Round 2 Results | Live Scoring | Photo Gallery
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Senior Nick Hardy continues to lead Illinois at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational as he closed the second round with a team-leading score of 2-under par. Hardy is currently tied for second individually and joined among the top 10 individuals by sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto (-1). Illinois (+7) shot 4-over par as a team on Saturday and sits in a tie for fourth with Oklahoma State. Alabama (E) leads the tournament field, while Baylor (+3) and Texas A&M (+6) round out the top three teams.
"Nick {Hardy} and Dylan {Meyer} played great today, finishing 2-under and 1-under on a very tough golf course; the pins were tough and the wind was up," head coach Mike Small said. "Dylan had a good look to him today, which is exciting to see. Michael {Feagles} is very close to playing a great round, and I would like to see Bryan {Baumgarten} and Brendan {O'Reilly} control their drivers and put themselves in more offensive positions. As a team, we need to be a little more efficient on the greens in order to get the scores down around par. We gave away some shots today that caused us to shoot 4-over."
Hardy had another strong start to the round on Saturday with a birdie on his first hole. He added another birdie on his front nine, negating two bogeys before the turn. He posted three more birdies on his back nine and is 6-under par through two rounds of play.
Senior Dylan Meyer also shot under par on Saturday, carding two birdies in the round. He finished at 1-under par for the day, bringing his two-round tally to 3-over par.
Tied for 21st individually, sophomore Michael Feagles shot 2-over par in the second round for a total score 2-over. Feagles posted back-to-back birdies on the front nine helping to negate an early bogey. He added two more birdies on his second nine.
Sophomore Bryan Baumgarten and freshman Brendan O'Reilly each finished the day 5-over par for the Illini. Baumgarten is 8-over par through two rounds, while O'Reilly is 10-over and tied for 53rd.
Playing as an individual, sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto shot 1-over par Saturday, tallying three birdies in the round. Tadiotto is tied for eighth individually, with a total score 1-under par. Freshman Varun Chopra is also playing as an individual, he is tied for 64th with a two-round tally 14-over par.
The final round will begin at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, with Illini tee times starting at 7:45 a.m. off of the first tee. Live scoring is available on Golfstat, and fans can follow @IlliniMGolf on Twitter for more live updates.
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. Â 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.
Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois men's golf.
