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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Fighting Illini men's golf opened the fall season Friday at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational. Illinois posted a 3-over par team tally, led by senior Nick Hardy who closed the day at 4-under. The Illini enter the second round of play tied with USC in sixth place, while Hardy is tied for second individually. Playing as an individual, sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto also joins Hardy among the top 10 after posting a 2-under par first-round tally.

Alabama (E) shares the tournament lead with Oklahoma State (E) and Baylor (E), while Texas A&M (+1) and Florida State (+2) hold the fourth and fifth place positions, respectively.

"I saw a lot of positive things for the first round of the year," head coach Mike Small said. "We were a little bit rusty playing as a team for the first time this year, but the way the guys finished was really strong today. The last hole is the hardest hole out here and the team played it at even par. Being three out of the tournament lead with some of the unforced errors that we made is a positive day, we had enough of the good play to hold us in there. Nick {Hardy} played superb all day, 4-under par on this golf course is big-time golf. Michael {Feagles} made a lot of birdies and shot even par. It was good to get Varun {Chopra} and Brendan {O'Reilly} out for their first college round, and Giovanni {Tadiotto} played well as an individual. It was good to see him come out and have a solid round that he can continue to build on."

The Illini started the day on a high note as Hardy, Tadiotto and sophomore Michael Feagles recorded birdies on the first hole. Hardy added two more birdies on the front nine, which helped to negate his only bogey on the day. Hardy was 2-under par at the turn, and used two birdies on the back nine to finish with a 4-under par 66 on Friday.

Feagles continued his success on the front nine as well, posting four birdies on his first five holes. He made the turn at 1-under par after making a few bogeys early in the round. Feagles added two more birdies on the back nine, and closed the day at even par. He is tied for 14^th individually heading into Saturday's second round.

Sophomore Bryan Baumgarten shot 3-over par Friday to close the day in a tie for 37^th. He finished strongly with a birdie on the 17^th hole.

Senior Dylan Meyer shot 4-over par on Friday, also recording a birdie on the 17^th hole. Freshman Brendan O'Reilly made his first appearance in the Illini lineup at Olympia Fields, carding a 5-over par first-round score. He tallied consecutive birdies on the back nine and sits in a tie for 54^th.

Individually, Taditotto posted a strong first round, carding three birdies on the front nine, but making the turn at 1-under par after consecutive bogeys. He posted two more birdies on the back nine for his 2-under par total. Joining Tadiotto as an individual, freshman Varun Chopra shot 6-over par and recorded two birdies on the day.

The Illini will begin second round play on the 10^th tee with tee times starting at 8 a.m.

The OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational is held on the 7,353-yard, Par 70 North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club and welcomes some of the nation's toughest competition.  The 2017 tournament field includes 13 programs ranked or receiving votes in the Golfweek Bushnell Preseason Coaches Poll. In addition to the No. 5-ranked Illini, the field includes No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Baylor, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 USC, No. 12 UNLV, No. 14 Stanford, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 19 Alabama and No. 20 Florida State. Receiving votes in the poll, California, North Carolina and Northwestern will also appear at Olympia Fields in addition to Indiana and Navy.

Live scoring and tee times are available on Golfstat, and fans can follow @IlliniMGolf on Twitter for more live updates.