Men's Golf | May 1

ATHENS, Ala. - The Northern Illinois University men's golf team had one of it's top-five 18-hole scores since 1980 on Monday at the Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championship, posting a nine-under par team score of 279 to move from sixth place to the tournament lead.
 
NIU got off to a fast start and quickly started passing the teams ahead of it. Campbell Wolf (Mechanicsburg, Pa./ETSU) made five birdies on the front nine and was four-under par at the turn. Tommy Dunsire (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) had four birdies on the front and moved into the tournament lead at four-under par. Zach Place (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) made two eagles at the par-four sixth, as well as the par-four ninth, to make the turn at two-under par for the round and even par for the tournament. All told, the Huskies played the first nine holes Monday at eight-under par to go down to one-under par as a team and take a five-stroke lead over Kent State.
 
Place and Wolf finished the day as NIU's top-two scorers. Wolf carded his best round of the season with a four-under par 68. Place added three birdies to his card on the back nine and also finished with a 68. Both golfers wrapped up the day tied for third at two-under, climbing 13 positions up the leaderboard. They were two of the three golfers, along with Kash Bellar of Ball State, to post a tournament-low score of 68 on Monday.
 
"Campbell and Zach led our team from start to finish on a day where winds averaged 25 miles per hour," said head coach John Carlson. "Today was our best round of the year on an important moving day. Our goal this week was to be in contention heading into the final round and we certainly did that and then some."
 
Dunsire posted his second consecutive round under par with a two-under 70 which put him at -3 for the championship. He will enter Tuesday's final round in a tie atop the leaderboard with Central Michigan's Jeffrey Andrus, who posted an even par round of 72 Monday.
 
"Tommy has executed at a high level this week and has put himself in a position to win a MAC individual championship tomorrow," Carlson said."
 
Ben Sluzas (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) found his stride on the back nine Monday. He birdied four of the last six holes to cap a round of one-over par 73, a three-stroke improvement from Sunday's opening round.
 
The Huskies' 279 is NIU's best 18-hole team score at a MAC Championship, besting the 2015 final round score of 285. It is also NIU's seventh 18-hole round under 280 since 1980 and second in the last three weeks. NIU improved by 16 strokes from round one to round two, moving to two-under as a team through 36 holes. The Huskies lead Ball State by seven strokes and Kent State and Miami by 10 going into Tuesday's final round.
 
The final round begins on Tuesday, May 2 at 8 a.m. CT. NIU will tee off starting at 9:40 a.m.
 
--NIU--