Article Courtesy of the Monroe Invitational

Marshall Meisel drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th to reach 7-under par and take the 54-hole lead at the 82nd Monroe Invitational.

Two big movers on the day were Florida Gator Matthew Kress and Kansas Jayhawk William Duquette. They both shot 66 to move 11 spots up the leaderboard into second place; one shot behind Wake Forest's Meisel.

Joining Kress and Duquette behind Meisel is second-round leader Anthony Delisanti and first-round leader Luke Haskew. Delisanti's birdies dried up early in the round, he could only manage one in the first 15 holes. Standing on the 16th tee he was 5-over par and battling to stay within reach of the lead he started the day with.

Birdies on 16 and 18 will give him a jolt heading into the final round.

Purdue's Peyton Snoeberger and Flordia State's Micahel Mays each had rounds of 68 to move to -5 for the tournament and tied for sixth place.

Georgia Southern’s Reece Colmean had one of the largest jumps of the day, starting at 1-over par before carding a 65 to move to -4, tied for eighth place with Gustav Frimodt (TCU) and Connor Gaunt (LSU). The -5 was the best round of the day.

Meisel, who was tied for second after the opening round and tied for third after 36 holes, was able to grind out a score under par on Friday. He is the only player in the field with three rounds in the 60s.

After going out in 37 and notching a bogey on the par-4 10th, Meisel was able to save par on the 11th to keep his round afloat. He knew it was important.

“I missed a lot of short putts for par. I made a 35-foot putt for par on 11 - that really just kept me in it, Meisel said. "I would have been four over if I had missed that. That gave my round some new life. I just started to putt well after that.”

Meisel, a Chevy Chase, Maryland native, will look to cap off his strong week in Saturday’s final round.

“I need to hit it a little bit better to take some stress off my putter tomorrow,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be in the lead after 10 holes today.”

One player on Meisel’s heels on Saturday will be Kress, who was the No. 5 spot on the golf team for 2023 National Champion Florida.

On Friday, he was red-hot on the front, going out in 31, including five birdies. Hitting some wedges close was key. “The chances I got with wedges, I hit them close and I made those putts," he said. “It’s not easy - even if you hit it to six feet, you can be playing one to two feet of break. The putter was good.”

After an eagle on the par-4 15th, Kress was 9-under and flaming hot. However, three straight bogeys dropped him back behind Meisel. Kress is making his second appearance at the Monroe Invitational after playing with a few other Florida teammates in 2022. Following a great first experience, Kress said he made a concerted effort to try and get other teammates to play at the 2023 Monroe when they were planning their summer schedule in the spring.

“It’s great - I love playing this tournament. I played it for the first time last year, and we had some Florida guys here," Kress said. "We came back, and I basically convinced half our team to come and play." The vibe will bring the Gators back in the future. "We were hanging out yesterday at the barbeque, watching Parker Bell (teammate) thrive in his element at the long drive contest," Kress said. "It’s great team bonding in the summer.”

Kress and some other teammates will also be playing together in the upcoming Canadian Amateur Open.

After rounds of 67 and 71, Duquette was able to play his way into contention with a third-round 66. He set out and accomplished his goal at the beginning of the day. “That is kind of what I was looking for today,” he said. “I didn’t know how deep the leaders were going to go. I was just trying to shoot around four, five, or six under today and I did that, so I’m pretty happy.”

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