Despite missing junior Patrick Nagle this weekend due to an injured right hand, the Illini played well for their second week in a row, finishing sixth out of 15 teams at the 37th annual Robert Kepler Intercollegiate; the team posted a 54-hole score of 913.

Nagle injured his right hand over spring break and then re-aggravated the strained ligaments last week in Arizona.

“We hope to have Nagle back next weekend, but we are unsure at this time if he’ll be back or not,” said coach Mike Small.

The Kepler was held for the first time this year at the par 72, 7,159-yard Muirfield Village Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course that annually hosts the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament. Illinois’ sixth place finish landed them fourth among nine Big Ten teams as they beat Iowa, Michigan State, and the host team Ohio State, among others.

Stepping up for Illinois in Nagle’s absence were sophomore Mark Ogren and senior Blair Harkins. Ogren posted 73-77-77, while Harkins shot 72-77-78; both finished at 11-over-par and tied for 20th place.

With this weekend’s finish, Ogren continues to add to an already impressive season. He has now been Illinois’ best finisher at each of the last two tournaments and has accomplished that feat three times this season.

Small commented that Ogren is an extremely dedicated player and that he knows Ogren is going to give his all every time out on the course.

“I’ve been working hard all year,” Ogren said. “It’s starting to show on the course now and my scores are lower because of it.”

Also competing this weekend for the Illini were junior Kyle Hosick and sophomore Danny Zimmerman; both shot rounds of 231 and tied for 34th place. Rounding out the lineup for Illinois was sophomore Frank Alafoginis who tied for 48th with a 236.

The individual medalist was Northwestern’s Kyle Moore who defeated Indiana’s Seth Brandon in a playoff. Moore’s score of 1-under-par helped propel the Wildcats to the top of the leaderboard with a team score of 878, defeating Indiana by four strokes.

This weekend featured some much higher scores than last weekend’s tournament in Arizona due to the difficulty of the course. The players said they think it’s good to get a peek at what the pros deal with, but they don’t really mind tearing up low scores on an easier course either.

“Our schedule is to the point where the courses we play are difficult every week,” Small said. “We think it helps to prepare (the players) for their careers down the road. It’s a fun experience (for them) to see how the courses the pros play on are laid out, and how they play.”