LAFAYETTE, La. – The Illinois State men's golf team shot a balanced pair of scores of 291 and 292 over the first two rounds at the 2024 Louisiana Classics, hosted at Oakbourne CC.
The Redbirds' rounds give them a 36-hole score of 583, tied with South Alabama. Texas A&M is the first day leader with a 558 (-18) with LSU (565), Michigan (570), Wake Forest (571), Sam Houston (572), SMU (573), Louisiana Tech (577), Texas State (579), and TCU (579) sitting just ahead of the Redbirds, while Little Rock (585), Rice (586), and tournament host Louisiana (590) round out the 15 schools in the field.
Valentin Peugnet paced the Redbirds on the first day, as he had rounds of 68 and 72 and sits tied for fifth after a two-round 140 while Alex McCulla's rounds of 75 and 70 and is tied for 28th with his three-over two-round score. Felix van Dijk carded rounds of 72 and 74 for a two-over 146 and is tied for 37th, while TJ Barger (76-77-153) and Parker Wisdom (79-76-155) are tied for 76th and 80th, respectively.
The Redbirds and the remainder of the field will play the third and final round of the event, which will have the ninth hole at the event broadcast on ESPN+.
Peugnet had the team's best round of the tournament so far with a first-round 68, in which he had five birdies, 13 pars and just a solitary bogey before coming back in the second round with five more birdies – including a stretch of four birdies over a five-hole span – in addition to three over par scores and 10 pars. His 10 birdies over the two rounds is tied for the fifth-most in the tournament field with 18 holes remaining in the tournament.
McCulla opened his day with three birdies, 10 pars and five over-par scores en route to a first-round 75 (+3) and came back over the final 18 holes of the day with five additional birdies, just two over-par scores, and 11 pars for the two-under 70.
van Dijk, a week removed from his MVC Golfer of the Week honor, opened his day with an even-par 72 with two birdies and two bogeys to go along with 14 pars and came back in the afternoon round with three birdies, four over-par scores, and 11 more pars. For the two-over 74.
Barger had nearly identical scores between the rounds, opening his day with a four-over 76 with three birdies and nine pars in the first round, and closed the afternoon with a five-over 77 with five birdies, five pars, and eight over-par scores.
Wisdom's second round was three strokes better than his first, as he had three birdies on his day in addition to 20 pars over the 36 holes.
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