McNealy Does It Again

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Maverick McNealy picked up his second win in as many outings Sunday by claiming top honors at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational.

McNealy, who collected the first win of his collegiate career earlier this week at the Southwestern Intercollegiate, fired three consecutive rounds of 71 to finish 3-over at the par-70 Olympia Fields Country Club. He shared the top billing with host Illinois’ Dylan Meyer.

Stanford’s Cameron Wilson also shared medalist honors at the same tournament in 2013 with Robby Shelton of Alabama.

Congrats to @StanfordMGolf for a solid performance in strong field and to @13maverickm for getting his second win of the season! #goCard

— David Boote (@davidboote123) September 14, 2014

Stanford (294-299-289) was fourth overall among the 15-team field at 42-over. Illinois (+21), Florida State (+32) and Baylor (+36) claimed the top three spots.

“I’m happy with how the guys hung in there, but we’ve got much to work on,” said Conrad Ray, Stanford’s Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf. “It’s early in the year, so it was good for us to play a challenging course to see what we have team-wise.

“Maverick has been very solid these last two weeks, and two medals in a few strong fields is a great start to his year with added confidence. Jim Liu has had two great weeks, too. It’s good to see him playing better and on the right track.”

Liu’s even-par third round was the best score of any Cardinal during the 54-hole event. He was 4-over on the front nine of his final round, but rallied to go 4-under on the back nine, eventually finishing 12th overall at 8-over.

Patrick Grimes (+11) squeezed into the top-20, taking 19th with rounds of 74-73-74.

Viraat Badhwar (+20) tied for 54th and Dominick Francks (+31) tied for 71st.

The Cardinal has a few weeks off until traveling to Fort Worth, Texas, for the Swoosh Invitational (Oct. 6-7).