An annual stop for many of the top programs from around the country each fall, the Chicago District again served as host to four Division I golf competitions this September and October. In conjunction with the CDGA, the University of Illinois and Northwestern University hosted the following events in 2024:
The University of Illinois men’s golf team again conducted the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course Sept. 20-22. This year’s field featured 11 of the 30 teams who advanced to the 2024 NCAA DI Men’s Golf National Championships in May, including national runner-up Florida State University. Georgia Tech University, the team that fell to Florida State in the Semifinal round in May, captured the title at Olympia with a team-total score of 12 under. 2024 U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester, a senior at Arizona State, secured medalist honors at -10. The fifth-ranked Illini finished eighth at +9 and were paced by Ryan Voois’ 3-under 207. Northwestern senior Daniel Svard carded rounds of 68, 66 and 69 en route to a T3 finish. The Chicago District was well represented by teams from around the country, as a pair of former Glenbard West Hilltoppers in Grant Roscich, a freshman at the University of North Carolina, and John Wild, a junior at Oklahoma State University, each competed for their respective universities.
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Just over a week later, the Northwestern University men’s team hosted 15 teams from across the United States at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest for the Windon Memorial Classic Sept. 29-30. The University of Arizona, ranked No. 13 in the Bushnell/Golfweek DI Coaches Poll, won the team event by three strokes at 10-under par thanks to a trio of top-10 finishers. Taking home individual medalist honors was Winnetka’s Patrick Adler, a senior on the Marquette University golf team, at 11 under. Adler, who reached the Quarterfinal round at this summer’s CDGA Amateur Championship, was one of two players to card three under-par rounds. Fellow Winnetka native and Marquette golfer Ryan Banas finished 32nd at +6. Host school Northwestern posted a team score of 2-over par to finish in third place. Illinois closed the event at +9 to place sixth.
Staying on the north shore, Wilmette’s Westmoreland Country Club and the Northwestern women’s golf team welcomed a slew of competitors for the Windy City Collegiate Classic Sept. 30 - Oct. 1. The Arizona State Sun Devils reigned supreme at week’s end with a team score of +11 pushing them six shots clear of South Carolina. Pacing the third-place Southern California squad was medalist Jasmine Koo. Koo carded rounds of 68, 67 and 76 to win the title by two shots. Northwestern finished the week at 28-over par to claim fourth place, as first-year Hsin Tai Lin earned a tie for fifth. Illinois concluded the week in 14th place. Both women’s and men’s teams for Northwestern followed up their hosting gigs with a trip across the pond to compete in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate in mid-October.
The final of the four events for the third year running was the Illini Women's Invitational at Medinah Country Club Oct. 7-8. Ole Miss, who featured three members of the top 10 at the conclusion of the week, took home the team victory with a three-day score of 30-under par. Auburn’s Anna Davis, victor of the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, posted rounds of 67, 69 and 67 to earn medalist honors at -13. Indiana redshirt senior Caroline Smith, of Inverness, also finished under par at -3 to place 17th. The two local programs competing, Illinois and Northern Illinois, finished 11th and 15th, respectively. Illinois’ Lexanne Halama finished in a tie for third at -9 while competing as an individual.