MONMOUTH, Ill. ­— As a team, the Knox College men's golf team shaved seven strokes off its first-round score at the Fighting Scot Invite hosted by Monmouth College, ending the round with a 26-over 310, which left the Prairie Fire in eighth place at 59-over par. Waldorf College took the team title after entering the day in fourth place, five strokes off the pace, by shooting a 6-over 290 to edge out Augustana's B team by two strokes.

Senior Pranav Nandakumar once again led Knox, matching his first-round score of 74 (+3), recovering from an opening-hole double bogey to sink five birdies along the way. His 6-over 148 in the tournament on the 6,372-yard, par-71 Gibson Woods Golf Course earned him ninth place.

The seven strokes that the Prairie Fire made up could all be attributed to senior Gabriel Newman, who shot a 4-over 75 after finishing the first round with an 82. Like Nandakumar, he opened his day with a double bogey but managed to turn it around with four birdies to his credit.

Others contributing to the team score were junior Nathaniel Zug at 8-over par (79) with three birdies and first-year Jaxson Forman carding an 11-over 82 with one birdie on the day.

• Senior Saransh Raina matched Forman by shooting an 82 today with one birdie.
• Monmouth's Connor Watson made the most of his team's home course by winning medalist honors with a 3-under 139 for the tournament, surpassing a pair of Waldorf players who entered the day a stroke ahead of him.

Knox will be back on the links on Friday for the first round of the Midwest Region Classic at the Brighton Dale Golf Links in Kansasville, Wisconsin.