OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. — Edan Cui’s team-leading 1-under, 71 saw a successful start to the season for the Stanford men’s golf team as the Cardinal wrapped up the first round of competition at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational. Stanford currently sits in 12th of 15 teams heading into Saturday’s second round.
Cui, who made his collegiate debut on Friday, shot even through the front nine after an initial bogey on three was negated by a birdie on hole eight. Just past the turn, Cui got hung up by a rough start on hole 10 but held cool to shoot at par for the remainder of the course and finish at 1-over and tied for 21st overall among the field.
Hitting the links for his sophomore season, TK Chantananuwat rattled off a strong performance shooting 2-over, 72 to place in a tie for 35th in the field. Chantananuwat battled back from a bogey on hole three with a birdie on hole four to take in an even card into the turn. However, the sophomore ran into trouble with two bogeys in his final four holes to end the day.
Nathan Wang and Dean Greyserman both nabbed a 4-over, 74 on Friday’s first round, placing tied for 52nd among the field after an ebb-and-flow afternoon. Greyserman, who birdied his first hole of the season, earned two more along the day but ran into a tough stretch on the back-nine, coupling a 2-over on both the front- and back-nine to finish the day 4-over. Wang, on the other hand, battled back from a 3-over front-nine with two birdies in the final stretch to take a 4-over card through 18 holes.
Jay Leng also shot well along the back nine, finishing 5-over for the day following an even card on the final nine holes of the afternoon. Having shot 5-over through nine holes, Leng earned his first birdie of the season on hole 16 before turning in his card for the day at 5-over and in a tie for 62nd in the field.
Stanford is back in action for the second round of the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational with Jay Leng hitting from the 10th hole to begin the day for the Cardinal at 8:15 a.m. CT.