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2017 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship: Dylan Meyer leads Illinois to Second Round surge

The junior standout fired a team-best 67 to push the Illini into third place.

By Brad Repplinger

The Illinois men’s golf team is at it again. After the second day of competition at the 2017 NCAA Championships, the Fighting Illini find themselves in third place heading into the final round of stroke play. Sunday’s round will end with a 15 team cut, leaving only half of the original 30 teams qualifying for a position in Tuesday’s match play quarterfinals.

Dylan Meyer shot a team-low 67 (-5) on the day, bringing his two day total to -6, just two shots off the individual lead.

“I was rolling my putter well,” said Meyer after his round. “I was rolling it with confidence today.” Dylan started his round strong with a birdie on the opening hole. After making a few key par saves on holes 7 and 8, Meyer birdied the 9th after a putt of roughly 18 feet found the bottom of the cup.

Roars echoed throughout the grounds at Rich Harvest Farms on Saturday as over 3,200 fans attended the event held just 50 miles west of Chicago. The home crowd certainly favored the Illini, as the course was flooded with Orange and Blue.

“It’s huge. It helps with the adrenaline and it gets you going. You just have to manage it the right way. It’s just awesome to have everyone out here.” Meyer started a few roars of his own, stringing together three consecutive birdies on 12, 13, and 14. His teammates Michael Feagles and Giovanni Tadiotto started the run, and the team finished with a combined seven birdies over the course of three holes.

“We were all right there in that pocket of the course,” Feagles explained. “It was getting pretty loud out there, which was fun.”

Illinois will enter Sunday’s round at -11, a whopping 13 shots in front of the cut line. The Illini only trail the UNLV Rebels by 3 shots, and both teams will be paired together along with the second place Oklahoma Sooners. Tee times for the third round begin at 8:13am on Sunday morning, with the last Illinois group teeing off at 8:57am. Live scoring can be tracked through Golfstat.com.

Editor’s Note: Make sure to follow Brad on Twitter (@TCRBrad) for live updates and pictures from the event — he’s doing a phenomenal job so far.