One week after earning their first tournament victory of the Spring, the 18th-ranked Blue Devils finished in second place, four strokes behind victorious No. 27 Kentucky Saturday at the Courtyard by Marriott Intercollegiate.
Ryan Blaum, the nation's 11th-ranked golfer, dominated the field, winning by six strokes and finishing the tournament at 14-under par.
"This may have been the best performance [of his career]," head coach Rod Myers said. "He just played an outstanding tournament. It was really exciting to watch him play. He had tremendous control and really putted well."
Blaum played his best golf on his opening nine holes, carding six birdies en route to a sparkling 30. He finished the round at seven under and shot a 70 in round two, which left him one stroke off the lead entering the last day. His final-round 67 propelled him past second-round leader Nicolas Geyger of Tulsa, who finished the weekend in fourth place.
Duke entered the final round in third place-one stroke off the lead held by Kentucky and North Carolina. But Blaum's final round score, along with junior Jake Grodzinsky's 73, propelled the Blue Devils to a two-over mark on the final day.
Grodzinsky, ranked 20th in the nation, fired a 3-under-par 33 on the first nine holes of the tournament, but he could not match that pace the rest of the weekend. He carded a 72 and a 73 in the final two rounds and finished in a tie for ninth-his second straight top-10 performance.
"Jake's playing really well," Myers said. "We were both frustrated. He didn't make very many putts over the weekend-he hit the ball better than he scored. He's probably disappointed that he wasn't several strokes lower each round."
Even with Duke's strong finish, however, Myers said that many of the team members were disappointed that they could not pull out a second straight victory.
"We definitely thought we had a chance to win it, we were only one stroke back-we were very optimistic," Myers said. "The main difference between Kentucky's score and our score is that they had all 5 guys in the mix shooting 73 or better."
Instead, the bottom three members of the Blue Devils' lineup struggled to notch consistent scores. On the final day, Duke's bottom two scorers-Clark Klaasen and Bryce Mueller-each scored 77s, so Duke had to have one of the high marks count toward its score.
Klaasen played a solid tournament overall, however. He stormed out of the gates, notching a five-under-par 31 on the tournament's first nine holes but did not score another side under par.
He entered Saturday in a tie for 16th place at even par but fell to a 35th-place tie Saturday, recording three double-bogeys on the tournament's final 11 holes.
"He made a couple costly double-bogeys, but he's still just a freshman, so I expect him to make a few mistakes," Myers said. "I tried to tell these guys before the tourney that if they played smart, this would not be a double-bogey course.... I don't know whether he lost confidence or just had a couple of bad breaks."
This tournament was the team's last before the ACC Championships start April 21. Myers has said that Blaum and Grodzinsky are each locks to be in the starting lineup but that the other three spots are currently up for grabs.
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