LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A trio of Fighting Illini golfers made moves up the individual leaderboard on Day 2 of the Southern Highlands Collegiate Monday, helping No. 19-ranked Illinois shoot 5-under (283) as a team to position itself for a strong finish heading into Tuesday's final round at Southern Highlands Golf Club.
"Were still searching for that consistent fourth score, and more consistency down the lineup," head coach Mike Small said. "We shot the fifth-best score of the day out of the 15 teams, so that was encouraging. We're not clicking on all cylinders at the moment, but to be more competitive today was a step in the right direction."
Senior Tommy Kuhl made the biggest leap up the board for the Illini, ascending 29 spots thanks to a 3-under 69 which matched his season-low round. Kuhl, from Morton, Ill., opened with an even-par 72 on Sunday and sits one stroke outside of the top 20, and three outside of the top 10, at 3-under with 18 holes remaining.
Tournament co-leaders Caden Pioroni of UNLV, Fred Biondi of Florida, and Patrick Welch of Oklahoma are knotted at -9.
Like Kuhl, junior Jerry Ji also shot 3-under in Round 2, closing his day with birdies on three of his final four holes to move up 27 spots on the individual leaderboard and into a tie for 32nd. Sophomore Piercen Hunt also improved from Round 1 to Round 2, climbing 10 spots with a Round 2 tally of 2-under 70 – his team-leading ninth sub-par round of the season. Hunt is tied for 72nd at 6-over entering Tuesday's finale.
Senior Adrien Dumont de Chassart closed out the scoring for the Illini on Day 2 with a 3-over 75. After carding a team-low 69 in Round 1, Dumont de Chassart struggled to start off of No. 10 on Monday and was 4-over at the turn, including a double-bogey on No. 15, before getting a stroke back coming down the stretch with birdie on No. 6 to move into a tie for 40th. Freshman Jackson Buchanan, in just his third start for the Illini, is 15-over in 83rd place.
"We need to eliminate the unforced errors, drive it with more confidence, and get off to a better start tomorrow," Small added. "We tee off on No. 10 tee tomorrow, and with the back nine being a tougher nine, we've got to get on those holes early and put ourselves in position to move up."
As a team, the Illini are 2-under in 12th place. No. 1 Oklahoma (-26) continues to lead the field, followed by No. 15 Texas (-19) in second place. No. 24 Florida, No. 9 Georgia and No. 5 Pepperdine round out the top five on the team leaderboard in a three-way tie at 16-under.
Round 3 is set to begin with tee times on Tuesday at 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT. The Illini, paired with TCU (-8) and No. 35 Northwestern (-3) and are set to begin off No. 10 at 12:20 p.m. CT/10:20 a.m. PT. Live scoring is available throughout the final round on Golfstat.com.
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