Duke wrapped up a long spring season last Thursday at the NCAA Championship, held at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn. Although playing relatively close to home, a young Blue Devil team could not keep up with the country’s best squads, failing to advance to the match-play finals and finishing tied for 27th out of the 30-team field.
The NCAA Championships mark the end of senior Adam Long’s career at Duke, and the Missouri native did not disappoint in his finale. Although he was unable to duplicate the same form that won him the Wolfpack Intercollegiate earlier this year, Long’s resilience proved invaluable over the Blue Devils’ three rounds. After a tough ball-striking day led to a first-round 73, and he shot a 75 after a rollercoaster second round, Long rebounded Thursday to shoot a Duke-best 72.
“He was consistent,” head coach Jamie Green said. “I know he did not play as well or go as low as he would have liked, but he is going to walk away from this tournament with his head held high because he gave it everything that he had.”
Long’s cumulative score of 4-over at The Honors Course locked him into second place in the all-time Duke scoring average list with a mark of 72.70, behind only Ryan Blaum’s 72.16. Long vaulted 19 players on the leaderboard Thursday, and finished in a tie for 64th.
Overall during the tournament, the Blue Devils were led by junior Wes Roach, who came out strong in his first round. After a bogey on the par-3 third, Roach birdied four, five and nine to make the turn at 2-under. His hot streak continued on the back nine, with birdies on No. 13 and No. 16 before giving one back on the par-5 17th. His opening round 69 was one shot shy of the tournament lead, and placed him in third.
“He was in one of those Wes Roach-kind of zones on certain periods,” Green said. “There are certain periods of the round where he’s got tunnel vision and he gets this walk going, and you just know he’s going to hit it a good golf shot and it’s going to be followed by a good putt.”
Roach, playing in his home state of Tennessee, was able to recall on past experiences at the 7,395-yard Honors Course to guide him to success at the NCAA Championship.
With his home just a half-hour away, Roach played in a state amateur tournament at The Honors Course in the summer of 2009, and the experience was evident.
He started the second round 1-under through the first eight holes, but hit a rough patch and bogeyed three of the next four holes, still finishing with a team-best 73 for the day. A final-day 75 placed Roach at 1-over for the tournament, in a tie for 41st.
After the first three rounds of stroke-play saw Scott Langley of Illinois win the individual title with a 10-under 206, the top eight teams advanced to the match play finals to determine a team champion. While Duke did not come close to replicating the scores of eventual winner Augusta State—the Jaguars were able to rely on a squad packed with talented juniors and seniors. Green’s team, meanwhile, may just be on the cusp of breaking through, if the performances of the Blue Devil underclassmen are any indication.
Freshman standouts Brinson Paolini and Julian Suri finished 103rd and 139th, respectively. Each proved capable of playing well on college golf’s biggest stage, but both were also unable to overcome the occasional big numbers across Dye’s layout. Paolini, the ACC Freshman of the Year, tallied 10 birdies across his three rounds, while carding four double-bogeys, but ended the season with the lowest stroke average for a freshman in Blue Devil history. Suri shared a similar fate, posting eight birdies, but surrendering a quadruple-bogey on day one.
While the underwhelming finish Saturday was disappointing for the Blue Devils, the team does return four starters next season, with sophomore Spencer Anderson, who tied for 128th with a 229, joining Roach, Paolini and Suri. A wealth of experience from 2010, along with a talented crop of reserves and incoming players, has Green confident that Duke will be a powerful program in the years to come.
“The guys worked hard all year and got better and improved,” Green said. “That is what gave us the opportunity to make a run through regionals and reach the NCAA Championship. They earned the right to be here and that is going to be a great motivator for the guys that are returning.”
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