April 7, 2008
Results
JONESBORO, Ark. -
Fueled by junior Ben Murphy and sophomore Tommy Bliefnick, The Illinois State men's golf team stands alone in third place following day-one action at the ASU Indian Classic, hosted by Arkansas State at the par-72, 6,903 yard Sage Meadows Golf Club. Bliefnick (69, 69) and Murphy (69, 69) had identical rounds on their way to two-round-totals of 135.
Two other Redbirds finished first-day action in the top-25 as sophomores Joe Emerich (69, 71) and Kyle Bragg (70, 70) are tied for 24th after they each recorded day-one-totals of 140. Freshman Jeff Kellen rounded out the ISU scoring, posting a two-round-total of 142 (69, 73), while finishing the day in a 37th-place tie.
Head coach Ray Kralis was impressed with his team's focus through the first two rounds.
"The conditions were perfect today, and we knew this would be a horserace that required a bunch of birdies to stay in the hunt," said Kralis. "We had another great team effort and I am especially impressed with the way we played in round two. With such a great first round, it would have been easy to enjoy it and become result oriented, but our guys remained focused on the present and the task at hand."
ISU, who posted a two-round-team-total of 555 (276, 279), trails New Orleans by three strokes as the Privateers fired a two-round-team-total of 552 (274, 278). Austin Peay is in second place after carding a day-one-team-total of 554 (268, 286). Tyler Hitchcock (68, 67) of South Florida and Tyler Thompson (68, 67) currently share the individual lead with day-one-totals of 135.
Final round action gets underway Tuesday with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.
