WINDERMERE, Fla. – Fighting Illini fifth-year senior Adrien Dumont de Chassart carded a top-10 score to pace the No. 9 Fighting Illini in Sunday's opening round of the Isleworth Collegiate at Isleworth Golf and Country Club.
Dumont de Chassart was the lone Illini to shoot under par on Day 1 of the three-day event. Starting off No. 10 today, he carded an opening 70 (-2) to sit in a tie for 10th place, overcoming a pair off mid-round bogeys on 16 and 18 that turned his 3-under start through his first six holes in a 1-under at the turn. On the front, however, he posted eight straight pars before closing with a birdie on No. 9 to move to 2-under, four strokes off the pace of Round 1 leader Alex Vogelsong of Auburn. Â
Overall, however, the Illini did not put forth their best effort and will look to respond over the remaining 36 holes.
"Today was not our best," head coach Mike Small said. "Throughout the season, teams have days like this. We'll learn a lot about ourselves these next couple of days, and see what our bounce-back mentality level looks like."
Behind Dumont de Chassart, fellow fifth-year seniors Matthis Besard and Tommy Kuhl are tied for 23rd and tied for 28th, respectively. Besard carded a 73 (+1) to sit one stroke ahead of Kuhl.
Junior Piercen Hunt, who claimed his first collegiate victory last year at the 2021 Isleworth Collegiate, had an up-and-down day with four birdies, five bogey and a pair of double-bogeys contributing to an opening round of 77 (+5). He is tied for 50th, three shots ahead of sophomore Jackson Buchanan (80), who is tied for 67th in the 78-player field.
As a team, the Illini are tied for 10th with an opening round tally of 294 (+6). No. 3 Auburn sits alone atop the leaderboard at 15-under with a 13 stroke cushion over No. 11 Florida in second place at 286 (-2). Co-host UCF is third at even-par 288, followed by No. 28 LSU (289) and No. 42 Purdue (291) to round out the top five of the team standings with two rounds remaining.
Round 2 is set to tee off Monday morning with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. ET/7 a.m. CT. The Illini, paired with the Minnesota and No. 31 North Florida, will once again start on No. 10 beginning at 8:25 a.m. ET/7:25 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available throughout the tournament at Golfstat.com.
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