Duke was plagued again by a slow start Tuesday before rallying and sits tied for sixth after the second round of the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla.
After Clark Klaasen and Michael Quagliano double-bogeyed the second hole and Jake Grodzinsky tripled it, the No. 11 Blue Devils needed to refocus-and quickly-in order to stay within range of the top of the leaderboard.
"Clark knocked it into the water on the second hole and with that, the one thing we realized about this golf course is if you hit the ball at the wrong time, you'll get some shots you can't get away with," head coach Rod Meyers said.
Grodzinsky's shot crossed over the hazard line on the same hole, costing him another stroke. And Quagliano, who carded Duke's best score Sunday, made a bogey and two doubles within his first four holes.
Yet, on No. 7, the strong winds at Isleworth suddenly changed direction in the Blue Devils' favor.
Freshman Adam Long, junior Michael Schachner, Klaasen and Grodzinsky all fired birdies on the hole to ignite Duke's comeback push.
"Something I am particularly proud of is that nobody's getting down on themselves," Myers said. "If we keep that attitude going, we ought to have a really good score."
Long paced the Blue Devils, finishing the day 1-under par and in a tie for 12th place-a 27-spot jump up the leaderboard in just one round.
"He's not making the mistakes the other guys are making," Myers said. "He's striking the ball better, and he doesn't have many misses."
Mistakes, however, are keeping Duke from taking control over the field. The Blue Devils are currently 12 strokes behind the leader Texas.
"We're close to playing as well as the leaders are, but we're making too many mistakes," Myers said. "It's easy to stand up and say we need to cut out those errors, but it's a thing that's a lot easier to do than say on a course like this."
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