Round 3 Results
STILLWATER, Okla, - No. 10-ranked Fighting Illini men's golf will advance to the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Men's Golf Championships after closing the third round of play in 14th overall. The Illini shot 13-over par on Sunday, and hold a 17-over par tally through three rounds of play. Senior Dylan Meyer leads the squad with a total score 2-under par. He is tied for 14th individually.
No. 28 Duke currently leads the tournament field with a total score 10-under par, while Oklahoma State (-7) and Texas Tech (-3) round out the top three teams.
The Orange and Blue will open play at 11:30 a.m. for tomorrow's fourth round. At the conclusion of play on Monday, an individual champion will be crowned, and the top eight teams will advance to the match play portion of the championship. Live Golf Channel coverage of the NCAA Men's Golf Championships will air from 3-7 p.m. tomorrow.
"We are excited to advance to tomorrow's round and have a chance to make the match play bracket," head coach Mike Small said. "If we expect to play well tomorrow, and to move up the leaderboard, then we are going to have to play more fundamentally solid golf. There is no excuse or reason for the way that we played today. I felt like we were going to have a solid and strong Illini Golf performance, but it wasn't meant to be. We got off to a loose start, righted the ship during the middle holes, then finished in a very careless manner. The pressure seemed to get to us today, and that was surprising to me. Proper course management and a commitment to correct lines and targets are a must for this course, and we cannot continue to put the golf ball in poor positions to score from."
Meyer started the day strong with a birdie on his first hole, and used consecutive birdies on the sixth and seventh holes to negate two early bogeys before the turn. He added another birdie on the back nine and closed the day 1-over par.
Senior Nick Hardy is also among the top players in the tournametn as he enters the fourth round of play in a tie for 30th. He is 1-over par for the tournament after a 2-over par third-round tally. He carded three birdies on the day, which helped to negate early bogeys in the round.
Sophomore Michael Feagles shot 7-over par on Sunday to sit 9-over par in total, and sophomore Giovanni Tadiotto is 11-over par through three rounds of play and shot 4-over par on Sunday. Sophomore Bryan Baumgarten shot 6-over par on Sunday for a total tally 12-over par.
THE TOURNAMENT
The 2018 NCAA Men's Golf Championships are being held on the Par 72, 7,460-yard course at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The tournament format will feature four rounds of stroke play, with the field being narrowed to 15 teams after 54 holes are played. An individual champion will be determined following the final round of stroke play, and the top eight teams will advance to the match play portion of the championship. Match play quarterfinals and semifinals will be held on May 29, and the final match will take place on May 30.
GOLF CHANNEL COVERAGE
The Golf Channel will provide pre-tournament, live and post-round coverage of the NCAA Men's Golf Championships beginning on May 28 (3-7 p.m.) when the individual national champion is crowned. Golf Channel's coverage also will include all three rounds of the team match-play tournament on Tuesday, May 29 (10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; 3-7 p.m.) and Wednesday, May 30 (3-7 p.m.). In addition, Golf Central will feature combined pre-and post-event live news coverage produced on location, as well as daily news updates on Morning Drive and Golf Channel Digital.
FOLLOW THE ILLINI
Live scoring for the NCAA Golf Championships is available via Golfstat, and a recap will be posted on FightingIllini.com following each day of play. Fans can follow the Illini on Twitter and Instagram for even more live updates.
