Illinois sophomore Max Herendeen angered over double-bogey finish; Several top ranked players and teams find conditions difficult in opening round stumbles.

URBANA, Ill. — At around 2:15 p.m. local time, Illinois head coach Mike Small gave his version of a no comment to local media on his lineup determination for the second round of the NCAA Urbana Regional.

What the 25-year Illini head coach didn’t realize was happening a few hundred feet behind him as he gave that non-answer was freshman Trey Marrion was on the Atkins Golf Club practice green in the middle of what had already been an hour-long short game drill sequence. Marrion, a 19-year-old who was named to the 2025 Big Ten All-Freshman Team earlier in the month, was clearly getting ready to play.

Marrion will get the call Tuesday morning as he’ll hit the first tee ball of the second round of the event at 8 a.m. CST after sitting out the opening round in favor of third-year talent Ethan Wilson.

Marrion, who Small won in an intense recruiting battle with national powers such as by Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Virginia, had just two top 10 individual results throughout the 2024-25 season and was coming off a disappointing 12-over-par finish in the Big Ten Championships nearly two weeks ago.

In a move that Small doesn’t typically like to execute, Marrion will sub in for Wilson after the junior from Canada posted a 6-over-par 77 in the opening round at the Illini’s home course. Wilson had a frustrating start to his day as he played the first 13 holes at 7-over without a birdie as his 18-hole score was obviously not used in the Illini’s day one team-leading total of 7-under-par 277.

Thanks to a course-record 63 from Jackson Buchanan on Monday, Illinois holds a two-shot lead over Texas Tech, four-shot lead over UNLV and a six-shot advantage over Troy. In what could be the most benign conditions of the three-day event, Illinois, Texas Tech, UNLV and Troy were the only teams to finish with an under-par total on the first day.

Marrion, a 6-foot-4 athlete from Chesapeake, Va., arrived at Illinois as the No. 13-ranked junior golfer in the 2024 recruiting by GolfWeek magazine and is two-time U.S. Open sectional qualifier.

NCAA rules dictate that Wilson’s tournament may not yet be over as rules allow for Wilson to sub back into the Illinois lineup for any of the five players who tee up for Small’s squad on Tuesday. Also, if there’s an emergency problem with any of the Illini players on Tuesday or Wednesday, a substitution in the lineup is allowed up until 10 minutes before the scheduled tee time.

Illinois players will begin to tee off the opening hole at 8 a.m. CST and will be grouped with Texas Tech and UNLV.

Herendeen Angered Over Double-Bogey Finish in Final Two Holes

For 16 holes on Monday, Illinois sophomore Max Herendeen was the star attraction of the star-studded opening round threesome that also included the Illini star, currently ranked No. 34 in the amateur world golf rankings, North Carolina’s star David Ford, ranked No. 3 in the world, and Oklahoma State sophomore Ethan Fang - currently ranked No. 15 in the world.

And then the Illini’s 20-year-old elite talent watched his tee ball on the 244-yard par-3 17th hole go nowhere toward the green. It was at that moment everything in Herendeen’s opening round went drastically wrong. Herendeen took a double bogey on 17 and finished with a three-putt bogey on the finishing hole to see a solid under-par round tumble 16 spots on the individual leaderboard as he eventually signed for an even-par 72.
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After playing the first 10 holes at even-par, Herendeen birdied No. 11, 12 and 15 to get within a few strokes of his Illini teammates Jackson Buchanan for the individual lead. The near five-hour round was a sub-picture of his entire 54-hole Big Ten Championship from nearly two weeks ago when he opened with 63 but tumbled to a tie for 19th place.

Herendeen, who sits eight shots behind Buchanan for the individual lead but was one of 30 players at even-par 71 or better, will be in the No. 3 spot of Small’s lineup on Tuesday morning when he tees off No. 1 at 8:22 a.m. CST. Herendeen will play with Texas Tech’s Tim Wiedemeyer, ranked 64th in the world who posted a even-par 71 on Monday, and UNLV’s Brett Sawaia, who recorded a 7-over 78 in his opening round on Monday.

Top Ranked Players Tumble & Stumble in NCAA Urbana Regional Opening Round

North Carolina’s 22-year-old David Ford could only shake his had as he stood on the sixth tee of Atkins Golf Club for his final NCAA regional opening round.

The star of the 2024-25 collegiate golf season with final wins already this spring and will be seen on the PGA Tour almost immediately as soon as this collegiate season is completed, had yet to make a birdie and was already 3-over-par. Ford, who managed to salvage a 2-over-par 73, was not the only highly ranked talent to falter in their first look at the Urbana, Ill. course hosting a NCAA postseason event for the first time since its purchase and development in 2020.

On an opening round Monday where 18 scores in the 75-player field were recorded under par, only two of the 10 players ranked inside the top 100 of the current world amateur golf rankings broke the mark of even-par 71.

The only player inside the top 25 of the world rankings to find low numbers was Illinois senior Jackson Buchanan as the multi-time All-America selection leads the individual standings by four shots with a course-record 63.

North Carolina, which came to Urbana, Ill., as the No. 2 seed in the regional and ranked No. 10 in the nation, got little contribution from its stars on Monday leading to a confusing 11th place finish on Monday in the 13-team field. After 18 holes, the Tar Heels currently sit seven shots off the fifth and final transfer spot and will need a comeback effort to continue its streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships for an eighth straight time.

Oklahoma State, which came in with all five players in its lineup in the top 200 of the world rankings, didn’t have a single player break even-par 36 in its opening nine holes of action and posted a frustrating 2-over-par 286 as the Big 12 Conference champions ranked No. 2 in the nation finished in seventh on Monday behind mid-major programs such as Long Beach State, Marquette, UNLV and Troy.

The surprise of the NCAA Urbana Regional after day one was certainly Troy University being the fourth and final team score under par as the Trojans, who are making its first NCAA postseason appearance since 2017, put itself in a solid position to be one of the five advancing teams to the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

“The guys got off to a good start," Troy head coach Clay Bounds, who was the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year selection, said. "The weather was tough, and it's a tough golf course. We battled rain all day, and it was cold early, so it was good to see some putts drop early in the round. Certainly, we have a lot of golf left, but going forward, we're going to keep pushing the gas, try to make birdies and stay in the top five.”

Troy was led by senior Jake Springer’s seven birdies en route to a 4-under 67 as he sits just four back of Illinois senior Jackson Buchanan on the individual leaderboard. Springer, who did not begin playing golf until age 13 and is ranked just 805th in the world, started birdie-birdie-birdie on Monday morning, which was just as suprising to him based on the state of his game as he arrived to Urbana.

“I believe in my game, and I trust in it, but I've been playing bad the past couple days," Springer said. "We spent several hours yesterday on the range hitting balls, trying to find something, so to come out early, get off to a hot start and hit some quality shots in the beginning was nice to settle down and get the round started.”