The men's golf team traveled to Statesboro, Ga. this weekend for the Schenkel Invitational, where they finished ninth, 26 strokes behind tournament winner Georgia. Georgia's Nick Cassini captured individual honors with a score of 210, 6-under-par.
The Blue Devils were in sixth place after two rounds but struggled in the final round and dropped three spots.
"We didn't play very well," coach Rod Myers said. "We got some good play out of everybody at some point in the tournament, but we need to be more consistent."
Duke was led by junior Matt Krauss, who shot rounds of 75-70-73 to finish at 2-over and tied for 20th individually. Krauss has yet to regain his form from a season ago when he finished in the top-10 in four out of five tournaments.
"[Krauss] is not quite there yet, but he's close," Myers said. "He started out great this week with lots of birdies, but too many bogeys at the end of his rounds hurt him."
While Krauss seems to be steadily improving, sophomore Leif Olson has been inconsistent, finishing in 15th, 31st, 12th and now tied for 57th. Olson was never able to get anything going on the putting surface which led to rounds of 79-74-74.
"He hit a lot of edges, but nothing seemed to fall," Myers said. "It's really frustrating not to be able to put up the scores you know you are capable of."
Seniors Paul Tucker and Kevin Streelman both got off to great starts, shooting first-round scores of 70 and 71, respectively. Unfortunately, the next 36 holes were difficult for both golfers, which allowed for two teams to pass Duke in the final round.
Tucker finished tied for 35th and Streelman tied for 40th.
"We are really close as a team," Myers said. "It's a mental thing with some of [the golfers] and they are just lacking the ability to focus. Maybe we are just waiting to peak for the bigger tournaments down the road."
Duke returns to action this weekend at the Augusta/Cleveland Golf Classic in Augusta, Ga.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.