Thomas Dunne
Freshman Thomas Dunne (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) of the Northern Illinois men’s golf team fired a three-under 68 to tie for the lead through two round at the Florida Atlantic Spring Break Championship.
Dunne’s back-to-back 68’s have him in a tie with Florida State’s Brooks Koepka for the tournament lead. In the team competition, NIU is in second place with a total score of 563, just behind tournament-leading Florida State’s 556.
“The story of the day was Thomas Dunne,” said NIU head coach Tom Porten.
“He played great golf, he had a couple of bad breaks or it could have been an even lower round. He has learned a little punch, underneath the wind shot down here that has helped keep him out of trouble into the greens. He is driving the ball much better and has really worked with his putter, he is doing everything right.”
Dunne was even through his first seven holes of the day following a birdie on number three and a bogey on number five, but a birdie on the par three eighth helped him make the turn at one-under for the day. Another birdie on the 11th pushed Dunne to two-under and six-straight pars took him to the 18th in red numbers.
Dunne carded his second birdie of a par three on the finishing hole to end the day with his second-straight 68.
“I was really happy with the way we kept grinding away today,” Porten said. “Griffin (Bauman) was really the only one to get off to a fast start, like you really need to here. The first four holes you really want to be under-par on this golf course. We were scuffling a as a group but we stayed patient.”
Junior Griffin Bauman (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) got off to a red-hot start of the front nine, birdying one, four, seven and nine to make the turn in four-under par. Bauman gave back three strokes on the finishing nine but still turned in a one-under 70 for the day and is tied for 14th at one-under for the tournament.
Junior Bryce Emory (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) had an up-and-down opening nine holes, carding just three pars before a steadier back side featuring two birdies and seven pars helped him finish the round with an even-par 71. Emory is two-over for the tournament.
The steadiest round of the day for NIU was turned in by sophomore Shawn Foley (Pewaukee, Wis./Waukesha North) as he carded 15 pars, along with a birdie and two bogies to finish the round with a one-over 72. Foley is even-par for the tournament, good for 19th overall.
Sunday’s final round of the FAU Spring Break Championship will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET, the Huskies will begin taking to the course at 10 a.m. ET, when junior Kurtis Luedtke (Aurora, Ill./West)tees it up for NIU. The Huskies will be paired with Florida State and Jacksonville State for Sunday’s final 18 holes.
For more information on NIU men’s golf and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
