TEAM LEADERBOARD | PLAYER LEADERBOARD | TEE TIMES
BALTIMORE, Md. – The 13th-ranked Fighting Illini men's golf team opened play at the 2025 Big Ten Championship on Friday at historic Baltimore Country Club, carding a team score of 270 (-10) to build a seven-shot lead behind a strong team effort led by Round 1 leader Max Herendeen's career-best-tying 63 (-7).
Herendeen's 63 not only matched his career best – which he first set in the opening round of his win last season at the NCAA Stanford Regional – but also tied the Big Ten Championship record for the lowest opening round set by former Illini Dylan Meyer here at BCC in 2017. He enters Round 2 with a three-shot lead over Indiana's Clay Merchant and UCLA's Omar Morales, whose teams are in second and third place behind the Illini with opening scores of 277 (-3) and 278 (-2), respectively.
"The performance was solid," head coach Mike Small said of his team's start. "I told the guys after the round that when I come and tell them that was a solid day, that's a big compliment coming from a coach. We could all make improvements in certain areas, we can all get better at certain things but for most part, it was really solid. On this golf course, being the opening round, the look we had, the energy we had, it was really good."
"Max had a solid back nine. He had two birdies on the front and five on the back. He played solid - and could have birdied the last hole. He played solid golf. But, like I told the guys, this is a three-day championship. If this is a basketball game, we're only 13 minutes into the game."
Behind the Illini (-10), Hoosiers (-3), and Bruins (-2), Oregon (-1) and Maryland (E) round out the top five in the team race with 36 holes remaining.
Junior Ryan Voois (T4) and freshman Jake Birdwell (T8) – making his Big Ten Championship debut in only his second-career tournament in the Illini's scoring lineup – were nearly blemish free in their rounds as well.
Voois led at the turn with birdies on Holes 1, 3, and 5, before his lone bogey of the day on No. 10. He answered just two holes later with a birdie on No. 12, then closed with six straight pars to finish at 3-under.
Birdwell, coming off his win last week in the individual tournament at Purdue's Boilermaker Invitational, remained poised following a bogey on No. 2 that put in an early hole. He birdied his next hole, the Par-5 fourth, and was even-par at the turn, then posted birdies on 11 and 17 to finish one shot behind Voois at 2-under.
Senior Jackson Buchanan, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and a finalist for the 2025 Byron Nelson Award, carded the Illini's fourth score of the day with a 2-over 72 to sit in a tie for 41st in the 90-player field, while freshman Trey Marrion (T82) opened with a 76 (+6).
Round 2 is set for Saturday morning with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT. Illinois, paired with Indiana and UCLA, will open Round 2 starting at 10:40 a.m. ET/9:40 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available via Clippd Scoreboard. For more information, visit the 2025 Big Ten Men's Golf Championship Central.
BALTIMORE, Md. – The 13th-ranked Fighting Illini men's golf team opened play at the 2025 Big Ten Championship on Friday at historic Baltimore Country Club, carding a team score of 270 (-10) to build a seven-shot lead behind a strong team effort led by Round 1 leader Max Herendeen's career-best-tying 63 (-7).
Herendeen's 63 not only matched his career best – which he first set in the opening round of his win last season at the NCAA Stanford Regional – but also tied the Big Ten Championship record for the lowest opening round set by former Illini Dylan Meyer here at BCC in 2017. He enters Round 2 with a three-shot lead over Indiana's Clay Merchant and UCLA's Omar Morales, whose teams are in second and third place behind the Illini with opening scores of 277 (-3) and 278 (-2), respectively.
"The performance was solid," head coach Mike Small said of his team's start. "I told the guys after the round that when I come and tell them that was a solid day, that's a big compliment coming from a coach. We could all make improvements in certain areas, we can all get better at certain things but for most part, it was really solid. On this golf course, being the opening round, the look we had, the energy we had, it was really good."
"Max had a solid back nine. He had two birdies on the front and five on the back. He played solid - and could have birdied the last hole. He played solid golf. But, like I told the guys, this is a three-day championship. If this is a basketball game, we're only 13 minutes into the game."
Behind the Illini (-10), Hoosiers (-3), and Bruins (-2), Oregon (-1) and Maryland (E) round out the top five in the team race with 36 holes remaining.
Junior Ryan Voois (T4) and freshman Jake Birdwell (T8) – making his Big Ten Championship debut in only his second-career tournament in the Illini's scoring lineup – were nearly blemish free in their rounds as well.
Voois led at the turn with birdies on Holes 1, 3, and 5, before his lone bogey of the day on No. 10. He answered just two holes later with a birdie on No. 12, then closed with six straight pars to finish at 3-under.
Birdwell, coming off his win last week in the individual tournament at Purdue's Boilermaker Invitational, remained poised following a bogey on No. 2 that put in an early hole. He birdied his next hole, the Par-5 fourth, and was even-par at the turn, then posted birdies on 11 and 17 to finish one shot behind Voois at 2-under.
Senior Jackson Buchanan, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and a finalist for the 2025 Byron Nelson Award, carded the Illini's fourth score of the day with a 2-over 72 to sit in a tie for 41st in the 90-player field, while freshman Trey Marrion (T82) opened with a 76 (+6).
Round 2 is set for Saturday morning with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT. Illinois, paired with Indiana and UCLA, will open Round 2 starting at 10:40 a.m. ET/9:40 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available via Clippd Scoreboard. For more information, visit the 2025 Big Ten Men's Golf Championship Central.
| PLACE | 2025 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP | RD1 | RD2 | RD3 | TOTAL |
| 1 | Illinois | 270 | 270 (-10) | ||
| 1 | Max Herendeen | 63 | 63 (-7) | ||
| T4 | Ryan Voois | 67 | 67 (-3) | ||
| T8 | Jake Birdwell | 68 | 68 (-2) | ||
| T41 | Jackson Buchanan | 72 | 72 (E) | ||
| T82 | Trey Marrion | 76 | 76 (+4) |
