WINDERMERE, Fla. – Senior Adrien Dumont de Chassart tied his season-best score with a Round 2 tally of 67 on Monday, and the Illini shot five strokes better from Day 1 to Day 2 to move within four shots of tournament co-leaders Arizona State and Auburn with 18 holes to play at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational at Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
"It was a solid day today," head coach Mike Small said. "We had some depth throughout the lineup. Our drop score was better today, which is encouraging. And Adrien had the eraser score that we always talk about, which is always huge."
Dumont de Chassart opened his day with a bogey on No. 1, but was locked in the rest of the day. He carded three birdies on the front nine, and added an eagle on 13 and a birdie on 16 to finish at 5-under. The round moved the senior All-American 14 spots up the individual leaderboard into a tie for third. He is four strokes off the pace of Round 2 leader Cameron Sisk of Arizona State, and two strokes behind South Carolina's Jack Wall, who sits in second place.
Junior Jerry Ji also made a move up the leaderboard for the Illini on Monday. Ji, who opened with a 76 in Sunday's Round 1, carded a 1-under 71 in Round 2 to ascend 21 spots into a tie for 28th at 3-over.
Sophomore Piercen Hunt followed his opening 68 with a Round 2 score of 73, and joins Dumont de Chassart among the top 10 in a tie for seventh with a 36-hole total of 141 (-3). Freshman Jackson Buchanan, making his debut in the Illini lineup this week, contributed his first scoring round in Orange & Blue, matching Hunt with a 1-over 73. Buchanan enters Round 3 tied for 52nd at 8-over.
Tommy Kuhl's second round of 75 (+4) did not factor into the Illini team total on Tuesday, but the senior remains in the hunt for a top-20 finish, currently four strokes outside of the group with a two-round total of 148 (+4).
Freshman TJ Barger (78-79), playing as an Individual, enters Round 3 in a tie for 66th.
"We got a better feel for the course," added Small. "This is a difficult course. It takes some patience and teams can come back to you like that; it's hard to sustain. So, we're back in it. We've got to come out tomorrow and play from the same position of strength that we played from today, and just hit our standard and play good, solid golf."
Round 3 is set to begin at 8 a.m. ET/7 a.m. CT tomorrow. The Illini, paired with ASU and Auburn, tee off beginning at 9:40 a.m. ET/8:40 a.m. CT on No. 1, with live scoring available throughout the day via Golfstat.
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