Round 1 Results | Live Scoring
LAS VEGAS – Fighting Illini men's golf opened play at the 2017 Southern Highlands Collegiate on Monday, posting a team today 2-over par. The Illini were led on the day by juniors Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer, who currently sit among the top 25 individuals. USC (-10), Stanford (-7) and Pepperdine (-6) currently sit atop the leaderboard after one round of play, and the Illini are currently in seventh.
"All in all it was a solid day for us," head coach Mike Small said. "I was happy with the way most of the guys performed for having seen this course for the first time; it is a course that requires experience. We finished pretty strong as a team, which was encouraging. It was a solid day."
Tied for 23rd individually, Hardy and Meyer closed the first round at even par. Hardy carded three birdies on the front nine and made the turn at 2-under par after a bogey on the seventh hole. The junior added two more birdies on the back nine, helping to negate late bogeys. Meyer also tallied two birdies on the back nine to negate two early bogeys in the round. Â
Both seeing the Southern Highlands Golf Club for the first time in their careers, sophomore Edoardo Lipparelli and freshman Michael Feagles closed the day in a tie for 29th individually, shooting 1-over par through the first round. Lipparelli posted a strong front nine, using three birdies to make the turn at 3-under par. A few bogeys on the back nine gave him a 73 first-round score. Feagles posted three birdies on the back nine to negate a few early bogeys on the day. He closed the round with consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th holes.
Playing as an individual, freshman Bryan Baumgarten also joins Lipparelli and Feagles in a tie at the No. 29 spot. Baumgarten notched three birdies, including back-to-back birdies on his back nine, to negate a few early bogeys and close the day 1-over par.
Playing in the lineup for the first time this season, freshman Giovanni Tadiotto closed the day at 9-over par in a tie for 77th individually.
The Illini will continue play at the Southern Highlands Collegiate tomorrow, March 7. Tee times begin at 11 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available on Golfstat, and a recap will be posted on FightingIllini.com at the conclusion of each round.
Hosted by UNLV, the Southern Highlands Collegiate is held on the Par 72, 7,510-yard course at Southern Highlands Golf Club. The Illini join 10 teams ranked among the top-25 according to the latest Golfweek Sagarin rankings in the field, including No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 7 USC, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 17 UNLV, No. 23 San Diego State, No. 25 Arizona State, No. 34 Pepperdine, No. 48 New Mexico, California, SMU and TCU.
Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois men's golf.
