LAS VEGAS – Fighting Illini men's golf opened play at the Southern Highlands Collegiate on Monday, firing a team score 2-over par. The Orange and Blue are currently tied for fifth overall, led by sophomore Bryan Baumgarten (-1). Florida leads the tournament with a total score 6-under par, while UNLV (-3) and TCU (-1) round out the top three teams after today's opening round. UCLA and Alabama join Illinois with team scores 2-over par. 

"Lots of good shots today," head coach Mike Small said. "And this could've been a day where we could be contending for the lead, however we didn't execute the little details that we pride ourselves on. It was a loose start and a loose finish, but in the middle, we played a lot of good golf."

Baumgarten shot 1-under par for the day to lead Illinois, carding four birdies in the round. He is tied for 15^th individually and joined among the top 25 individuals by senior Nick Hardy (T-23^rd), who closed the day at even par. Hardy tallied three birdies on the front nine Monday and added two more after the turn to negate late bogeys in round.

Sophomore Michael Feagles opened with a first-round score 1-over par, using three late birdies to negate early bogeys in the round. He is currently tied for 33rd individually.  Freshman Brendan O'Reilly shot 2-over par for the day and is currently tied for 41st individually, while sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto closed the day at 5-over par to sit in a tie for 54th.

THE TOURNAMENT

The three-day, 54-hole event (March 5-7) is held at Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. Southern Highlands Golf Club boasts a Par 72, 7,510-yard course. The Illini will play 18 holes each day, with tee times beginning at 11:30 a.m. CT. Tomorrow's Illini tee times begin at 12:20 p.m. CT.

The Southern Highlands Collegiate consistently welcomes a strong field of teams each season, and the 2018 field is no exception. The 15-team field includes several teams ranked among the top-50 according to Golfstat, including: No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 14 Illinois, No. 19 USC, No. 21 UCLA, No. 28 Pepperdine, No. 30 BYU, No. 35 UNLV, No. 36 TCU, No. 43 Northwestern, SMU, UCF and Washington.

FOLLOW ALONG

Live scoring for the Southern Highlands Collegiate 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.