Live Scoring | Pairings
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Fighting Illini men's golf continued play at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate on Saturday, finishing with a second round tally 1-over par. Freshman Jerry Ji continued to lead Illinois in the second round of play, posting a 2-under par second-round tally. He is currently tied for third on the individual leaderboard. As a team, the Illini sit in 10th and are set to tee off at 9:30 a.m. CT tomorrow.
"Tough day, I think our guys were flat today and that doesn't sit well with the coaching staff," head coach Mike Small said. "Tomorrow we have to come out and make up some ground with a good, solid day to finish this tournament."
Coming off of a school-record 63 in his first collegiate round, Ji is 9-under par through two rounds of play at Mirabel Golf Club and tied for third individually. Just two strokes off the individual lead, Ji got off to a solid start on Saturday as he recorded birdies on two of his first three holes. He closed the day with three birdies for the Illini, negating just one bogey in the round.
Senior Michael Feagles closed the day at 2-over par for the Illini and is 2-under par through two rounds. He posted two birdies in the round and sits in a tie for 30th heading into the final round of play.
Junior Brendan O'Reilly is 1-over par through two rounds of play, finishing with a second round score 2-over par. He heads into Sunday's final round tied for 50th overall. Just one stroke back from O'Reilly, senior Bryan Baumgarten closed the second round of play 1-over par for a total tally 2-over par. Baumgarten carded two birdies for the day and sits in a tie for 53rd.
Adding five birdies for Illinois, junior Varun Chopra shot even par on Saturday. He is 5-over par through the second round of play and tied for 62nd individually.
In the Mea Lanakila Individual, which is being held simultaneously at Desert Forest Golf Club (7,100-yard, Par 72), sophomore Tommy Kuhl leads Illinois with a 1-under par score through two rounds of play. He is tied for sixth overall. Sophomore Noah Gillard shot 2-under par on Saturday to move into a tie for 10th at 1-over par in total. Senior Giovanni Tadiotto shot 1-under par in the second round of play for a total score 2-over par. Tadiotto is tied for 15th overall. Sophomore Adrien Dumont de Chassart is 8-over par through two rounds, and freshman Luke Armbrust is 10-over par.
THE TOURNAMENT
Hosted by Georgia State University, the Maui Jim Intercollegiate is a three-day, 54-hole tournament played at Mirabel Golf Club (7,081-yard, Par 72) September 13-15. Tournament action will conclude on Sunday with tee times starting at 9 a.m. CT. Illinois is set to hit the course at 9:30 a.m. CT.
The 19th-ranked Illini are joined by 14 other teams in the tournament field, including several teams ranked among the top 25 in the Bushnell Golfweek Preseason poll. Of the 15 teams competing this weekend, 11 qualified for 2019 NCAA Regional play, while six advanced to the 2019 NCAA Men's Golf Championships. The field includes No. 2 Arizona State, No. 10 Pepperdine, No. 11 Southern California, No. 15 LSU, No. 17 Clemson, No. 19 Illinois, RV Florida State, RV NC State, Arizona, Augusta, Colorado, Georgia State, Kent State, Minnesota and Utah.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live scoring for the 2019 Maui Jim Intercollegiate 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.
