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Late slipups cost Illini the lead at NCAA Championships

SUGAR GROVE — The Illinois men’s golf team earned itself another 18 holes at the NCAA Championships.

That’s the good news. The bad news is the way it finished the third round.

Mike Small’s team took the lead late in the round at Rich Harvest Farms. But a rough final few holes, including Nick Hardy’s triple-bogey 8 on No. 18, dropped Illinois to fifth overall.

“If we play a good round (today) then we’ll have a chance, and if you don’t, then we won’t,” Small said. “That’s what you want to have happen, you want to have control over it.