URBANA — Max Herendeen wasted little time in getting to the driving range following Monday’s first round of the NCAA Urbana Regional.
Illinois coach Mike Small spent a little time with his team after Herendeen finished on the 18th hole, recapping the day, before he sent them on their individual way. Some team putting practice and a team dinner were still to come, but until then, preparation was left to the individual golfers. Herendeen made a beeline for the range after finishing Monday’s round at Atkins Golf Club with a double bogey and bogey on the final two holes for an even-par 71.
“There’s a couple things we do as a team together, but this is an individual sport,” Small said. “They have to take responsibility for their own self, their own emotions. ... Some do it differently. As a coach, you’d be mistaken if you made everybody do the same thing that didn’t fit their own personality. That’s what makes my job really unique and kind of fun is I have to manage all these different nuances and the way to do things.’”
Jackson Buchanan didn’t have major post-round plans Monday. Not after carding an 8-under 63.
No need to tweak, well, anything.
“I’m pretty tired,” the Illinois senior said. “I’m going to hit a few balls, maybe putt a little bit, but it’s all in my mind right now. I could not practice at all and be fine (Tuesday). It’s bringing a presence and enjoying myself and being an athlete.”
Buchanan mentioned being “an athlete” multiple times after Monday’s opening round. That he’s more than a golfer and had been holding that side of him back some this season.
“Golf, it’s kind of easy to curl into a ball and be unathletic,” Buchanan said. “My goal was to be an athlete. It worked. I’m an athlete. I hoop. I play baseball.”
Buchanan actually played those sports — and more — before getting into golf growing up in Georgia. The Illinois senior grew up playing baseball, basketball, soccer and football. He also ran cross-country and was a competitive swimmer.
“I wasn’t sure what he was going to choose,” Buck Buchanan, Jackson’s dad, told The News-Gazette. “Of course, in my heart, I was hoping he would choose baseball and choose my alma mater down the road. I’m a Mercer University grad, and one of my teammates is the head coach at Mercer. I was grooming him as the leadoff switch hitter playing center field from the time he was 5.”
The Buchanan family home might have been on a golf course, but it wasn’t a sport he was interested in playing early on.
“We live on the 12th green at this golf course, and he’s like, ‘That just looks so boring,’” said Sherri Buchanan, Jackson’s mom.
It took a torn ACL during Buchanan’s freshman basketball season to get him on the golf course. Surgery had to wait with his growth plates still open, so a knee brace was a necessity. Golf was something he could still do — and do well.
“I think within three months he was shooting in the 70s,” Buck Buchanan said.
“He said to us, ‘I’m out on the baseball field thinking about being on the golf course,’” Sherri Buchanan added. “He got bit by the golf bug and never went back.”
Ryan Voois joined Buchanan under par with a 1-under 70 on Monday. That put the Illinois junior in a tie for 15th. Herendeen, at even par, is in a 12-way tie for 19th. Jake Birdwell with a 2-over 73 rounded out the Illini’s scores, with Ethan Wilson’s 6-over 77 dropped.
Home-course advantage? Sometimes.
“I saw it on some holes,” Small said. “Other holes it looked like they’d never played here before. ... Home course is an advantage in golf — a big advantage — but you still have to hit the shots. You still have to take care of business.”
Buchanan said any home-course advantage was subtle.
“You play with some guys and they hit in some spots where you’re like, ‘That’s a bad spot over there,’” Buchanan said. “You don’t really feel it. The score kind of just happens.”
The main difference in playing at home, of course, was the crowd. Buchanan said he’s played in bigger — multiple NCAA championships and last year’s U.S. Amateur certainly — but Monday was different.
“I’ve played in front of more, but it was cool that they’re all cheering for you,” Buchanan said. “It’s a cooler vibe. It brings the energy. It will be even more fun the next few days.”
Small fairly well gushed about the course setup at Atkins Golf Club. That it was “just pure.” A sentiment his fellow coaches apparently shared.
It was also challenging. Long rough. Fast greens (at least before a couple of late morning/early afternoon rain showers). And some tricky pin placements.
“In this sport, wind separates people,” Small said. “Firm greens, deep rough separate people, and tough hole locations separate people. ... When you stick the pins and cut the holes in difficult places, it takes caveman golf out of it. Good players have to think their way around.
“The course is so good. It is so good. It’s firm. It’s a challenge. The rough is up. This is awesome. I’m proud of this place and what the staff did. This is the way modern, top collegiate or amateur golf should be played.”
That challenge is what Voois likes the most about Atkins Golf Club.
“I think it really separates better players,” he said. “The rough is going to be up, and it’s going to be pretty penal. If you’re driving it in the rough, you’re not really going to be able to get it close to the hole and you’ll be struggling for pars.”
SCOTT RICHEY