The Blue Devils will waste no time teeing it up with the best teams in the nation when they start play today at the Fighting Illini Invitational, their first tournament of the fall season.
And if the elite competition wasn’t enough, No. 16 Duke also has to contend with the challenging 7,157-yard Olympia Fields Country Club North Course. Olympia Fields was the site of the 2003 U.S. Open, and the winning team score at last year’s event was a brutal 30-over par.
“The golf course’s quality and reputation speak for itself,” head coach Jamie Green said. “It’s one of the best competitions that we will be a part of this year. To start out there will be a great thing for every one of our players.”
Eleven of the 15 tournament teams are ranked in the top 20 of Golfweek’s preseason poll. That group includes last year’s NCAA team champion Augusta State, NCAA runner-up Oklahoma State and Final Four participant Florida State.
Despite the loaded field, the Blue Devils’ core of young players has enough experience to hold its own against the nation’s heavy hitters. Sophomore Brinson Paolini, the 2010 ACC Freshman of the Year, will look to take what he learned at August’s U.S. Amateur into Olympia Fields.
Sophomores Tim Gornik and Adam Sumrall also posted strong finishes over the summer that should bode well for their performance this weekend. Although freshman Yaroslav Merkulov has yet to play in a collegiate tournament, he led the U.S. team to a second-place finish at the Junior Golf World Cup in June by finishing fourth overall.
Wes Roach, the team’s lone senior, will round out the squad. He is the only Blue Devil to have played in the event previously and will be called upon the set the tone for the underclassmen.
Duke continues with second-round play Saturday and will round out the tournament Sunday.
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