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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The Southern Illinois men’s golf team is tied for second place after 36 holes on a rainy first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships at Dalhousie Golf Club on Monday.
The Salukis (+30) are tied with Illinois State, but trail first-place Bradley (+11) by 19 strokes with one round remaining on Tuesday. Picked to finish fourth in the pre-tournament poll, the Braves are closing in on what would be their first-ever league title. The top three players on the leaderboard all hail from Bradley — Drake Bushong (+1), Michael Mounce (+2) and Ethan Brue (+3).
The 7,323-yard course, which had already absorbed a day of rain on Sunday, played especially long today due to a steady rain during the morning. After a brief respite, the rain picked up again during the final two hours of play.
“We’ve been dealing with these kind of conditions all year,” said SIU head coach Justin Fetcho. “It made the golf course play a little bit tougher because it was wet, there was no roll and we’re playing it long. It made making birdies more difficult and par a really good score.”
SIU has three players in the top 10 with Luke Gannon (+4) alone in fourth place, while Hunter York (+5) and Dirk Kuehler (+5) are tied for fifth. Gannon was Southern’s most consistent golfer with six birdies and 20 pars and no hole worse than a bogey. He had the team’s low round of the day with a 72 in a second round that featured three birdies on the last four holes. York and Kuehler also played well and are aiming for their first-career top-5 finishes.
“We had some good individual performance, but as a team, we didn’t quite put it all together,” Fetcho explained. “This is a golf course where anything can happen. There’s still 18 more holes to go. This is the style of course where if you’re playing under pressure and you hit a couple of loose shots, it can result in big numbers.”
Peyton Wilhoit (+17) entered the tournament as SIU’s season stroke leader and a favorite to win the title, but he got off to a tough start in the first round with triple bogeys on holes three and nine. He ended the day tied for 35th.
“He didn’t putt particularly well and sometimes that happens, you just don’t make putts,” Fetcho said. “He’s a good ball striker, so this golf course would typically set up well for him. He got off to a rough start, but he grinded and tried to fight. He’s been there for us all year.”
The final round begins tomorrow at 8 a.m. and Fetcho maintains his team can still catch the Braves.
“It can change in a heartbeat,” he said. “If we start pouring in some birdies, you never know what can happen. We have to go out there and leave it all on the line, play the best we can play and see where that leaves us.”
TEAM SCORES
1 Bradley University 298 289 587 +11
T2 Illinois State 309 297 606 +30
T2 Southern Illinois 307 299 606 +30
4 Missouri State 309 302 611 +35
5 Valparaiso Univ. 317 296 613 +37
6 Drake 304 310 614 +38
7 Evansville 324 308 632 +56
8 Loyola U.- Chicago 328 306 634 +58
9 Northern Iowa 323 316 639 +63
SIU SCORES
4 Luke Gannon (2) 76 72 148
T5 Dirk Kuehler (3) 75 74 149
T5 Hunter York (5) 75 74 149
T35 Peyton Wilhoit (1) 82 79 161
T37 Frankie Thomas (4) 81 81 162
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