MOBILE, Ala. – The Illinois State Redbirds are tie for second overall, while senior Will Troy is tied for the individual lead at the 2024 Mobile Bay Intercollegiate following the first of three days of the event.
The Redbirds trail only Texas State whose first-round 277 gives the Bobcats the lead one third of the way through the tournament. ISU is tied with Valparaiso at even par through the first 18 holes, while Eastern Michigan (287), Oral Roberts (290), UCF (292), Dayton (292), Loyola Maryland (293), Western Kentucky (293), South Alabama (293), Loyola Chicago (294), Georgia State (296), Eastern Kentucky (296), and DePaul (299) round out the 14 schools in the field.
Illinois State and the other 13 schools return to the course tomorrow morning, with ISU hitting the course alongside Texas State, Valparaiso, and Eastern Michigan.
Senior Will Troy, who is tied for the individual lead in the tournament, got off to a great start on the day with birdies on his first two holes, and he followed with seven straight pars to make the turn at two shots under par. After two more pars to open his back nine, he had back-to-back bogeys on the 12th and 13th holes to push him back to even par. He quickly responded with a birdie on the 14th hole and he closed the day with back-to-back birdies, finishing with the 68.
Alex McCulla is tied for 15th for the Redbirds after an even-par opening day. He opened his day with a par and a bogey, and after five more pars he carded his second bogey of the round to push to +2 on the day. He responded with a birdie on the ninth hole to make the turn at +1. His back nine opened with a par and a bogey, before closing strong with two birdies and five pars over his last seven holes – including a birdie on the 18th – to card the 71.
Felix van Dijk had a rough start to the day and was two shots over par through his first eight holes; however, he had a five-hole stretch – from the ninth hole to the 13th – where he had five birdies, to go from +2 to -3 in his aggregate score. He stumbled down the stretch; however, as he had two birdies and three over-par scores over his final five holes to finish with a one-over 72 in the first round, which is tied for 18th in the strong field.
Redshirt sophomore TJ Barger started strong with a birdie and eight pars as he made the turn at one stroke under par. Over his back nine he had six pars and three bogeys and closed the day with a two-over 73, tied for 25th.
Fifth-year senior Valentin Peugnet is tied for 45th individually after an opening round 75 which included three birdies, while Parker Wisdom – playing as an individual – had two birdies in his five-over 76 which is tied for 59th in the tournament field.
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