BY: RORY SPEARS ASSISTANT EDITOR, AND LEAD WRITER
Olympia Fields Country Club home of the 2015 U.S. Amateur, and this weekend the Fighting Illini Invitational.
Starting today at the Olympia Fields Country Club, the top powers in NCAA golf will meet for the title of the Fighting Illini Golf Invitational.
This tournament is regarded by many who follow college golf, as the top NCAA men’s college golf invitational during the fall season.
This tournament put on by the University of Illinois, and the members of the Olympia Fields Country Club is run in a 5-star manner. This is the ninth year of the event and each year it gets better. The demand Illinois golf coach Mike Small receives to be invited grows every year. The requests from top ranked programs continues as well.
The 54 hole event starts today at 9 AM, with round 2 on Saturday teeing at 9 AM. On Sunday the final round tees off at 8 AM. There are 15 teams in the tournament, 5 of them are in the top 10 in the country. Ten of the schools are in the top 25. The play will be conducted on the clubs North Course that has hosted two U.S. Open’s, two PGA Championships, five Western Opens, a U.S. Senior Open and the 2015 U.S Amateur Championship.
“It’s been a great event since it started, but it’s starting to own it’s own time,” said Small. “I think the publications of college golf around the country point to the tournament as of the seasons best. It’s got good teams through the entire field. It’s a great opportunity to come in and play a great golf course-a world class golf course. the U.S. Amateur is here next summer and it’s hosted U.S. Opens. To play a top college field early in the season helps the players and the coaches get to know each other a little bit better and helps the process of getting better throughout the year.”
No.6 Illinois will be missing Junior Thomas Detry as he competes for his country of Belgium at the World Amateur Team Championship. Illinois will be lead by Senior Brian Campbell, and Junior Charlie Danielson. Three Freshman will play this weekend for Illinois, including Nick Hardy, Dylan Meyer, and Spencer Reed.
The rest of the field includes co-number 1’s, including two-time NCAA defending champion Alabama and Oklahoma State. Others include #4 Texas, #7 Stanford, #11 Oklahoma, #17 Florida State, #19 Texas A&M, # 21 Arkansas, # 23 Virginia Tech, Baylor and Colorado both received votes to be in the preseason top 25. Alabama is the defending champion.
Admission to the event is free. High school golfers that are considering playing golf in college, should strongly consider attending. Admission is free on all days.