Inconsistent play yields sixth place finish for Duke

With three top-fives in their last three events, including a win in Raleigh last week, the Blue Devils traveled to Badin Lake, NC this weekend to play in the ACC Championships.

  Before the event, there was a consensus among the team that the time had come for head coach Rod Myers to win his first ACC Championship and this year was the best opportunity he has had in his 31-year career. Unfortunately though, Myers will have to wait at least one more year before he will be able to bring that all-elusive ACC title to Durham.

  This weekend, at the Old North State Club, the Blue Devils struggled to a sixth-place finish by shooting a three-round total of 857. During the first-round, Duke came out strong, shooting 287--only four shots behind the leader Wake Forest. Sitting in the fourth going into the second day, the Blue Devils looked to move into good position to compete for the title during the final round. Instead of moving closer to the leaders though, Duke moved in the opposite direction.

  "We just never got anything going [Saturday]," coach Myers said. "There was some awfully good golf played but not by us."

  "We were dueling it with Carolina for a Caryle Cup point," Myers said. "We knew it was really close. It came down to Blaum and Dustin Bray on the 18th."

  With the final two players--Duke's Ryan Blaum and UNC's Dustin Bray--going into the last hole, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils were tied at six under par for the tournament. On the par-five 18th, Blaum hit the green in two while Bray sat about 15 yards short of the green after two shots. Even though Blaum appeared to have the upper hand, Bray was able to propel his team past the Blue Devils by chipping in for a three while Blaum two-putted for a four.

  Despite a disappointing weekend, there were some very strong individual performances for the Blue Devils. Leading the way were sophomores Nathan Smith and Ryan Blaum who both recorded three-day scores of three-under-par, good enough for a 11th place. Smith played fairly well all weekend but the highlight of his play was final nine holes in which he recorded a 32 with five birdies and one bogey.

"Today [Smith] started out slow," Myers said. "Then he just started to convert on every opportunity he had."

  Following Smith and Blaum were senior Mike Castleforte who finished in a tie for 17th, sophomore Alex Wilson who placed in a tie for 25th, and senior Rob Beasely who finished tied for 35th. Even though the Blue Devils were unable to bring home the ACC title, they are still confident and feel they are ready for the NCAA Regionals in a few weeks.

  "We had really high hopes coming in," Castleforte said. "We are all playing really well, but at the same time, I think we got a lot better this week."