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CARLSBAD, Calif. – The 2024-25 Illinois men's golf season came to an end Sunday in Round 3 of the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costs Resort & Spa as the Fighting Illini missed the cut down to 15 teams, but sophomore Max Herendeen will move on to compete as an individual in Monday's stroke play finale.
The 12th-ranked Illini, making their 18th NCAA Championship appearance under head coach Mike Small, carded a 54-hole team total of 887 (+23), but struggled to maintain their position inside the cut line on Sunday. The Orange and Blue posted a Round 3 score of 304 (+16) that moved the team from ninth place to 18th and left them six shots short of the score needed to keep their team championship hopes alive.
"It's always a tough time when the season ends; only one team leaves happy," head coach Mike Small said. "It was a very disappointing week, extremely disappointing for Jackson (Buchanan), the senior, but I think it will be a good learning experience for some of these young guys.
"Today was a total meltdown. It started with yesterday, and I really thought that the guys would come back, show some vim and vigor and some resiliency and come back and play solid today, but it went the other direction, which we're not used to having. There's nothing worse than having the season finish on a round like that. That's going to leave a bad taste in our mouth for a long time. But if you look at it, this tournament was really representative of the way the whole season has gone. We finished ranked No. 12 in the country, which from 10,000 feet or from a spectator's point of view sounds pretty good. But for us, this has been a very up and down, inconsistent year in everything we do, and it was exemplified in this tournament."
Herendeen grinded out a 1-over 73, offsetting six bogeys and one double-bogey with six birdies to finish as one of the top nine individuals in the field on a non-advancing team with a 54-hole total of 217 (+1) in a tie for 22nd. He enters the final round of stroke play 12 shots off the lead held by Ole Miss' Michael LaSasso (-11). The runner-up as a true freshman last year, Herendeen is also just three shots outside of the top 10 with an opportunity to join Dylan Meyer (T6 in 2017 and T4 in 2018) and Thomas Detry (T3 in 2015 and T10 in 2016) as just the third player in program history with a pair of individual top-10 NCAA finishes in his Illini career.
"It's our responsibility to support and coach Max," said Small. "As a program, we always look up the leaderboard, we don't look down the leaderboard, and that applies individually, too. We're going to stay, and we're going to coach Max tomorrow, and the team's going to walk every hole with him tomorrow and cheer him on."
Behind Herendeen, Buchanan – the 2025 Byron Nelson Award Winner – capped his decorated Illini career in a tie for 57th with a 5-over 221, two shots ahead of junior Ryan Voois (T71). Freshman Trey Marrion finished T108 at 228 (+12). Freshman Jake Birdwell finished 156th with matching scores of 78 (+6) in Rounds 1 and 3, while sophomore Ethan Wilson finished 157th after subbing in to tally a 3-over 75 in Round 2.
Under Small's guidance, the Illini have qualified for nine of 10 NCAA Championships since stroke play was expanded to 72 holes in 2015. During that stretch, Small's squads have now missed the Sunday cut to 15 teams for the stroke play finals just twice (T27 in 2019).
"Next year is bright if guys continue improving and get better," added Small. "If guys stay the same, this will be the same. This is a learning opportunity. There's a lot of potential here, but improvement has to be made, consistency has to be achieved in everything, not only in their swings and their games, but in their thoughts and their mannerisms, their discipline; everything needs to be consistent.
"But again, Illinois golf will be back and we'll come back fighting next year. To finish 18th at the National Championship and 12th in the rankings, a lot of teams would be happy with that, but we're not. I learned a long time ago that you take the good with the bad, and we felt really good at times over the last 25 years, and sometimes we haven't, and this is definitely one of those."
Herendeen will tee off Monday following a playoff to determine the 15th team spot, between Georgia Tech and Wake Forest at 17-over. Final Round 4 pairings and tee times will be available following the resolution of playoffs. Individual tee times are currently slotted between 2:31 p.m. CT/12:31 p.m. PT and 2:53 p.m. CT/12:53 p.m. PT. Live scoring, leaderboards, and tee times are available via Clippd Scoreboard.
| PLACE | 2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP | RD1 | RD2 | RD3 | RD4 | TOTAL |
| 18 | Illinois | 286 | 297 | 304 | 887 (+23) | |
| T22 | Max Herendeen | 68 | 76 | 73 | 217 (+1) | |
| T57 | Jackson Buchanan | 73 | 72 | 76 | 221 (+5) | |
| T71 | Ryan Voois | 68 | 77 | 78 | 223 (+7) | |
| T108 | Trey Marrion | 77 | 74 | 77 | 228 (+12) | |
| 156 | Jake Birdwell | 78 | -- | 78 | 156 (+12) | |
| 157 | Ethan Wilson | -- | 75 | -- | 75 (+3) |
