Men's Golf | October 2

SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – Tommy Dunsire (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) and Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) both shot five-under par 67 on Saturday to lead the Northern Illinois University men's golf team to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Rich Harvest Farms Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest Farms.

Dunsire and Sluzas share the individual lead through 18 holes, with Antoine Sale of Minnesota and Tim Tillmanns of Kansas State one stroke back at four-under par. Sluzas was even par through his first four holes, then birdied the fifth and reached the turn at one-under par. The freshman eagled the par-five 11th to highlight a four-under par back nine that put him at five-under. Dunsire was also one-under par through nine holes and started the back nine with four straight birdies. He bogeyed the 17th but bounced back with the birdie at the last to finish five-under for the day.

Zach Place (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) is tied for 27th after the first round, carding a round of even par 72. Reece Nilsen (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills/GCU) rounded out the NIU scoring group Saturday with a one-over par 73. 

Luc Warnock (Windsor, Ontario, Canada/E.J. Lajeunesse) is the fifth Huskie playing in the lineup, finishing just one stroke behind Nilsen with a two-over 74. 

NIU recorded 24 birdies on Saturday, the most of any team in the field, and played the par 3s at four-under (2.8 average), also best in the field. 

The Huskies will enter Sunday's second round three strokes ahead of Marquette and Purdue as the Golden Eagles and Boilermakers each posted six-under team totals of 282. Missouri is two more strokes back in fourth at four-under 284. 

Second round play is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning (Oct. 3) at Rich Harvest Farms.