Duke's struggles continue at Irish Creek Collegiate

Looking for momentum in their second-to-last tournament of the season, the Blue Devils struggled as they have all spring.

Duke tied for sixth at the Irish Creek Collegiate at the Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, N.C., finishing with a two-day, 54-hole total of 22-over-par for the weekend. The Blue Devils finished 15 strokes behind tournament champions Georgia State, and no Duke player finished the event under par or in the top 10.

The Blue Devils—ranked 15th in the preseason Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches’ Poll—have fallen out of the top 50 in Golfweek’s rankings and have failed to record a score better than the 22-over-par they carded this weekend.

Sophomore Motin Yeung—who leads the team with four top-20 finishes on the season—got off to a solid start, firing a two-under-par 69 in the first round. The Beijing-native carded a one-over-par 72 to lead Duke to its fourth-place position after 36 holes, but struggled in the final round Sunday, shooting a 75.

Yeung finished tied for 12th at three-over-par, as did Austin Cody. The senior was Duke’s most consistent performer, carding three consecutive rounds of one-over-par 72 to earn his first top-15 finish of the season.

Cody—the team’s lone returning contributor from last year’s ACC championship squad—will look to replicate his consistency to end his Duke career on a high note in the coming weeks. The North Charleston, S.C., native could also provide leadership that the inexperienced Blue Devils have been lacking.

Yeung and Cody were the sole bright spots for Duke, as the other three members of the lineup—juniors Turner Southey-Gordon and Michael Ricaurte and freshman Alexander Matlari—combined to shoot 36-over-par.

After carding rounds of 71 in the second round to help position Duke in the top five entering the final round, Ricaurte and Matlari shot 75 and 80, respectively.