Illinois finished the first day of the 2026 Big Ten Men’s Golf Championship as the only team with a combined under-par score. Illini’s Freddie Turnell is tied for the individual lead.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

May 1, 2026

Now that we’ve reached the college golf postseason, the University of Illinois men’s program finds itself in a familiar position after the first day of the league tournament - at the top of the leaderboard.

Illinois sits in first place after the first round of the three-round 2026 Big Ten Championships in Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon. The Illini, which entered the event that they’ve won 13 times in 17 league championships dating back to the 2008-09 season, are leading by two strokes after being the only squad to finish with an under-par team score.

Sitting right below Illinois is the program that benefited the most last season from a final-round collapse, UCLA, preventing the Illini from holding onto a six-shot lead through the first 36 holes of play. In the 2025 Big Ten Championships in Baltimore, UCLA started the day eight shots behind the Illini and jumped three teams on the leaderboard to get in the clubhouse over a full hour before every other team. The Bruins would take home the title as they watched everybody else still on the course deal with wind gusts at Baltimore Country Club reaching as high as 39 miles per hour and consistently staying around 15-17 miles per hour.

Washington, which finished second-to-last in the Big Ten Championships last season, also finished Friday tied for second with UCLA at 1-over 281. This former Pacific 12 Conference duo created a three-stroke gap to fourth-place Nebraska and four strokes ahead of Minnesota and Northwestern.

Illinois, the No. 1 seed in the league tournament, was led by the player on the biggest individual roll coming into the event. Freddie Turnell, who secured his first victory as an Illini player last week in the Hoosier Collegiate, is currently tied for for the individual medalist honors with Northwestern’s Jeremy Chen and UCLA’s Josh Kim after posting a 3-under 67 on Friday afternoon. Turnell, who transferred to Illinois after leading the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to an Ohio Valley Conference Championship and an NCAA Regional berth last season, was the first player in the 90-player field to hit a tee shot Friday morning. The native of Somerset, England had a five-hole stretch of 4-under-par from No. 9 to No. 16 and his first under-70 round in over a month included pars on all three of the par-5 holes of the historic 7,018-yard, par-70 layout.

Max Herendeen, the highest ranked player in the field this week, posted an incredibly consistent bogey-free 68 to find himself just one shot from the individual lead. Herendeen birdied both of the par-5 holes on the final nine (No. 11 and No. 18) after beginning his day with 10 straight pars.

All of the final three scores from Illinois were 2-over-par 72s by Ryan Voois, Trey Marrion and Dane Huddleston.

Wisconsin fifth-year player Jacob Beckman was the only player on Friday to get to the 4-under mark in his round. After beginning with a bogey on his first hole, the 553-yard par-5 10th, Beckman played the next 11 holes with at 5-under. However, the Middleton, Wisconsin native lost the lead and then fell completely out of red figures after posting three bogeys and a double bogey on his final five holes. Beckman, who finished last year’s Big Ten Championships with a tied for 12th finish, arrived to college as the No. 1 ranked junior player in his home state but hasn’t posted a junior or amateur tournament individual victory since 2019.

The surprise disappointment of Friday’s action was Southern California’s 12th place finish in the 18-team Big Ten Championship field. The Trojans, which arrived in Oregon as the only other Big Ten team ranked within the national Top 30 rankings, were pulled down by a combined 22-over-par score from its bottom three players (Nicolas Dominguez, Raghav Gulati and Luke Stock). Southern California finished the first day of the event 14 strokes behind Illinois.

2026 Big Ten Men’s Golf Championship Team Leaderboard
ILLINOIS - 279 (-1)
UCLA - 281 (+1)
Washington - 281 (+1)
Nebraska - 284 (+4)
Minnesota - 285 (+5)
Northwestern - 285 (+5)
Rutgers - 287 (+7)
Michigan - 288 (+8)
Oregon - 290 (+10)
Penn State - 291 (+11)
Maryland - 292 (+12)
Southern California - 293 (+13)
Iowa - 293 (+13)
Indiana - 294 (+14)
Purdue - 295 (+15)
Wisconsin - 296 (+16)
Ohio State - 297 (+17)
Michigan State - 298 (+18)

ILLINOIS PLAYERS
Freddie Turnell 35-32--67 (-3)
Max Herendeen 35-33--68 (-2)
Trey Marrion 37-35--72 (+2)
Ryan Voois 36-36--72 (+2)
Dane Huddleston 39-33--72 (+2)