Blue Devils survive the TCU heat, take Oven Experience

The tournament may have been called the Oven Experience, but the Blue Devils handled the heat yesterday to beat the Horned Frogs.

No. 20 Duke won their only match play tournament of the season 3 1/2 to 2 1/2 thanks to the dominant play of senior Wes Roach and freshman Austin Cody. Roach, who only lost one hole over the course of the entire match, had a solid win, besting TCU’s Ian Phillips 4 and 3. Cody also cruised to a solid victory, defeating Johnny Antle 6 and 4 by winning four holes outright on the back nine to secure the victory.

Sophomore Julian Suri started off on a tear in his match, holding a 4-up lead through 11 holes played; however, TCU’s Matt Johnson fought back, cutting the lead down to one with two holes remaining. Suri then finished with back-to-back pars and closed out the match to secure the point for the Blue Devils.

Yaroslav Merkulov, a freshman who is leading the team in scoring with an average of 71.5 this season, participated in a wild back-and-forth match. Merkulov dropped the first hole, but answered quickly, winning both the fourth and fifth hole to take a 1-up advantage. Johan DeBeer responded on the back nine, winning the 11th and 12th holes to reclaim the lead in the match, only to see Merkulov win the next three holes. Despite leading 2-up with two to play, Merkulov lost the final two holes and received a half point for his efforts.

Adam Sumrall and Brinson Paolini each lost 3 and 2, due in large part to the giant deficits both faced early in their matches. Sumrall won his first hole, but then struggled for the rest of the front nine, making the turn 5-down in the match. He did win two holes on the back nine before Eduardo Perez finally closed him out on the 16th hole to win it. After his first 11 holes, Paolini stood 4-down. He then won two of the next four holes, only to fall late to Scott Roudebush.

This was Duke’s final match of the fall season and the team will be back for more golf in March for the Lexus Classic.