On the ride over to Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday, the Illini men’s golfers discussed how it would be nice to leave Columbus on Sunday with rings on their fingers. Championship rings.

Illinois has returned to the renovated par-71, 7,455-yard Scarlet Course where it finished in sixth place two tournaments ago. The 88th annual Big Ten Championships, hosted by Ohio State, are scheduled to have 72 holes of play, with two rounds today, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The five traveling golfers are senior Kyle Hosick, redshirt senior Patrick Nagle, redshirt junior Mark Ogren, sophomore Jon Krick and redshirt freshman Matt Hoffman.

“We were just thinking about the experience (of winning the Big Ten Championships),” Hosick said. “I think for a lot of guys, it’s starting to hit them. I expect big things out of our team this weekend.”

The Illinois team arrived Wednesday evening so the golfers would be able to have a practice round Thursday.

“We need to know the course again,” head coach Mike Small said. “(We need to) work on some fundamentals and hit shots that we may be encountering during the tournament. We’re going to stay loose, stay positive and be ready to compete.”

Hosick said when there was a team dinner a while back, team members talked about the difficulty of the Scarlet Course. Hosick hopes that teammates don’t take any unnecessary swings and that they play disciplined.

“It takes a lot of courage just to play safe,” Hosick said. “Sometimes safe play is aggressive, too, and I think our guys understand that. That’s an advantage we have over a lot of other teams.”

Small said he believes there have been a couple of great Big Ten teams this season, like Michigan State. But based on the performances of all the competitors throughout the year, Small wants to only worry about his team and see what happens.

“The tournament’s wide open,” Small said. “There are probably eight or nine teams that have a chance to win. … But in golf, you can only control what you can control. You can’t play defense on anybody.”

What Illinois can do, though, is focus on certain problem areas and fix them by the time the tournament starts. Small pointed out that Hoffman needs to hit greens and fairways more consistently and that Krick should improve his putting.

Ogren knows what he ought to do.

“I need to hit the ball closer to the hole than I have been,” Ogren said. “I haven’t been giving myself enough opportunities for birdies.”

Ultimately, Illinois will be depending on Nagle, the golfer who has been playing the best as of late, for a stellar performance. He will be going for his sixth top-10 finish.

“Patrick’s played phenomenal the last few tournaments,” Hosick said. “He’s not won a college event yet, but I got a good feeling about him this weekend.”