In an exciting final run to a stacked sports weekend in Durham, Duke men’s golf battled fiercely at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate tournament. The Blue Devils got their first victory of the season after successfully coming back during the third and final round.
“After the last tournament, we did not play well at all at Notre Dame relative to our players’ abilities … I think going into the Golf Club at Georgia event, our players that were going there had a bit of a different perspective, a different plan,” head coach Jamie Green said. “Rankings right now are just out and there’s very little data, but I think we’ll see that that was one of the better wins of the year.”
Down five against first-place UCLA, the Blue Devils needed a near-perfect performance ahead of the third round. Play began and Duke immediately made its statement in the first hole. Senior Luke Sample scored an eagle while Love and sophomore Kelly Chinn each racked up a birdie. After the first nine holes, the Blue Devils had an outstanding score of 12-under par, effectively surpassing the Bruins and taking the lead.
Four of the five players went below par, and now Duke only had to keep the lead and close without going over par. The Blue Devils not only ensured the victory, but added onto their score, finishing the third round with a tournament best 17-under par. Moreover, junior Ethan Evans ended up taking the first spot in the individual scores, finishing 9-under. Chinn and Bryan Kim also finished within the top 10.
“I think Ethan Evans admitted himself, that he probably didn’t prepare as well for the Notre Dame event as he should have … so I think we had a really good evolution from the Notre Dame event onto the Golf Club at Georgia," Green said. "When you throw in Kelly Chinn’s performance especially for that final round, once he got comfortable (Kelly) he really didn’t look back."
After finishing 10th of 15 in the Notre Dame Irish Classic two weeks ago, the Blue Devils bounced back perfectly by taking the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate home. Duke started off on a good rhythm, finishing third after the first round of play just behind Virginia and UCLA. It was Evans who led the charge, scoring three birdies in his first
five holes, setting the tone for what would end up being a memorable tournament for the junior from Mercer Island, Wash. UCLA displayed its strength collectively from the start as three players ended up racking up scores below par after the first round. If the Blue Devils aimed to surpass the Bruins and win the tournament, they needed other players to step up.
“A lot of times the psychological things are those which many of us believe have a lot of importance and a lot of impact on the results,” Green said. “It’s really a lot of mental and psychological effort before, during and after shots.”
The second round of play kicked off during a sunny Saturday morning in Alpharetta, Ga., and the Blue Devils urged a good performance to make the score closer ahead of the third and final round. During the first nine holes, it was Evans alongside Kim who had notable performances, finishing off two and three-below par.
However, this wasn’t going to be enough to surpass UCLA or Virginia, who both had three players finish below par after the first nine holes. Luckily for Duke, junior William Love managed to step up in the final nine holes of the second round. After having a disappointing first round, the junior from Atlanta found his rhythm in the second half of the second round, finishing three-below par. This was still not enough for the Blue Devils to take the lead, but was enough to sustain them in third.
“What I said to each player as they went to the first tee [during the third round] is that I had them identify what was the process goal that [they] had to start the week,” Green said. “Everybody had their own individual process goal and I tried to make sure that that was what they focused on.”
The Blue Devils will look to ride this momentum as they travel to Tulsa, Okla., for The Clerico tournament hosted by Oral Roberts, beginning Oct. 28.
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