Sienkiewicz Leads Wildcats on First Day in Illinois

OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILL. – No. 19 Arizona Men's Golf battled a challenging day on course to finish the first round of the Fighting Illini Invite in 13th place at 15-over par. The course played difficult all day for the entire field as none of the teams broke par and only seven players shot below par. Junior Chase Sienkiewicz was Arizona's low score of the day at 1-over and in a tie for 13th place.

"The course challenged everyone today, and it showed in the scores," said head coach Jim Anderson. "It was great to see Chase post a strong opening round and play his best golf of the day after the turn. We posted good scores on the course's shorter holes, and we will need to dial it in better of the par 4's and par 5's tomorrow."

Sienkiewicz was 1-under after the turn on Friday thanks to a trio of birdies in the last six holes he played. Teammate Aidric Chan carded Arizona's second-best round of the day with a 4-over opening round of 74.

The Wildcats will tee off on Saturday morning in the second of tournament as part of a nine-team pack separated by seven strokes on the leaderboard.