OLYMPIA FIELDS, Illinois – Fighting Illini men's golf continued play at the 2019 OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational on Saturday, battling windy conditions to post a team score 9-over par and move into fifth place on the leaderboard. Illinois was led by senior Michael Feagles who shot 3-under par and moved into a tie for ninth individually.  In total, four Illini sit among the top 25 individuals including sophomores Tommy Kuhl and Noah Gillard and junior Varun Chopra. The Orange and Blue are set to tee off at 8:15 tomorrow in the final round of play.

After two rounds, Baylor (+1) sits atop the tournament field, while Georgia Tech (+5) and Pepperdine (+7) round out the top three teams.

"Even with the tough conditions today and the course playing difficult, I thought our guys played with more of an edge for most of the day than I have seen so far this year, and that's very encouraging," head coach Mike Small said. Michael Feagles had an outstanding round today with three birdies and no bogies, on that golf course and in those conditions, that is a fantastic round."

Feagles is currently 1-over par in total after a 3-under par second round. He played steady throughout the day, making three birdies in total including back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes.

Also among Illini leaders, Kuhl is 4-over par through two rounds of play. He shot 6-over par on Saturday and posted a birdie on the third hole. Sophomore Adrien Dumont de Chassart is just one stroke back from Kuhl as he is 5-over par in total. Tied for 31^st individually, Dumont de Chassart shot 3-over par on Saturday.

Senior Bryan Baumarten closed Saturday's round at 3-over par, recording a birdie on the first hole. He is 7-over par in total and tied for 41^st heading into tomorrow's final round of play. Freshman Jerry Ji is 9-over par through two rounds, tied for 52^nd overall.

Playing as individuals, Chopra and Gillard are 4-over par in total and tied for 24^th. Chopra shot 2-over par on Saturday, tallying four birdies on the day to negate early bogeys in his round. Gillard was 3-over par on Saturday and started his day with consecutive birdies on his first two holes.

Also playing as an individual, junior Brendan O'Reilly was steady on Saturday, shooting even par for the day. He used two early birdies to negate two bogeys in his round.

Senior Giovanni Tadiotto shot 9-over par in the second round to sit 10-over par in total, while sophomore Luke Armbrust is 12-over par through two rounds.

THE TOURNAMENT

A three-day, 54-hole event, the 2019 OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational began on Friday and is set to continue through the weekend. Teams will play 18 holes each day, with final round tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. Illinois tee times are set to begin at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday from the first tee. The tournament will be held on the 7,205-yard, Par 70 North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club. Illini fans are encouraged to come out to Olympia Fields Country Club for the event, admission to the tournament is free. The 2019 tournament field includes several teams ranked among the Bushnell Golfweek Preseason Coaches poll including No. 1 Texas, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Pepperdine, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 16 California, No. 19 Illinois, No. 20 Baylor, No. 21 Alabama, No. 23 North Carolina, No. 25 Florida, RV Florida State, RV UNLV, Indiana and Northwestern.

FOLLOW ALONG

Live scoring for the OFCC/Fighting Illini 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.