best score turned in before play was suspended (Cole is -5, but has 4 to play). Rahm, who was basically handed the trophy by the "experts", carded a 76 and has work to do to make the weekend.

As for the Illini, Pieters is in good shape at -1. Detry is +1 thru 14, which still puts him 6 off the lead at T27. Nick needs to finish strong and put in a good round on Friday to make the cut, which might be +5 or +6 depending on how things go tomorrow.
 
#669      

whatahack

St. Peters MO
Not looking good for our guys...

Screenshot_20230519-131201_Chrome.jpg
 
#672      

FlyNavy

Los Angeles
Pieters and Detry both finished tied for 40th at +6. Both earned around $47K. Detry joins Hardy in the field at the Schwab Invitational in Fort Worth this weekend, while Pieters will head to DC for a LIV event.

Also, Thomas Pieters officially qualified for the U.S. Open today by being in the world top 60. Detry and Hardy will probably have to qualify via sectionals, meaning they are on even footing with ADC and Jackson Buchanan...
 
#673      

WWWWRocU

Herndon, VA
Will be attending the LIV event in DC this weekend with the family. Trump National is just up the road from where I am in northern VA.
Saw parking signs to the west of the course on Route 7 already.
With Pieters there, will definitely be wearing some O&B gear.
 
#675      
With Pieters there, will definitely be wearing some O&B gear.
Nice way to represent :illinois:

I don't watch LIV but haven't heard Pieters name much in the LIV tourneys. Has he struggled in those tourneys so far? Hopefully saving his best performance so you can see it