Matlari leads No. 24 Duke men's golf into Mason Rudolph Championship

In his first three seasons at Duke, Alexander Matlari never posted a scoring average less than 74.

If he keeps up his current pace this spring, he will clear that mark easily.

The senior, who is currently second on the team with a 71.5 scoring average , is peaking in the final stage of his career for the No. 24 Blue Devils. Matlari finished tied for seventh in the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic March 13-14 and fourth in the Grand Canyon Invitational March 17-18, combining to shoot 11-under-par in the two tournaments.

Now, he hopes to keep up that level of play atop Duke’s lineup alongside freshman phenom Chandler Eaton in the Mason Rudolph Championship Friday through Sunday, in Franklin, Tenn. Matlari and the Blue Devils will have to stay steady against much stiffer competition than they have faced in previous weeks amidst a field that includes five top-50 teams and No. 3 Vanderbilt, which is hosting the tournament at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.

“Sometimes, hard work and pure time doesn’t necessarily equate to lower scores automatically, and that can be frustrating for a player,” Duke head coach Jamie Green said. “[Matlari] probably got a little too easily frustrated earlier in his career, but now he has a maturity and acceptance on the golf course—he doesn’t hit the panic button if things don’t go his way. That’s really helped him.”

Matlari has anchored the Blue Devils this spring, leading the team to a victory in their last tournament at the GCU Invitational. The Leimen, Germany, native cracked the starting lineup just once in the fall, when he finished tied for 39th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate.

Matlari's precipitous growth can be attributed to a newfound philosophy about practice, Green said, one that emphasized developing skills that could help him in the short term. As a result, the senior has seen growth in his play around the greens, helping him score, especially on par-5s.

“It seems obvious, but especially when you’re in your first couple years of college, it can be very alluring to work on your technique and things that will help you down the road,” Green said. “You don’t want to ignore them, but the immediacy of working on things that will help you score today or tomorrow and focusing on that—the mechanics of his full swing have always been good, but his short game has gotten sharper and sharper each month the last year or two. It’s really paying dividends for him now.”

“You don’t know who’s going to play the best each week, and we have a solid six, seven, eight guys that can contribute at a high level,” Green said. “In some ways, it can be a challenge, but on the flip side, that constant competition, whether it’s in practice or qualifying or even in the tournament, they know that the other guys are playing well so they want to stay sharp. That little extra motivator can always been a good thing.”

With just one more tournament—the Wolfpack Spring Open April 14-15—before the ACC tournament, Duke looks to keep its momentum rolling this week much closer to home.

After traveling to Mexico, California and Arizona in the last month, Duke hopes it can feel more at ease with less travel on a course similar to where the NCAA regionals could be held in May.

“I wanted to keep us close to home,” Green said. “We’ve been doing a lot of west-coast traveling this spring, so i felt like getting us closer to home right before the ACC championship was the way to go from a rest standpoint. It’s always nice to go in with a little momentum, so we think playing right before ACC’s can be a good thing.”

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