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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Korn Ferry Tour
Former Illini Adrien Dumont de Chassart with his first-round scorecard of an 11-under 59 on Thursday after the first round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Blue Cross and Blue Shied Kansas Wichita Open.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Adrien Dumont de Chassart is the man to beat at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Kansas Wichita Open. With good reason after what the former Illini accomplished on Thursday during the first round of the Korn Ferry Tour event.
➜ 2. Dumont de Chassart shot an 11-under 59 to become the 14th sub-60 round in Korn Ferry Tour history. The 25-year-old Belgium native compiled 12 birdies, five pars and one bogey in his exceptional round. He holds a four-stroke lead headinto into Friday’s second round.
➜ 3. The UI Open tees off on Saturday and concludes on Sunday at the University of Illinois Golf Course in Savoy. The field includes reigning champ Lyle Burns and 89 other area golfers.
Mattoon native and Eastern Illinois product Hayden Birdsong is set to start for the Giants on Friday night.
Numbers game: 2.79
earned run average for Mattoon native and Eastern Illinois product Hayden Birdsong this season with the San Francisco Giants. The 23-year-old right-hander is expected to start for the Giants on Friday night when they open a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox, and Birdsong is 3-1 in 16 appearances, including five starts. He has struck out 51 and walked 19 in 48 1/3 innings.
Recent Monticello graduate Carter Foran, middle, is one of 14 area high school football players who will take part in Saturday’s Illinois Shrine All-Star Game in Bloomington.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois Shrine All-Star football game. The 51st version kicks off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Tucci Stadium on the Illinois Wesleyan University campus in Bloomington and has 14 former area standouts playing.
➜ 2. Travelers Championship. Former Illini Thomas Detry will try to make the weekend cut after opening with an even-par 70 on Thursday during the PGA Tour event in Cromwell, Conn. Another former Illini, Brian Campbell, withdrew before the first round because of a shoulder injury.
➜ 3. Danville Dans at Champion City Kings. The Dans are scheduled to play in Springfield, Ohio, on Friday night before returning to Illinois to play at Normal on Saturday and host Terre Haute on Sunday.
ALAH senior volleyball player Savannah Butcher.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond senior volleyball player Savannah Butcher:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … April Ross, Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is … “Grey’s Anatomy.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … people who don’t work hard.
