When the Blue Devils made the turn for the back nine Sunday, they were staring at an uphill battle. By the time they reached the 18th green, they had climbed almost all the way to the top, only to come up inches short.
Duke went wire-to-wire with Wake Forest in the final round of the sixth annual Rod Myers Invitational, but eventually fell short against the Demon Deacons by one stroke and was forced to settle for second place with a team total of 863.
Both teams were tied at one-under as the final group—Duke’s Adam Wood and Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris—teed off at the last hole. Wood made two solid shots to reach the green but could not convert his birdie putt to match Zalatoris, settling for a par on the final hole. Wood finished second individually with a one-over-par 73 for the day and a seven-under showing for the tournament.
“I made a few mistakes early in the round. But I knew that I was going to have to play solid golf to apply some pressure and give our team a good chance of winning,” Wood said. “I hit two good shots [on the last hole], and I actually hit a good putt that just touched the edge of the hole. But it wasn’t enough—it happens.”
The Blue Devils began the second day of the tournament within one shot of the Demon Deacons, but quickly fell further behind as Wake Forest widened its lead to seven strokes by the end of the first nine holes. However, solid performances by sophomore Jake Shuman and junior Matt Oshrine allowed Duke to rally back to keep within striking distance of the Demon Deacons.
Oshrine, who recently transferred from Loyola, posted an even-par 72 to finish the tournament at even-par and secure a tie for eighth. Building off of an impressive freshman season, Shuman tied for 10th place with a ledger of one over par, rounding out the trio of Blue Devils in the top 10. The Needham, Mass., native shot one-under on the front nine—highlighted by an eagle on the ninth hole—but was unable to finish his round in red numbers due to an eight-stroke mishap on the 13th hole.
Wake Forest lost some of its lead down the stretch with a string of bogeys. Two birdies by Oshrine on the back nine and a birdie by freshman Alex Smalley on the 18th hole brought the Blue Devils back into contention.
“[We] made some birdies—we might have had a hiccup here and there but another couple of teams had more hiccups, so that’s why we closed the gap and made it close,” Duke head coach Jamie Green said.
Smalley shot a three-over 75 to finish tied for 23rd at five over par. Max Greyserman rounded out the Duke lineup, also posting a 75 in the final round to conclude the tournament tied for 36th.
Only freshman Shrish Dwivedi and junior Alexander Matlari, both playing as individuals, finished the third round under par with a pair of 71s. Despite leading the field with 185 pars, Duke only made 41 birdies. Green attributed this to weather conditions that were considerably tougher from the day before.
“Whenever the wind blows, it makes it tougher for golfers. They have to try and predict what’s going to happen [when] the ball [is] up in the air and the wind’s coming sideways,” Green said. “In our place in particular, [with] these tall trees and the Duke forest, the wind gets to bouncing around so you can know the general direction but you still might get fooled.”
Dwivedi and Matlari led the individual players, playing neck-and-neck to tie for 12th at two over par. Matlari’s one-under round Sunday was highlighted by a bogey-free front nine, and Dwivedi showed promise in his first tournament as a Blue Devil. Junior Andrew Bieber posted a final round 81 to finish tied for 54th and sophomore Ben Silverman rounded up individual play tied for 61st.
“The golf course and the wind showed up, it bared its teeth a little bit later in the round,” Green said. “So that’s why I could not be more proud of our guys and playing as solid as they did coming down the stretch.”
The Blue Devils will return to competition at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup in Kingston Springs, Tenn., Sept. 25-27.
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