Pranav Nandakumar
Knox College
Pranav Nandakumar shot even par in the final round.

Strong Finish at Illinois Wesleyan Invitational

Knox climbed five spots in the standings in the final round

4/5/2025 9:22:00 PM

NORMAL, Ill. ­—

After finishing the first round of the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational in the middle of the 38-team field tied for 17th, the Knox College men's golf team climbed five places in the final standings into a tie for 12th with Illinois College at 32-over par (600). First-year Thomas Lyaudet provided the Prairie Fire's low round for the second straight day and ended up among the top 10 individuals out of 228 entrants.

After playing at the 6,820-yard, par-71 Weibring Golf Course on Friday, Knox was tabbed with taming the 6,920-yard, par-72 Ironwood Golf Course for the second round. Lyaudet and junior Pranat Nandakumar did just that with the former carding a 1-under 71 while the latter finished up at even par on the day.

Lyaudet began his day with a birdie on his starting hole, the 521-yard par-5 seventh. He went on to drop three more birdies in his round as he climbed 14 places in the standings into a tie for ninth place at 1-over (144) for the tournament.

Nandakumar matched Lyaudet's birdie total, including three straight during his back nine, to help him reach par for the round. He made the biggest leap forward in the standings for the Prairie Fire, improving 59 places on the leaderboard into a tie for 35th at 6-over par (149).

Although first-year Diego Carrillo struggled in the second round with an 8-over 80, his strong showing over the first 18 holes allowed him to finish among the top half of the field in a tie for 96th with an 11-over 154. Both junior Gabriel Newman and sophomore Nathaniel Zug shot a 78 (+6) in this round to round out the team scoring for the day.

The Illinois Wesleyan "B" Team won the team title by seven strokes, shooting a combined 3-over 575 over the two days, with Aurora University in second and St. John's University one stroke behind the Spartans. Medalist honors went to Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Spencer Lynch at 6-under for the tournament, two strokes ahead of Aurora's Jackson Hulsey.

Knox will host its spring tournament next weekend on Saturday and Sunday, April 12-13 at the Soangetaha Country Club.

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