Live ScoringÂ
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut – Fighting Illini men's golf sits atop the leaderboard after two rounds of play at The Macdonald Cup. The Orange and Blue are 17-under par in total, led by junior Bryan Baumgarten who is 6-under par and in third place individually. All seven Illini playing in the field currently sit among the top 25 individuals, including five among the top 10.
Illinois holds a three-stroke tournament lead and is joined among the top three by host team, Yale (-14) and Princeton (+5).
Baumgarten started out steady on Saturday morning, posting two birdies on the front nine of his first round to make the turn at 2-under par. He added two more birdies before the second round, and a late bogey put him 3-under par through his first 18 holes. He immediately responded to his late bogey with a birdie on his first hole of the second round. Baumgarten added two more birdies and an eagle before the end of the day. He is 6-under par in total.
Four Illini, including juniors Michael Feagles and Giovanni Tadiotto, sophomore Brendan O'Reilly and freshman Adrien Dumont de Chassart, are tied for seventh individually heading into Sunday's round, with total scores 3-under par through two rounds of play.
Feagles carded consecutive birdies on both the front and back nine of his first round on Saturday morning, as he closed the first round of play 4-under par. He added three more birdies in his second round to negate early bogeys and finish the round at 1-over par.
O'Reilly used three birdies in his first round to negate three early bogeys in the day and entered the second round at even par. He picked up steam throughout the day as he shot a bogey-free, 3-under par score in the second round of the day.
Tadiotto shot 1-under par to open the day, using three birdies in the first round to negate two bogeys before the second round. He continued to play strongly into the second round, carding two birdies on the front nine and making the turn at 2-under par. He added two more birdies on the back nine to negate late bogeys in the day and finish 3-under par in total.
Appearing in the lineup for the first time in his career, freshman Luke Armbrust closed Saturday's rounds 2-over par in total. He is tied for 21st individually heading into Sunday's final round.
Playing as individuals, freshmen Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl also sit among the top 20 individuals. Dumont de Chassart closed the day at 3-under par to also sit in a tie for seventh overall. Â Kuhl is tied for 16th overall with a total score 1-over par.
THE TOURNAMENT
Hosted by Yale University, the two-day, 54-hole event is taking place at The Course at Yale (6,825-yards, Par 70). The Illini played two rounds, 36-holes, on Saturday, and the tournament will conclude with the final round on Sunday. Sunday's round will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. CT.
The No. 17-ranked Fighting Illini are joined by 12 other teams in the field at the Macdonald Cup, including Boston College, Brown, Bucknell, Colgate, Dartmouth, Fairfield, Fordham, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stirling and Yale.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live scoring for The Macdonald Cup is available on Golfstat, and fans can follow @IlliniMGolf on Twitter for even more live updates. A recap will be posted on FightingIllini.com following tomorrow's round.
