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SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – Fighting Illini men's golf got off to an early start on Saturday morning in order to complete the first round of play at the NCAA Golf Championships which was suspended for darkness on Friday evening. The orange and Blue closed the first round of play with a team total 6-under par. The squad continued with the second round of play in the morning, finishing with a total score 11-under par to finish the round in third place. Illinois shot a 5-under par 283 in the second round, led by junior Dylan Meyer's 5-under par performance.
"It was great; it was very positive," head coach Mike Small said of Saturday's second round of play. "We got a wake-up call before 4 a.m. and left the hotel by 4:30, we got out here and we knew we were going to play a lot of golf. I'm inspired and I'm excited and I'm proud of the way the guys handled that adversity. The weather was great today, so that was a positive twist on things. Coming out here and playing in front of this crowd was awesome. It warms my heart to see the Illini Nation come out and support these guys and cheer us on as hard as they did, and also cheer on the other teams when they hit great shots. I thought that was really cool. Our guys were inspired by that and they played well."
Meyer started off his second round with a birdie on the first hole, and was 2-under par at the turn. He birdied three consecutive holes on the back nine, and made birdie on the 18th hole to negate one late bogey for the day. Meyer is 6-under par through two rounds and tied for sixth individually.
Sophomore Edoardo Lipparelli and Junior Nick Hardy shot 1-under par in Saturday's second round. Currently in a tie for 19th individually with a two-round tally of 3-under par, Lipparelli tallied three birdies on the front nine of his second round, making the turn 2-under par. He added another on the back nine for the Illini.
Hardy is 1-under par through two rounds and tied for 41st. After completing his first round at even par, he continued on to shoot even on the front nine of his second round. The Northbrook, Illinois, native used two birdies on the front nine to negate consecutive bogeys early on. He added two more birdies on the back nine.
Tied for 62nd overall, freshman Michael Feagles closed his first round of play with a 3-under par tally, and shot 4-over par through the second round of play. He is 1-over par in total.
Freshman Giovanni Tadiotto is 4-over par through two rounds of play. He shot 2-over par in Saturday's second round, carding two birdies.
The third round of play will begin Sunday at 7:07 a.m., and the Illini tee times will begin at 8:13 a.m. Following Sunday's round, the top 15 teams will advance to the fourth and final round of stroke play. The individual champion will be crowned at the conclusion of the fourth round, and the low eight teams will advance to match play.
"Tomorrow's goal is to be ready to go," Small said of the third round of play. "We start over, 0-0. Everybody has to take care of their responsibilities and get their games and minds where they need to be, and go out and have fun."
The 2017 NCAA Men's Golf Championships are being held at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois. The Illini are among 30 other teams taking on the Par 72, 7,300-yard course. UNLV (-14) leads the field after two rounds of play, and Oklahoma (-13) sits in second.
Live scoring for the tournament is available on Golfstat and a recap will be posted on FightingIllini.com following each round of play. Fans interested in purchasing tickets can click here.
FOUR ILLINI NAMED PING ALL-MIDWEST REGION
Four Fighting Illini were honored by the Golf Coaches Association of America on Saturday, juniors Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer, sophomore Edoardo Lipparelli and freshman Michael Feagles earned PING All-Midwest Region honors. The recognition was announced during the second round of play at the 2017 NCAA Men's Golf National Championships, where the Illini are making their 10th consecutive appearance. The honor is the third for Hardy and Meyer in their careers and the first for Feagles and Lipparelli. This marks the fifth consecutive season that the Illini have placed four or more golfers on the All-Region list.
