BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Senior Lyle Burns (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour/Parkland C.C. ) battled windy conditions at the par-71 Indiana University Golf Course to shoot a four-under 67 and was first in the individual standings after the opening round at the Hoosier Invitational, while the Bradley men's golf team was fourth overall Saturday.
Wind gusts exceeding 40 miles per hour forced the suspension of Saturday's action early in the second round and the tournament will be shortened to 36 holes. Play is expected to resume at 9 a.m. (CDT) Sunday.
Despite the conditions, Burns was able to match his lowest round of the season with a four-under 67 in the opening round and had a two-shot lead on Ohio's Peyton White, who was second at 69, to start the day's second round. The 67 was his fourth round in the 60's this season and school record 10th career sub-70 round.
As a team, Bradley was able to match its lowest round of the spring at 10-over 294 and the Braves are three shots behind tournament-host Indiana, which is third at 291. Western Illinois has a three-shot lead on the field at 287, while Ohio is four shots ahead of Bradley in second at 290.
Junior Bobby Jacobs (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) and senior Garrett Cox (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) are both one shot out of the top 20 in a tie for 23rd after firing opening round 75's. Freshman Drake Bushong (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) carded a 77 and is tied for 35th overall, while sophomore Matthew Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) fired a 79 to round out the team scoring for the Braves and is tied for 49th.
Bradley started the second round, five shots better than fifth-place Illinois State and the Braves were eight shots ahead of both Eastern Kentucky and Detroit, which were tied for sixth at 302. Missouri Valley Conference rival Evansville was tied with Youngstown State at 303 for eighth after the first round and IUPUI closed out the top 10 in the 15-team field with a first-round score of 308.
Play at the Hoosier Invitational is slated to resume at 9 a.m. (CDT). Visit http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=teamPlayer&tid=8381 to follow live scoring.
