Live Scoring and Results
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Fighting Illini men's golf shot 6-under par to take a first-round lead at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational on Friday, Sept. 16. Freshman Bryan Baumgarten posted a 5-under par 65, also tying for the individual tournament lead. Texas A&M (E) is currently in second overall, while Oklahoma State (+7) rounds out the top three teams. After one round, all seven Illini sit among the top 29 players in the field.
"Everybody played well today, it was a total team effort," head coach Mike Small said after the round. "As a coach I am very happy that we got off to a good start, but we need to realize that this is just the first round. We need to come back and play the same way tomorrow; we need to deal with the changing pins and the changing conditions."
Baumgarten started the day on a high note, recording a birdie on the first hole. He followed up with a bogey on No. 2, but was bogey free for the rest of the round. Baumgarten added one more birdie on the front nine before tallying four after the turn.
"For Brian to shoot a 65, that shows his true potential and what he can do," Small said. "When he got it going today, I liked his presence and how he sustained his momentum throughout the round. He didn't get wrapped up in his score."
Junior Nick Hardy shot 2-under par for the day, tallying back-to-back birdies to close out the front nine. He added two more birdies on the back nine, helping to negate two bogeys on the day. Just one stroke back from Hardy, junior Dylan Meyer finished 1-under par in a tie for sixth. Meyer posted five birdies in the round.
Freshman Michael Feagles is currently 2-over par and tied for 16th individually. Feagles started the day with three bogeys on the front nine, but recovered with three birdies after making the turn. Sophomore Edoardo Lipparelli also sits among the top 25, tied for 23rd after a 3-over par finish.
Playing as individuals, freshman Giovanni Tadiotto and sophomore Trevor Gold are 3-over par and 4-over par, respectively. Gold birdied the first hole and added another on the back nine, while Tadiotto carded a birdie on the 11th hole.
The Illini will continue play at Olympia Fields Country Club tomorrow morning with tee times beginning at 8:45 am. Results will be posted on FIGHTINGILLINI.com following each round of the tournament, and fans can follow the team on Twitter (@IlliniMGolf) for even more inside information. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.
