Men’s golf places 6th in Columbus; Big Ten tourney looms ahead

By Brian Atlas

The Illini men’s golf team got a taste of what the Big Ten Tournament will be like over the weekend in Columbus, Ohio. After starting off a little shaky, the men were able to hold it together while other teams collapsed around bad weather and challenging conditions at the Kepler Invitational.

The Illini finished sixth out of 16 teams with a team score of 612 at the event hosted by Ohio State. The team finished fourth out of the ten Big Ten participants.

Illinois was in eighth place after the first round on Saturday, but team members remained upbeat after the disappointing first round. With the weather cold and windy, it was difficult for teams to move up the leaderboard significantly and post solid scores.

“(We) don’t have a bunch of guys that just play and give up when things go wrong,” said senior Kyle Hosick, who finished the tournament in 11th place at 9-over-par. “It’s good to have teammates that will go out and compete, fight to the end. I’m proud of my guys.”

Illinois shot the third-lowest overall score during the second round – a 306 – that moved the team up two spots on the leaderboard. Redshirt senior Patrick Nagle led the Illini with the best overall score, an 8-over 150. He finished tied for seventh place.

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“All things considered … I thought it was a decent tournament,” head coach Mike Small said.

Small noted that this will be the same course that the Big Ten Tournament will be played at in a couple of weeks. He knows that the best chance to make regionals is to simply finish ahead of all of the opponents and leave no doubt.

“The teams are closely fought, so for us to compete like this shows that it can be done,” Small said.

In analyzing the Kepler Invitational, he says that improved putting will go a long way.

“Toward the end of the tournament, our short games got better,” Small said. “Our putting was very poor for about the first six holes of the tournament, and after that we straightened it out and held our own on the greens.”

Hosick said he felt good about his golf swing the entire weekend, but he didn’t always convert and finish the holes the way he wanted to.

“If I would have made a few more putts, I could have finished top five or six easily,” Hosick said.

Still, the Illini remained consistent and for the second round carded two 76s and two 77s. The 54-hole format ended up being shortened to 36 holes due to rain.

“A lot of guys from teams (Sunday) morning were just going through the motions,” Nagle said. “And we were able to push and put up pretty good numbers, creep up the leader board.”