U.S. Open qualifying is underway, with plenty of current, former, and even future Illini looking to qualify. I tried to comb through some of the local qualifiers - there are over 100 total, so I focused on IL, neighboring states and some known connections (i.e. Feagles - Arizona). Found most of them - 7 get to skip local qualifying, and 14 (at least) are competing over the next few weeks.
Note that no Illini are currently exempt into the U.S. Open itself. World top 60 will get in - Detry is #62, so he has a good shot. Campbell is #112 so he would probably have to get a win.
Live scoring:
https://www.usopen.com/2026/qualifying.html
Exempt into the U.S. Open - None
Exempt into final qualifying (top 500 OWGR or top 50 WAGR): Thomas Detry, Brian Campbell, ADC, Thomas Pieters, Nick Hardy, Max Herendeen (a), Ryan Voois (a)
Local qualifying:
4/22 - Stonewall Orchard GC (Grayslake, IL) - TJ Barger (a) DNQ, Bryan Baumgarten (a) DNQ
4/27 - Crooked Stick GC (Carmel, IL) - Noah Gillard
5/4 - Illini CC (Springfield, IL) - Jackson Buchanan
5/4 - Ak Chin Southern Dunes GC (Maricopa, AZ) - Michael Feagles
5/4 - The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach (FL) - Luke Guthrie
5/4 - Cedar Rapids (IA) GC - Tommy Kuhl
5/5 - WingHaven CC (St. Louis, MO) - Dylan Meyer, Harrison Zipfel (a)
5/11 - Flossmoor (IL) Golf Club - Dane Huddleston (a), Jake Birdwell (a), Ethan Wilson (a), Dujuan Snyman (a)
5/11 - Mendakota CC (Mendakota Heights, MN) - Chase Birdwell (a)
Names I couldn't find but I'm guessing a few are playing somewhere:
Piercen Hunt, Timmy Crawford, Tyler Goecke, Trey Marrion (a), Freddie Turnell (a), Khanh Hung Le (a)
Crazy that we have so many names now, really shows how healthy our program has become. Best of luck to all, hopefully we get a few to cheer for at Shinnecock Hills!
