OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – The No. 11-ranked Fighting Illini men's golf team opened the 2022-23 season on a record pace at the 16^th annual OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational on Friday at Olympia Fields Country Club, behind Round 1 co-leader Adrien Dumont de Chassart, one of four Illini to sit inside the top-15 with 36 holes to play.

Dumont de Chassart, a fifth-year senior who returned to Illinois as the two-time defending Big Ten Player of the Year, recorded six birdies in his opening round to shoot a 65 (-5) and match No. 15 Stanford's Karl Vilips atop the individual leaderboard after Day 1.  

Fellow fifth-year seniors Tommy Kuhl and Matthis Besard, and junior Piercen Hunt were not far off the pace, however, tying for third, ninth and 13^th, respectively in the 78-player field. Kuhl shot 3-under, aided by a strong finish that saw him post birdies on four of his last six holes. Besard, making his Illini debut as a graduate transfer from Southern Illinois, carded 1-under.

Hunt closed out the scoring for the Illini with an even-par 70, while sophomore Jackson Buchanan bounced back from shooting 4-over on the front nine, and was 1-under on the back. He sits in a tie for 43^rd at 3-over heading into Round 2 on Saturday.

"Adrien was on point all day, and Matthis and Tommy played solid from start to finish," head coach Mike Small said. "On that golf course, if you drive it straight and keep the ball in play you have a chance to attack some holes, and for the most part, the guys did that. We drove it pretty well as a team.

"Those three seniors came out and played very solid, and really everybody did. Jackson didn't have his best, but he finished strong and we're excited going into tomorrow; Adrien goes out and shoots 5-under, Tommy closes for 3-under, and Matthis shoots 1-under, that's a pretty strong 1-2-3 punch that was important today."

That scoring combo gave the Illini an opening-round team total of 271, a number that would have matched the tournament record set by Texas A&M in 2017, however Stanford's top four combined to edge the Illini by a stroke and establish a new single-round team mark of 270 (-10).

Behind the Cardinal (-10) and the Illini (-9), No. 3 Florida was the only other team to finish under par on Friday at 277 (-3). No. 7 Oklahoma State (+3) is fourth, while No. 5 Arizona State and Indiana are tied for fifth at 5-over with two round remaining on Saturday and Sunday.

"We've talked a lot this fall about the fact that we need to be consistent - in our thoughts, in our preparation, in our confidence - and control our space very effectively," Small added. "We're looking for consistency, emotionally, mentally and physically. We did it today, now we've got to come out tomorrow, realize it's a new day, and hit our standard and be consistent; we can't check in and out between shots, between holes, and between rounds. We're very proud of the way we came out today, we played Illini-style golf, and tomorrow we have to come out and continue it."

Seniors Jerry Ji and Nico Lang are also in action as individual competitors this weekend. Ji is 2-over in a tie for 30th, while Lang opened with a 79 to sit in a tie for 75th.  

Tee times for Round 2 begin at 8 a.m. CT on Saturday. The Illini, paired with the Cardinal and the Gators will start on No. 1 beginning at 9:30 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available throughout the tournament at Golfstat.com. 

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