With the fall season coming to a close, the Illinois men's golf team was determined to end on a good note. The Illini finished in style at the Duke Golf Classic, sealing second place, just 1-stroke behind the victorious North Carolina.

Heading into the third round of play, Illinois was in third place of the 15-team field. But with a stellar round of 286 — the lowest round of the season — the Illini were able to bump themselves up the leaderboard.

Head coach Mike Small and his team head into each tournament with one goal on their minds, to win. Although the team had one of its strongest performances thus far, sophomore Patrick Nagle wishes they could have made up that one stroke somewhere along the road.

"It makes you think back to one shot you wish you could have done better on," Nagle said. "It's easy to think back on the round and want to make that one shot up."

The Illini had a chance to seal the deal, but they could not follow through on the greens.

"We played very well but the puts weren't falling and those things will happen over time," Small said. "We had three chances on the last hole to make some 15-foot puts to do it. It's not what we wanted but it leaves a good taste in our mouths for the winter."

With a strong second place finish, Illinois had some of their men in the top 10 individually. Nagle led the way, finishing in third place at 3-under par. Struggling at the beginning of the season, this tournament seems to have marked his breakthrough.

"I've kind of had a rough fall," Nagle said. "I played pretty poorly at Inverness and up north. I got it back when we went back to California because I knew the course. We had three guys in the top 10 that put our team in contention to win and I hope this continues throughout the spring to grab some titles."

Right behind Nagle was both senior Joe Affrunti and junior Garrett Chaussard. These two Illini golfers tied for eighth place, just two strokes over par. Senior Ryan Tendall shot a final round score of 70, his best finish of the fall, tying him for 14th place.

"All fall we have had guys at the top of the leaderboard," Small said. "Ryan Tendall came up big for us and Garrett had some strong rounds as well. Patrick and Joe have been up there all fall on the board and that is a huge boost."

With a few months off to rest and recuperate, the squad will be ready to compete again in the spring season. According to Small, the team is making great progress and is extremely excited to see what these guys can do in the spring.