MUNDELEIN, Ill. — Junior Gabriel Newman and first-year Thomas Lyaudet both carded a 1-under 71 in the first round of the Forester Spring Invite to lead the Knox College men's golf team to eighth place in the 20-team field and its lowest round in at least a decade at 3-over par (291). Host Lake Forest College leads the event at 7-under par with Aurora University and Wheaton College just one stroke back.
The day began ominously for the Prairie Fire as three of their five golfers bogeyed their first hole in the shotgun start at the 6,757-yard, par-72 course at Countryside Golf Club. Newman even fell to 3-over through his first six holes before he righted his ship, sinking six birdies with only two more bogeys the rest of the way to finish his round tied for 12th out of 107 golfers.
Lyaudet, meanwhile, was one of three Knox entrants with 13 pars in the round, but he also added three birdies to offset two bogeys and match Newman's total. Junior Pranav Nandakumar had three bogeys and two pars to end up tied for 28th with a 73 (+1).
- First-year Diego Carrillo had one birdie as the wrapped up the day tied for 54th at 4-over par.
- Wheaton's Jonah Swartz (-6) has a one-stroke lead over Aurora's Ty Pennypacker entering tomorrow's second and final round.
Second-round action on Saturday will tee off with another shotgun start at 11 a.m.
