Redshirt senior Patrick Nagle carded a 207 over the weekend, a total that tied the fifth lowest 54-hole score in Illinois men’s golf history. Nagle’s 207 also tied his career low.

But Nagle’s score wasn’t enough. Illinois finished sixth out of 13 teams at the Fossum/Spartan Invitational and third among seven Big Ten teams.

The Illini showed a spark in the first round Saturday by shooting a 281, the team’s lowest round of the season. The Illini, though, did not finish strong in the next two rounds, carding a 292 and 291, respectively.

The Illini were four strokes away from Wisconsin and bettered Indiana by eight strokes. Host school Michigan State won the with an 841.

Head coach Mike Small was particularly displeased that three golfers didn’t perform as they were expected to in the final round on Sunday.

“Kyle and Patrick showed up and played well, (but) we had three 76s (Sunday), which you can’t do,” Small said.

Small added that after the first round on Saturday, there were too many three-putts and blown chances with wedge shots.

“We were just not efficient,” Small said.

Individually, Nagle’s overall 9-under-par gave him sole possession of fourth place. He was one shot away from winning the individual title out of the 69 golfers, as the three tri-medalists shot 10-under-par.

“I missed my fair share of putts,” Nagle said. “It was a little disappointing. … I knew about the number that I had to get to, and I just wasn’t able to get there.”

Senior Kyle Hosick was the second best Illini with a 4-under 212. The score placed him ninth overall.

Hosick, like Nagle, was disappointed with his short game.

He also felt the team had an opportunity to really do some damage after the first round.

“Again, we had a promising start,” Hosick said. “If we just played pretty good the second round, we were going to be right there with a chance to win, and we ended up losing ground.”

Also for the Illini, redshirt junior Mark Ogren was third among the traveling five and contributed rounds of 70, 74 and 76, placing him 33rd overall.

Looking at the tournament as a whole, Hosick said the team needed to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions.

“There were so many birdie (opportunities) out there, and if you weren’t making birdies, you were getting laughs,” Hosick said. “And it showed by our last two rounds.”