PALM DESERT, Calif. – Fighting Illini men's golf shot 20-under par at the BIGHORN Invitational on Friday and holds the tournament lead through two rounds of play. Individually, sophomore Michael Feagles is also at the top of the leaderboard with a two-round tally 7-under par. He is joined among the top individuals by sophomore Bryan Baumgarten (-6) and senior Dylan Meyer (-6).

Illinois has a four-stroke lead over Mississippi State (-16) who is currently in second overall. BYU and Notre Dame are tied for third with team scores 13-under par.

"I was very excited to see how well we recovered after a lull in the first round," head coach Mike Small said. "That is an important step for us: not to let the little downswings linger during tournaments. Tomorrow is going to be fun, we're competing to win the tournament. I'm proud of Michael {Feagles}, Bryan {Baumgarten} and Dylan {Meyer}, who played strongly today and I'm anxious to see what tomorrow brings."

Feagles opened play on Friday with a birdie on his first hole, but was 2-over par through his first 11 holes. He responded by posting four more birdies to close the first round of play, including back-to-back birdies on his last two holes. Feagles continued his strong play into the second round of the day, recording three birdies in his first five holes. He added an eagle and a birdie on the back nine, finishing the second round with a score 5-under par for a total tally 7-under par. He is tied with Mississippi State's Taylor Bibbs for the tournament lead.

Meyer got off to a strong start on Friday as he was 2-under par through his first nine holes. He added four birdies on the back nine to negate a late bogey and finish the first round of play 5-under par. He was tied for third individually heading into the second round of the day. After posting a double bogey to start the next 18, Meyer responded with five birdies on the front nine. He shot 1-under par for the final round and is 6-under par heading into Saturdays' final round.

Baumgarten shot 2-under par in the opening round, also closing strongly as he carded three birdies on the back nine. He stayed hot in the second round of play, using four birdies on the front nine to negate an early bogey. He added back-to-back birdies on the back nine, and closed the second round 4-under par. He is tied with Meyer in third overall with a total score 6-under par.

Senior Nick Hardy and sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto are tied for 24^th individually after two rounds of play, both with two-round tallies 1-under par. Hardy opened play with a first-round score at even par, and used three birdies to negate two bogeys in his second round of play.  Tadiotto added four birdies and an eagle to Illinois' tally, and also shot 1-under par for the second round of the tournament.

Freshmen Brendan O'Reilly and Varun Chopra are representing Illinois as individuals at the BIGHORN Invitational. Chopra is currently tied for 44^th individually with a two-round score 5-over par. O'Reilly is 10-over par and tied for 61^st heading into Saturday's final round.

THE TOURNAMENT

Hosted by Kansas State, the two-day, 54-hole event will continue with the final round of play tomorrow (March 24), on the Canyons Course at BIGHORN Golf Club in Palm Desert, California. Tee times begin at 10 a.m. CT. The No. 15-ranked Illini will be joined by 11 other teams on the Par 72, 7,000-yard course at BIGHORN, including several teams ranked among the top 50 according to Golfstat. The BIGHORN Invitational field includes No. 32 BYU, No. 35 Kansas, No. 48 Colorado, No. 49 San Diego State, Kansas State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Mississippi State, South Alabama, Nebraska and Washington State.

FOLLOW ALONG

Live scoring for the BIGHORN Invitational will be available on Golfstat, and fans can follow @IlliniMGolf on Twitter for even more live updates. A recap will be posted on FightingIllini.com following each day of play.