The Blue Devils entered their spring season with an incredibly balanced lineup—four Duke regulars are averaging between 71.6 and 71.9 strokes per round.
But this weekend in Los Cabos, Mexico, it was Chandler Eaton who stood out the Blue Devils, despite a challenging couple of rounds for his teammates.
After riding consistent play to close out its fall season with a win at the Bridgestone Collegiate, everyone but the star freshman struggled for No. 21 Duke, which finished eighth at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate. Eaton carded a 6-under-par three-day total of 207, good for a seventh-place tie—three strokes back of Washington's Corey Pereira, the event's individual champion.
In a 15-team field that included seven top-25 teams, the Blue Devils carded a 7-over-par three-day total of 859, leaving them 36 strokes behind the eventual champion, No. 10 Oklahoma State.
“We have to take the good where we find it,” Duke head coach Jamie Green told GoDuke.com. “We handled things pretty well as far as adversity goes given that it’s our first tournament of the spring. To get in here in a tournament situation and have it mean something sometimes brings the nerves, but it will only get better.”
For all their struggles, the Blue Devils showed they were capable of rebounding from a sluggish start— Duke climbed from a tie for 11th to seventh by the second round, bouncing back from an ugly first-round, 9-over-par 293.
After a breakout close to the fall, Eaton—the No. 13 recruit in his class—led the charge. The Alpharetta, Ga., native closed the tournament with rounds of 3-under and 2-under par, using strong putting to tie for first in pars and tie for third in par-four scoring.
“I stayed extremely patient because I knew I couldn’t get ahead of myself,” he said. “I never told myself I needed to make birdies. I just kept plugging along.”
But the Blue Devils’ inconsistent play was too much for even Eaton to overcome, with his teammates only posting one round below par all weekend—senior Alexander Matlari's 1-under-par 69 during the event's second round.
Although Eaton fired three consecutive under-par rounds to build on a strong fall—closing the season with a pair of consecutive top-five finishes—several other Blue Devils regressed, including Duke’s No. 1 golfer, Adam Wood.
Although the All-ACC junior had fallen down to the B-team this fall, he closed the season in strong fashion with a 4-under-par finish at the Bridgestone Golf Collegiate and seemed to be heading back in the right direction.
Wood fell back into his early season rut, however, finishing 13-over on par fours en route to a 79 and 78 to start his tournament before closing with a one-over 72.
Like Wood, the rest of the Blue Devils bounced back Tuesday as the team posted just one round worse than 72 en route to finish the day even par.
“It wasn’t a bad day, we just didn’t really capitalize on scoring opportunities that other teams did,” Green said. “But a positive to take away was that, even if our guys weren’t comfortable throughout the tournament, it didn’t cost them because they managed to recover well.”
Duke had never played at Querencia, a tight, hilly course with fast greens, and it showed. Despite improving throughout the tournament, no Blue Devil finished better than tied for 28th—Matlari—Duke No. 5 Jake Shuman tied for 42nd place and No. 2 Alex Smalley finished just behind him in a tie for 56th.
The Blue Devils will get nearly two weeks off before heading to Chula Vista, Calif. for the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic March 13-14.
“In our next tournaments, the guys need to focus on finding their comfort zone,” Green said. “It’s good to have a tournament under the belt, guys can look back and see what worked, what didn’t work, and what they can improve on. When you’re in tournament competition, you have to know your go-to shots are there. If you’re good at knocking the ball down and keeping it low, know that you’ve got that. You have to make the best of tough situations by going to your go-to shots.”
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.