Medalist leader Dylan Meyer of Illinois
(Illinois Athletics Photo)
WINDERMERE, FL (October 23, 2017) - Led by senior Dylan Meyer, Illinois is one round away from their first win of the year. Playing at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational the Illini moved to 11-under in the second round and they will carry a slim two-stroke lead into Tuesday's final round.
"It was another solid day today," Illinois head coach Mike Small said. "Although, we weren't on point as well as we were yesterday, we had a few more unforced errors. Dylan [Meyer] was a horse today, he had a solid back nine that kept us in it while we ran into a little bit of trouble. I'm really looking forward tomorrow; I'm looking for a total team effort and I'm excited for our guys to compete against all these good teams."
One day after firing a 5-under 67 Meyer continued his stellar play with a 6-under 66 to move to 11-under and open up a six-stroke advantage in the medalist chase. Tied for the lead following Sunday play at Isleworth Country Club it will now be the reigning Big 10 Player of the Years title to lose.
During the second round Meyer bogeyed just once and it came early before going on to birdie eight-times the rest of the way. His first bird came on the 5th and he eventually added circles on Nos. 7, 8, 12, 13, 16 and 17.
Illinois who has struggled to begin the year and has fallen out of the top-25 has two other players in the top-20 with Giovanni Tadiotto sitting in a tie for seventh at 2-under while the 1-under Michael Feagles is tied for 16th.
When the final round begins Illinois will be feeling the heat from second place No. 10 Florida who is 9-under after 36-holes. The Gators are playing this week without sophomore Andy Zhang who is preparing to play in this weekends Asia-Pacific Amateur.
Third place is being held by No. 18 California at 2-under, No. 9 Vanderbilt is fourth at 2-over and in fifth it is No. 7 Auburn at 3-over.
In the individual race it is Florida teammates Gordon Neale and John Axelsen in second at 5-under, Arizona State's Mason Andersen is fourth at 4-under while Kyler Tate of UCF and Collin Morikawa of Cal are tied for fifth at 3-under.
Editos Note: Illinois athletics contributed to this story
ROUND ONE RECAP
The season for Illinois has started a bit slowly but on Sunday at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational the Illini were 9-under and after day one at Isleworth Country Club they lead the way.
With still two rounds remaining Illinois leads a field that includes seven-ranked teams by three shots. In second place it is No. 10 Florida (-6), No. 13 Texas Tech (-2) sits in third, No. 18 California (-1) is fourth and in fifth it is No. 12 LSU (+1). The highest ranked team in the field is ninth-ranked Vanderbilt (+3) who is tied for seventh.
Unranked for the first time this season Illinois has struggled to find its footing at times and so far this year they have had to settle for a pair of fifth place finishes and a third place showing. A year ago at this time Illinois had won all three events they had played in and they were the top-ranked team in the country.
"This is what we've been working towards this fall, a day like today," head coach Mike Small told Illinois athletics. "When you throw out even par on a demanding golf course like this, you know you're going to have a solid day. All five guys showed up and played solid. We didn't cause a lot of stress by the way we played, we approached holes the correct way and we putted like Illini."
Leading Illinois on Sunday was senior Dylan Meyer who fired a 5-under 67 that included six birdies and just one bogey. Meyer, the 2017 Big 10 Player of the Year, started quickly with an opening hole birdie as he birdied four of his first seven holes.
One of the top players in the nation over the last two years, Meyer's is looking to kick start a fall season that has not seen Meyer finish better than 18th at the Bearcat Invitational.
Following the example set by the senior leader the Illini placed three others inside the top-15; Giovanni Tadiotto (T7; -2), Michael Feagles (T11; -1) and Brendan O'Reilly (T11; -1).
Sharing the medalist lead with Meyer is John Axelsen of Florida. A freshman from Denmark Axelsen birdied eight-times and bogeyed three-times during the first round. Teeing off on No. 10 Axelsen parred his first hole and then birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 14-17.
Ivan Ramirez of Texas Tech is third at 4-under while Arizona's George Cunningham, Jacob Bergeron of LSU and Arizona State's Mason Andersen are tied for fourth at 3-under.
Editos Note: Illinois athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE
Isleworth Collegiate Invitational
54 hole men's college tournament co-hosted by
the University of Central Florida and West Virginia
University.
View Complete Tournament Information