Your viewing guide to watching the 2018 NCAA Golf National Championship

For the eleventh consecutive season, the Fighting Illini Men’s Golf team will play in the NCAA Tournament. Here’s what you need to know about the stroke play portion of the event:

Stroke play scoring link:

http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=15139

Stroke Play Tournament schedule:

Friday 5/25 - First Round

Saturday 5/26 - Second Round

Sunday 5/27 - Third Round *Top 15 teams advance to final round

Monday 5/28 - Final Round *Top 8 teams advance to match play quarterfinals

Friday Tee Times:

How This Works:

You’re going to be watching the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Golf Tournament this afternoon. This is the old format that the tournament used to use to determine national champions from 1965 to 2008, and it’s rubbish. What teams rely on are the top four scores shot within each round of the tournament, with the combined total equaling the team’s overall score in the competition. No matter what the player shot in his round previously, he can still contribute to the team’s overall score with a fresh start in each round.

The first three rounds will be played by every team in the field, with a 15 team cut between rounds three and four. The final round of play is used to determine the Top 8 seeds that will advance to match play on Tuesday. We’ll get more into that later...

Also, there will be an individual NCAA Champion crowned during all four rounds of stroke play. The Illini have had two individual national champions in the last eight seasons, and have two very good chances in Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer to potentially crown their third.

What to Expect:

With seniors Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer almost guaranteed to be one of the four scores used throughout stroke play, it’s in your best interest to watch Michael Feagles and Bryan Baumgarten. Both Feagles and Baumgarten have had success at the national level, and Bryan is playing some of the best golf in his life this spring. The success of these two players will impact whether or not we’re talking about the Illini in the match play quarterfinal on Tuesday. If history serves as a guide to the present, these two young guns will shine bright this week.