Tickets
Live Scoring/Results
CINCINNATI - University of Cincinnati sophomore Austin Squires (Union, Ky./Ryle High School) carded a 7-under par 69-68=137 to climb into first place after two rounds Monday at the Firestone Invitational at the Firestone Country Club (par 72, 7,125 yards) in Akron, Ohio.
Squires totaled nine birdies, 25 par scores and only two bogeys on the day while recording the first back-to-back below 70 scores of his young collegiate career. He has recorded seven below par scores in 11 rounds this fall.
"Austin is coming into his own," UC head coach Doug Martin said. "He is very patient and has control of all of the shots required to play well on a weekly basis. He has a chance now to play in the last group Tuesday with a chance to win a tournament. It's a great opportunity."
Squires owns a one stroke lead over six other players heading into Tuesday's final round.
Overall, the Bearcats carded back-to-back below-par team scores for the first time this fall. UC posted a 9-under 283-284=567 to tie Dayton for third place in the 16-team field. Illinois State sits first at 14-under 284-278=562 while host Akron is second at 12-under 280-284=564.
"I'm very proud of our team," Martin said. "Anytime you shoot under par you're going to be happy. As a coach, you look to pick out things for improvement. We had the best conditions of the fall today and left some shots out there or we would have had a better score. If we want to play at the highest level, we can't have situations where we have to count a 73 score in the first round and a 76 in the second round, not in these conditions."
The Bearcats tee off Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET. Live scoring is available at GolfStat.com.
// BEARCAT SCORERS
1st - Austin Squires, So., Union, Ky./Ryle High School - 69-68=137 (-7)
T18th - Jared O'Kelley, Sr., Canton, Ga./Creekview High School - 73-69=142 (-2)
T24th - Jake Fox, Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller High School - 72-71=143 (-1)
T35th - Paul Huber, Soph., Edgewood, Ky./Covington Catholic - 69-77=146 (+2)
T62nd - Blake Hamilton, Sr., Union, Ky./Ryle High School - 75-76=151 (+7)
80th - Davis Baxter, Fr., Nolensville, Tenn./Ravenwood High School - 77-79=156 (+12)
// FIRESTONE INVITATIONAL TEAM STANDINGS
1st - Illinois State - 284-278=562 (-14)
2nd - Akron - 280-284=564 (-12)
T3rd - Cincinnati - 283-284=567 (-9)
T3rd - Dayton - 282-285=567 (-9)
5th - Eastern Michigan - 286-282=568 (-8)
T6th - Marshall - 287-284=571 (-5)
T6th - Ball State - 281-290=571 (-5)
8th - Chattanooga - 290-286=576 (E)
9th - Ohio - 290-290-580 (+4)
10th - South Carolina-Aiken - 292-289=581 (+5)
11th - Furman - 291-292=583 (+7)
12th - Old Dominion - 293-291=584 (+8)
13th - Francis Marion - 300-290=590 (+14)
14th - Western Kentucky - 296-295=591 (+15)
15th - Xavier - 293-301=594 (+18)
16th - Georgetown - 300-296=596 (+20)