WESTLAKE, Ohio - Senior Taylor Gardner carded an opening round 63 and followed up with a 1-over 72 to sit second among the 84-player field at the Tom Tontimonia Invitational at Lakewood Country Club on Monday (Oct. 2). Gardner finished off his opening round 63 with an eagle and helped fuel a 5-under 279 in the opening round, followed by a second round 285 as the Jaguars shot 4-under 564 for the day. 

Butler leads the field at 554 and Bowling Green is second at 556 heading into Tuesday's final round. Gardner is one shot off the lead going into Tuesday as Butler's Damon Dickey shot 8-under 134 in his opening 36 holes. 

"The putter got hot today and it came in line with ball striking," Gardner said. "I hit a lot of solid shots that gave me a lot of looks. It was a pretty good feeling to see my eagle putt drop on the last hole for 63!"

After a pedestrian start of five birdies to start the round, Gardner then made birdie on six of his next eight holes, sandwiched around a par and a bogey. He got to 6-under with a birdie on the par-4 No. 11 before back-to-back pars ahead of his final hole. From there, he cashed in an eagle on the 590-yard par-5 No. 14 for the second-lowest single round in IUPUI history. He was the only player among the field to make eagle on No. 14 all day on Monday. 

Freshman Titus Boswell chimed in with a 2-under 69 which included four birdies in a six-hole span midway through the round, while classmate Brady Schier shot 2-over 73. Senior Kevin Tillery rounded out the scoring in round one with a 3-over 74 and Morgan Tournemire shot 5-over 76. Junior Colten Girgis shot 3-under 68 in round one while playing as an individual. 

Girgis continued his hot play in round two with a second straight 68, making seven birdies, including back-to-back efforts to end his day. 

Tillery led the lineup at 1-under 70 with four birdies and Tournemire shot even par 71. Gardner and Boswell each shot 72 and Schier rounded out the group at 76. 

Girgis is tied for third at 6-under 136 going into Tuesday's play and is tied atop the field with 12 birdies. 

As a team, IUPUI led the field in par-3 scoring on Monday, playing them to a collective 1-under for the day. 

Tuesday's final round is slated to begin with a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start.