Chambana Sun

The Fighting Illini men's golf team, seeded 11th, is tied for fifth place after the first round of the NCAA Championship. The event took place at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa's North Course in Carlsbad, California. Junior Ryan Voois and sophomore Max Herendeen led the team with impressive performances.

Voois and Herendeen both scored 4-under 68, placing them among the top ten players on the leaderboard after 18 holes. They are two shots behind Texas A&M's Phichaksn Maichon, who leads individually with a score of -6.

The Illini are six shots behind No. 6 Oklahoma, which leads the team standings at -8. Illinois shares its position with No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Arizona State. Meanwhile, teams like No. 4 Texas, No. 7 Florida, and No. 9 Florida State are one shot ahead at -3.

Voois began his round strongly with birdies on Holes 1 and 2 and continued to perform well through the front nine without any bogeys. He briefly held the lead after a birdie on Hole 10 but dropped a shot due to a bogey on Hole 12 when his par putt narrowly missed going in. Despite another bogey on Hole 17, he managed to finish inside the top five by making a crucial par putt on Hole 18.

Herendeen mirrored Voois' success by starting his round with three birdies offsetting just one bogey by Hole 7 to stand at -2. On the back nine, he was consistent and avoided any further mistakes while adding birdies on Holes 11 and 18 to conclude his day at -4.

Senior Jackson Buchanan ended Round One tied for 47th place with a score of +1 over par while freshman Trey Marrion recovered from an early setback to contribute a score of +5 over par for Illinois' fourth counting score of the day; Marrion made late-round birdies on Holes17and18to improvehis standing.Jake Birdwell also completedthe roundat+6overparheading into Saturday’s secondround.

Round Two will commence Saturday morning as Illinois tees off alongside Texas A&M and UCLA from Hole10beginningat9:47a.m.CentralTime.Live scoring is available via Clippd Scoreboard.