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player ready...Illinois freshman Nick Hardy said he didn’t have his “best stuff” on Sunday, but he was able to patch together a round good enough to earn him a share of the Big Ten Championship title at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana.
The tournament’s 54-hole leader, Hardy fell out of first place with his double bogey on the par-5 ninth hole, and he spent most of the back nine chasing Iowa’s Carson Schaake. Hardy returned to the top of the leaderboard with his 6-foot putt for par on the par-4 17th. Hardy matched Schaake’s bogey at the 18th to finish with a 4-over 76 for a 4-under 284 total and co-medalist honors.
“It was a battle just to get back in it,” said Hardy, a Northbrook native and 2014 graduate of Glenbrook North. “Carson finally made a mistake on 17, and he didn’t make many.”
With four players inside the top 10, the Illini won their 13th league title at 14 under, 32 strokes ahead of the runner-up Hawkeyes.
Hardy, who shot 71-69-68-76, said it was the best victory of his career, and he credited the championship play to his mindset. He was coming off a tie for 29th at Purdue’s tournament the week before.
“I was hitting it the same, but I changed the way I controlled myself,” he said. “That was the difference. I kept my emotions in check, and it allowed me to play smart, confident golf.”
Illinois, one of the top teams in the country, will find out soon where it will travel for the NCAA Regionals, which run May 14-16.
Twitter: @harnesspreps