The men’s golf team didn’t quite have the result they would have liked from last weekend’s Fighting Illini Invitational.

The hosts finished ninth in the 12-team event, which was held at Olympia Fields Country Club.

The Duke Blue Devils took honors by shooting a team total of 864 for the three rounds.

“It was a letdown to finish ninth,” senior Patrick Nagle said. “We would have liked to have performed better.”

The Illini, despite Nagle’s 3-over-par 213 for the tournament, finished with a team total of 886.

Nagle shot three consecutive rounds of 71 to place third among individual scores, just two strokes behind the leader.

It was Nagle’s 10th career top-5 finish. Nagle said he doesn’t really focus on being a team leader when he’s on the golf course.

“I just go out and play as well as I can and hopefully that helps the team out,” Nagle said.

Nagle’s performance wasn’t the only noteworthy one for the Illini, though.

Senior Kyle Hosick shot rounds of 71-74-75 for a two-day total of 220.

His score was good enough to place him 19th overall.

“Nineteenth isn’t bad considering the strength of the field, but I could have played better,” Hosick said.

Following Nagle and Hosick was junior Mark Ogren, the Illini’s top shooter at the Inverness Invitational two weeks ago. Ogren recorded rounds of 75-75-76 on his way to a 226.

Rounding out the scoring for the Illini was junior Frank Alafoginis (+19) and sophomore Jon Krick (+22).

Nagle blamed the course for the lack of lower scores in the tournament.

“The golf course wasn’t letting guys go too low,” Nagle said. “Guys weren’t making a lot of birdies out there. You try to play smart golf and not get yourself into too much trouble.”

Arizona State’s Niklas Lemke shot a 4-under-par 66 on the final day on his way to a 1-over 211 for the tournament.

This was good enough to lead all golfers.

He bested Duke’s Adam Long by one stroke to take home the honors.

For the second straight tournament, the field included some top competition for the Illini.

Along with Duke, Stanford University, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State attended the event.

Big Ten competitors Purdue and Northwestern were also in the field, finishing third and fourth, respectively.

The Cardinal finished six strokes behind the Blue Devils in second place.

The Illini feel that despite their early season finishes, they can compete in the near future.

Hosick said each individual just needs to improve and help the team as a whole.

“We’re right there,” Hosick said.

“We’ve just got to relax and keep going forward,” he added.

The Illini will compete next in the Windon Memorial Classic Oct. 8-9 at Skokie Country Club.