OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. (UNLVRebels.com) – With darkness halting play, the UNLV men's golf team lies in the top 10 after Friday's opening day at the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club's South Course (par 70, 7,215 yards).
With only a handful of holes left to complete the day's scheduled 36 holes, the Rebels go into the final day of competition at 13-under in a tie for ninth alongside top-ranked Florida.
REBEL ROUNDUP: As it stands, UNLV has two players positioned in the top 25 with senior
Ryan Abuan (-5) in a tie for 13th and senior
Zach Little (-4) in a tie for 22nd. Rounding out the lineup are sophomore
Aaron Van Hauwe (-3) in a tie for 35th, senior
Mason Snyder (E) in a tie for 58th and junior
Avery Lazarski (+1) in a tie for 64th.
SECOND-ROUND SURGE: The Scarlet & Gray found a nice rhythm in the second round, playing to the tune of an 11-under round in progress that has elevated them four spots up the leaderboard prior to the stoppage. They entered the round in 13th place following a 2-under 278 on the first 18 holes.
FIRST-ROUND HIGHLIGHTS: Each of the four Rebel scorers shot par-or-better in the opening round, led by Abuan and Van Hauwe with 1-under 69 scorecards. Adding another pair of matching scores, senior
Zach Little and junior
Avery Lazarski both tallied a 1-under 70.
DAY-ONE LEADERBOARD: Host Illinois will take the day-one lead at 26-under and a one-shot lead over Texas Tech (-25) into the resumption of round two. The Rebels are within six shots of the top-5 leaderboard.
UP NEXT: The second round will resume at 5:30 a.m. PT, while the final round is scheduled to begin at 8: a.m. PT. Upon completion of round two, teams will be re-paired.
NOTES:
- The tournament's stacked 15-team field features five top-10 and 12 top-25 programs in the Bushnell/Golfweek Preseason Coaches Poll.
- Among the nationally ranked programs competing at the event are No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 5 Texas Tech, No. 9 LSU, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Pepperdine, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 18 Alabama, No. 19 Stanford, No. 20 Florida State and No. 25 Georgia Tech.
