The Blue Devils were led by two youngsters and a veteran in its seventh-place finish at the Aggie Invitational this past weekend in Bryan, Texas. The competition was fierce in a field that featured 11 other top-50 teams.
Freshmen Mads Soegaard and Motin Yeung recorded 10th and 14th place finishes and senior Brinson Paolini—one of five finalists for the 2013 Byron Nelson Award—came in tied for 18th.
Yeung was the only Blue Devil to finish the Invitational under par, recording a one-under par 215 for the tournament.
“He had a solid week and anytime you can finish in the top 10 with the number of players that are ranked in the field, obviously that’s some solid play,” Duke head coach Jamie Green said. “He has that to look back on going forward…. He didn’t finish two of the rounds the way he would have liked to, but he has every capability and has really played solidly for us this year.”
Soegaard finished close behind with a two-over 218 and Paolini recorded a three-over 219.
“Mads played very well [Sunday] and really fought to get back into the top 15 and against a field like this, that’s pretty good,” Green said. “He played very consistently…. And that bodes well for us to have two freshmen pushing the envelope a bit and showing the guys around them how things are done. Brinson is showing why he’s a true all-American contender this year. He has had a great career.”
Duke finished with identical scores of 296 on days one and two and finished day three with a three-under par 285.
“We were more balanced in our scoring [Sunday],” Blue Devil head coach Jamie Green said. “Motin played very consistently and he had a little more help [in the third round]. Mads also had a great day [Sunday]. We had three under-par scores and that will definitely make a difference.”
The Blue Devils finished the tournament with a 13-over par 877 and the No. 2 team in the nation, Alabama, won the invitational with an 18-under par 846.
Duke was able to beat out the two teams it was partnered with in the final round of play in LSU and Oklahoma. The Tigers and the Sooners finished with scores of 878 and 879, respectively.
The Blue Devils’ next tournament will be the ACC Championships which will take place in New London, N.C. April 26-28.
“Well everybody wants to win [ACC Championships and the National Championship],” Green said. “These guys are starting to see what their potential is. From the beginning of the year, these guys have been talking about lofty goals and contending to win ACC’s and becoming national champs. It’s really a step by step process.”
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