Results | Round 3 Tee Times
Palm City, Fla. - Fighting Illini senior Charlie Danielson led the Illini through the first day of play at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational as the Osceola, Wis., native is tied for fourth place individually with a total score 1-under par after two rounds of play. As a team, the Illini are 22-over par and tied for seventh place overall. No. 8 Texas leads the tournament at 2-over par.
"It was a very difficult day," head coach Mike Small said of the 36-hole day. "Conditions were tough: it was cold and windy, and the pins were difficult. That being said, Texas played great today. From our standpoint, we had too many high numbers; double bogeys and and big numbers like that are really tough on team golf. I thought those numbers were a result of us being too one dimensional with our shot selections and ball flight. That led to some very loose shots and a lot of penalty shots. We're going to have to improve on that and also be stronger on and around the greens. If we can keep the ball in play better and be more confident on the greens, we will have a chance to play better tomorrow."
Held at The Floridian National Golf Club (Par 71, 7,114-yards), the Illini are playing among a competitive field that includes No. 2 Florida, No. 6 Florida State, No. 15 Oklahoma State, No. 16 South Florida, No. 21 LSU, No. 28 Arkansas, No. 29 SMU, No. 32 Georgia Tech, No. 34 Texas A&M, No. 45 UCLA, No. 46 Tennessee, Houston and Kent State.
Battling the wind, Danielson birdied three holes in the first round of the day, helping to negate two bogeys in the round. He was 1-under heading into the second 18-holes of the day, and shot even par in the second round. Danielson added five more birdies in the second round to total eight on the day.
Senior Thomas Detry also sits among the Top-30 individually as he is currently tied for 29th overall. Detry sits 6-over par through two rounds of play, finishing 3-over par in each of the two rounds.
Just one stroke back from Detry, sophomore Dylan Meyer is 7-over through two rounds of play, tied for 35th in the tournament. Meyer started the day 5-over par, but used two birdies to negate a few bogeys in his second round of play. He tallied four birdies through two rounds at the Floridian.
Sophomore Nick Hardy followed an early birdie with three consecutive bogeys to start the day, but was able to stay just 1-over par on the front nine holes of his first round. Hardy shot 4-over par in the first round, before closing the day with a 6-over par second round score. Hardy (+10) is tied for 57th overall.
Redshirt senior Alex Burge currently sits 23-over par for the Illini after recording rounds of 14-over and 9-over par on the day. He recorded four of Illinois' birdies so far.
Playing as an individual, freshman Edoardo Lipparelli is currently 9-over par through two rounds of play. He shot 1-over par on the first round of the day, but was 8-over par on the second round. Lipparelli is tied for 55th individually.
Tomorrow's tee times begin just before 7 a.m. CT, as the Illini hit the course at 6:51. Live scoring is available on the Golfstat website. Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for the latest on Illinois men's golf.
