LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Fighting Illini men's golf team opened play at the prestigious Southern Highlands Collegiate on Sunday, posting a team score of 291 (+3) to sit in tie for 13th heading into Monday's second round at Southern Highlands Golf Club. Illinois opened with as strong start before missteps on the back nine derailed the round.
"It was disappointing to see the way that we played the back nine today," head coach Mike Small said. "We were seven-under par at the turn and in good position, then on the back nine the wheels fell off and we limped in, and that's not acceptable. I know it's early in the season, but we should play within ourselves and under control better than that."
Adrien Dumont de Chassart, coming off of a top-five finish in the team's last outing at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, once again led the Illini on Day 1. The senior opened with four birdies on the front nine and sat at -4 through 14 holes before double-bogeys on Nos. 15 and 17 brought him back to the pack. Dumont de Chassart closed his round with a fifth birdie on No. 18, however, moving up into a tie for 22nd where he is four back of tournament leader Christo Lamprecht of Georgia Tech (-7) and one shot outside of the top 11.
Fellow senior Tommy Kuhl is three strokes off Dumont de Chassart's pace at even par through 18 holes. Kuhl also started the day off strong - he was -3 through 10 holes - but tallied bogeys on each of his next three holes (11-13) to move to even before closing out his round with five straight pars.
Junior Jerry Ji and freshman Jackson Buchanan rounded out the scoring for the Illini on Day 1. Ji carded a 1-over 73 and is tied for 59th and Buchanan finished 5-over in a tie for 78th, while junior Piercen Hunt (+8) closed his day in a tie for 82nd despite notching birdies on his first two holes of the round.
"We need a better team effort tomorrow, and we need to come back and exorcize this round quickly," Small added.
The field, which features nine programs rated in the top-35 by Golfstat (including the 19th-ranked Illini) was paced by No. 1 Oklahoma. The Sooners shot 20-under as a team and are five strokes ahead of No. 5 Pepperdine with 36 holes to play. No. 24 Florida State (-13) and No. 12 Georgia Tech (-12) are in close pursuit of the Waves, while TCU, No. 9 Georgia, and No. 28 New Mexico round out the top five in a three-way tie for fifth at 8-under.
Round 2 is set to begin with tee times on Monday beginning at 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT. The Illini, paired with No. 35 Northwestern (+3) and San Diego (+6) are set to begin off No. 10 at 11:30 a.m. CT/9:30 a.m. PT.
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