Piercen is really struggling this year. His average is a almost a full stroke behind the next highest on the team. He would have to really show in qualifying to get that spot because his game certainly hasn't been there at least in matches this year.
Illinois Golf 2023-24
Does that include his performances as an individual?
Slow Easter evening so I thought I'd do a little research.
Are you ready?
Field for the Augusta Haskins Invitational, Augusta, GA, April 5-7 (according to some Instagram site).
(Ranking courtesy of some outfit called scoreboard.clipped.com as of 3/27)
Army 268
Augusta 86
East Tennessee State 17
Illini 18
Marquette 102
Mercer 162
Mississippi State 26
North Carolina 1
Oklahoma 14
Oklahoma State 32
Texas 20
Troy 129
UCF 154
USF 47
Wofford 182
Interesting field. I think I got it right. Don't sue me if I screwed up.
Don't know yet if Golfstat is covering.
Are you ready?
Field for the Augusta Haskins Invitational, Augusta, GA, April 5-7 (according to some Instagram site).
(Ranking courtesy of some outfit called scoreboard.clipped.com as of 3/27)
Army 268
Augusta 86
East Tennessee State 17
Illini 18
Marquette 102
Mercer 162
Mississippi State 26
North Carolina 1
Oklahoma 14
Oklahoma State 32
Texas 20
Troy 129
UCF 154
USF 47
Wofford 182
Interesting field. I think I got it right. Don't sue me if I screwed up.
Don't know yet if Golfstat is covering.
yes
I'm not saying Piercen couldn't prossibly take a spot. He has shown the ability, at least twice I can think of, to go very low. I think the issue for Small is you want to get the mix right of high ceiling/low floor guys and high floor guys. I kinda thought Timmy and Tyler would be high floor guys and would solidify the backend by this point but that hasn't happened. Max and Jackson are HIGH ceiling guys but have shown low floor, which Piercen also is but his floor is extremely low this year. Having 3 of those type of players is in my mind 1 too many. To be fair Jackson and Max are a couple notches above the rest and really are just high level players in general and can offset a lot variability at the backend, hence why this team has won three tourneys this year and are a top 20 team.
I wish Piercen well. Saw him win Western Junior Amateur by seven shots at Rich Harvest Farms wearing a white Illini cap the summer before he joined the team. He was the one who confirmed to me off the record that ADC was indeed returning to Illini for final year. He was folliowing ADC at 2021 Palmer Cup also at RHF. Nice young man.
Go Piercen. Go Illini.
Go Piercen. Go Illini.
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Thank you, Dan, for moving this post from Illinois Golfers in the Pros to this thread.
Great second round Jackson is tearing it up. I still think hunt is better over goelke or Crawford or ji or Wilson. Lower floor yes but much higher ceiling. I think we don’t make a top 8 natty finish unless hunt plays. I hope he plays well at the atkins event last year he did. He finished 3rd in 2023.
Weird back nine yesterday for the men. Buchanan and Hereenden played holes 14-18 in -7. Wilson and Goecke played those same 5 holes in +7! Buchanon with a 3 shot lead at -8. Illini in 5th place at -3....13 shots behind 1st place North Carolina. Need Goecke and/or Wilson to pick up the pace.
It's kind of a "down" year for Illini golf so far. That's OK. (I have been spoiled by the program's success under Coach Small.)
But I'm a bit concerned right now about finishing so far behind #1 North Carolina at Haskins. Decent showing by Illini nevertheless.
- Win Atkins.
- Win another BIG title! Get closer to supplanting The Ohio State University as the best Big 10 golf program of all time.
- Peak for NCAA regional and beyond.
GO ILLINI!
Can do.
But I'm a bit concerned right now about finishing so far behind #1 North Carolina at Haskins. Decent showing by Illini nevertheless.
- Win Atkins.
- Win another BIG title! Get closer to supplanting The Ohio State University as the best Big 10 golf program of all time.
- Peak for NCAA regional and beyond.
GO ILLINI!
Can do.
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very kinda, 3 wins, a second, other top 5s. Firmly ranked in the top 25. Maybe we are spoiled by peak years but this is year has exceeded expectations if you ask me.
There is quite often a dominant team in college golf but even they have had bad tourneys, North Carolina has 4 wins if you count east lake, 3 of stroke and large field, with a 7 and 8th in the mix. It simply not a win everything situation in college golf. And its about making the match play portion of the NCAAs, anything can happen in that format.,
Just saw this on Illini golf website:
Hunt (-7); Ji (-6); Crawford (+1) are playing in the Highland Meadows Intercollegiate in Sylvania, Ohio. Hunt is in second place, seven shots back. Final round today. Scoring on Golf Genius.
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No indication yet if Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate will be covered by Golfstat this weekend.
Hunt (-7); Ji (-6); Crawford (+1) are playing in the Highland Meadows Intercollegiate in Sylvania, Ohio. Hunt is in second place, seven shots back. Final round today. Scoring on Golf Genius.
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No indication yet if Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate will be covered by Golfstat this weekend.
Golfstat will provide scoring for the Tournament. Illinois will be the first team teeing off Saturday on hole 1. They are paired with MSU and northwestern the other top 2 ranked teams at atkins. 12 min intervals for tee offs starting Saturday morning round 1 at 7:30. Other pairings are Michigan, Toledo, ball state. South Dakota, Loyola, DePaul, and Marquette, butler, cal San Diego. Illinois tee times at hole 1 are 7:30-7:42-7:54-8:06-8:18 and then 8:30/8:36 individuals. Round 2 is a rolling play all day but estimated Illinois will tee off round 2 also on hole 1 at 12:30. Teams will be starting on front and back 9.
Round 3 will start at 8 am with individuals. If Illinois is in the top 3 leaderboard they will start to tee off at 9:24 Sunday on hole 1.
Illinois has entered 8 players. I don’t know who’s playing as individual and who’s counting.
Check University of Illinois golf website (fightingillini.com). I think Hunt, Ji and Crawford are playing as individuals. Will double check ... Yes, they are.
Go Illini.
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Poor Piercen he did so well last year at this tournament. 2nd best on the team.
Yea the women always seem to have the same problem. Sy is amazing. And a few of the other girls can have a good round or two. Just aren’t consistent. Same thing last year with crystal. They just happened to win because crystal had an insanely dominant tournament and the others played just good enough. Team needs more depth and to get old lots of young talent. I think they’ll play a bit better today especially Erica Lee.
Ryan voois off to a hot start. Conditions are better than last year but not by much. Not as windy or cold but still windy and cold. At least it isn’t raining.
Amazing start for piercen. He played so well here last year too I was shocked to see him not start. Wilson has struggled lately.