Chambana Sun

The Illinois men's golf team started strong at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Lihu'e, Hawai'i, tying for second place after the first round. The 10th-ranked Fighting Illini achieved an even-par score of 280 at the Ocean Course at Hokuala on Kaua'i.

Jackson Buchanan led the team with a season-low score of 66, sharing the individual lead with Brock Snyder of Missouri at 4-under-par. Buchanan began on No. 10, starting with a birdie but faced challenges with a double-bogey on 14 and a bogey on 15 before recovering with another birdie on No. 16. His performance improved significantly on the front nine, where he made four consecutive birdies from Holes 1-4 and concluded his round with a seventh birdie on No. 9.

Supporting Buchanan's effort was sophomore Max Herendeen who scored an even-par 70, while freshman Trey Marrion posted a score of 71 (+1), tying for 15th and 24th place respectively.

Freshman Jake Birdwell debuted for Illinois, matching junior Ryan Voois with rounds of 73 (+3). Sophomore Ethan Wilson had one of the best rounds among individual competitors, tying for 15th at even-par. Freshman Joseph Buttress finished tied for 92nd in the field of 102 players with an opening score of 79 (+9).

Illinois trails seven strokes behind No. 16 Utah as they head into Friday's second round. Tied with Illinois is No. 41 UNLV, while No. 21 BYU holds fourth place by one stroke ahead and New Mexico completes the top five teams.

The competition continues Friday with a shotgun start scheduled for early afternoon CT/late morning HT, featuring pairings between Illinois, Utah, UNLV, and BYU beginning from Holes 1-4. Live updates are available through Clippd Scoreboard.

For ongoing coverage and updates on Fighting Illini men's golf, fans can visit FightingIllini.com or follow @IlliniMGolf across various social media platforms.